Published in 1942, Antigone is a tragedy written by Jean Anouilh inspired by Greek myths and he even used some of the names of heroes in Greek mythology such as Oedipus.
When King Oedipus dies, the kingdom falls into the hands of his two sons Polynices and Eteocles. It was decided that they would reign intermittently. They are supposed to exchange the throne every year. However, Eteocles refused to leave the throne to let his brother reign in his turn. A war broke out between the two brothers and they killed each other. So their uncle Creon takes over the throne and orders a proper funeral for Eteocles and throws Polynices, who is considered a traitor to the country, into the mass grave. He announces that “Whoever dares to pay him funeral duties will be mercilessly punished by death.”
In reality, these are nothing more than political decisions to support his image, he does not care much about his nephews and their deaths.
Antigone, who is the sister of the two brothers Polynices and Eteocles, refuses this ban and decides to give her dead brother the funeral honors. But she is caught by guards in the middle of the action. Creoni would prefer not to punish his niece, who is also the fiancée of his son. But Antigone persists in wanting to bury her brother. She represents the moral of this story which is to refuse the submission that upsets the order and the social organization.
How do you think this story ends? In the end, several characters lose their lives or commit suicide, but who?
