Antigone Essay :: essays research papers fc

All true Greek tragedies were written using the equivalent basic set of characteristics. One such characteristic was that all the characters were of grandeur. This was to discipline that their fall from grace would be cor poufer to those watching the play in action. A nonher characteristic of all Greek tragedies is that they were written in poetic act upon, as this was the style of writing at the time. There were also eternally almost constant references to the gods and to matters of fate. And it was the ever-present chorus who made a great deal of these references. One of the most important characteristics of the Greek disaster was that the genius of the play always had a fatal flaw which proved not only to be their downfall but the cause of destruction of all those around them. Sophocles play Antigone is a wonderful example of the Greek tragedy because it encompasses all these characteristics.The major characters in the play are all nobility in some form or another. Antigo ne is the daughter of Oedipus and Iocaste the former king and queen which makes her a princess (Scene 2, Lines 1-2) (Scene 4, Lines 36-44). She is also the sister of Ismene (Prologue, Lines 1&7) which makes her a princess as well. The ruling king of Thebes at the time is King Creon (Prologue, Line 6). He has a wife Eurydice who is queen (Exodus, Line 25-26) and a son Haimon who is the prince (Exodus, Lines 64-68). The tenableness that the characters were all forms of nobility is to make their fall from grace and or powers expect even greater and harder for them to bear. This was designed to be uplifting to the common peoples of ancient Greece. Like other play that were written at this point in time Sophocles wrote his play Antigone in poetic form. This can be seen in various places throughout the play (Parados, Line 1-7). And although some of its poetic form is lost in the translation of the play from ancient Greek to moderne English, it is still evident primarily when the chorus is explaining the passage of time (Scene 4, Lines 33-36). Or describing a battle to the audience (Parados, Lines 34-38).Antigone is also full of references to the gods and to fate (Exodus, Lines 3-6) and how it has change specific characters lives. The chorus made a intumescent amount of these references themselves, when talking about the gods (Ode 2, Lines 13-18) and to fate (Ode 2, Lines 25-28).