ANTIGONE

By: Sophocles

The Theater

The theater for which Antigone was written was different from theaters we know today.

More like a ___________

The Theater

Theater was _________ and plays only performed during daylight hours.

Theater locations were carefully chosen.Set on a hill, like a natural amphitheater.

Seats were built in rows and made of ______, ______, ______

The Theater

At base of rows was the ___________, where the play was performed.

Actors performed on the orchestra.

Chorus chanted and danced on the orchestra.

No raised stages like

Shakespeare had.

The Theater

Theaters had great acoustics.People could hear even in the highest rows.

Actors wore large masks, which helped to amplify the sound.

The Theater

Audience could also see action well, even from far away.

Actors wore oversized, well-padded clothing.

Actors also wore boots with raised soles.

Actors

Actors were all ______.Moved in a stately and controlled way.

Less realistic than today’s actors.

Chorus consisted of 15 men with one spokesman, or leader, called the ________.

Chorus commented on action of play and interpreted its meaning for the audience.

The Theater

Greeks took theater very seriously.Part of religious ritual.

Playwrights entered their plays in competitions.

Plays were performed for several days.

Sophocles

Sophocles was probably born in __________

Won his first playwright competition when he was twenty-seven years old.

Beat most famous playwright in Athens.

Sophocles

Sophocles had a good life.Born at Colonus to a wealthy family.

Received traditional education in dancing, music, and gymnastics.

He was handsome and graceful.

Two time general, priest, and member of commission to revise Athens’ constitution.

Sophocles

Sophocles probably wrote over ______ plays in his lifetime.

Only ______ in existence remain today.

Background of Antigone

Story begins when ______ (grandson of founder of Thebes) is king and Iocaste is queen.An _______ proclaims that Laios will be killed by his own son.Laios pierces and binds the feet of his infant son and abandons him on a

mountain.

Background of Antigone

Infant is found and adopted by King _________.

Names the baby Oedipus. (Means “swollen foot.”)

Background of Antigone

When Oedipus becomes an adult, he is told (by another oracle) that he is destined to kill his ________ and marry his ________

Leaves home to avoid fate.

Meets a stranger.They fight, Oedipus kills man. (Not knowing it is his father.)

Background of Antigone

In meantime, a ________ has appeared at Thebes.

Winged monster with body of lion and face of woman.

Sphinx preys on travelers who can’t answer her riddle.

“What creature has four feet, then two, then three, but only one voice, and when it has the most feet it is the weakest?”

Background of Antigone

Oedipus answers correctly: a man.

Sphinx throws herself into sea and people offer to make Oedipus king and to give him Iocaste (their queen) for his wife. (Because their king has recently died.)

Oedipus accepts and marries his mother – the oracle has come true.

Background of Antigone

Oedipus and Iocaste have four children.Two daughters: ________ and ________

Two sons: _________ and ________

Reign happily until a ______ strikes the city.

Plague because the murderer of the former king still lives there.

Background of Antigone

Oedipus promises to find this man.Does not realize that it is ________.

Oedipus learns that he has married his mother and killed his father.

Iocaste commits suicide.

Oedipus blinds himself.

Background of Antigone

Oedipus is later exiled from Thebes.Sons do nothing to help him

Oedipus leaves with his daughters and dies.

Background of Antigone

In the meantime, Creon has been ruling in Thebes.

Oedipus’ sons decide they should rule.

Creon sides with Eteocles

Brothers fight and kill each other.

Creon (still siding with Eteocles) has him buried and won’t bury Polyneices.

Background of Antigone

This was a terrible sentence.Greeks believed that if you were not buried, you lived in ________ ________.

Antigone decides to defy Creon’s order and bury her brother which is where the tragedy of Antigone begins.