What happened in the castle?

Three washerwomen are gathered around a tub pretending to wash clothes as they gossip.

Ww = Washerwoman 

Ww1: Did you hear all the going ons in the castle today?

Ww3: sure did, that boy meeting the maid of the fifth son of the visiting lord in her chambers. Quite scandalous.

Ww1: Not that! That’s common stuff. I’m talking the big news. ROYALLY big news.

Ww2: [catching on]Oh you mean news about the King and his family!

Ww3: Ahh Yes! I heard the arguing all the way down in the kitchen. It was Creon and…and…uhm [mumbles] the opposite of being gone…

Ww2: Antigone, you dummy!

Ww3: Antigone! Yes, I was just saying it. Royal arguments – always so juicy. Dish, then!

Ww1: Well, Creon gave the decree that Polynieces would not be buried.

Ww3: Polynieces. That traitor?

Ww2: that handsome traitor.

Ww3: that dead traitor

Ww2: [to herself more than anyone]I cleaned his armor once.

Ww1: ANYWAY! The story isn’t about him. He just sets it all up.

Ww2&3: Okay, okay, sheesh.

Ww1: So, under pain of death he shall not be buried….and then Antigone buries him anyway!

Ww2: Oh! The grit on that girl!

Ww3: I like her style!

Ww2: then what?

Ww1: She was marched right up to the throne room-didn’t even flinch. And she started giving Creon a mouthful. A thrashing like I never saw.

[2&3 listen closely, intent]

Ww1: Then Creon came back and started yelling too.

Ww2: What a jerk!

Ww3: Just like a man!

Ww1: Mhm. They kept going on for what seemed like ages.

Ww3: What’d they say?

Ww2: Yeah?!

Ww1: Oh, I don’t know! They kept using fancy words that sail above my mop of hair.

Ww3: [laughing] just like them nobles

Ww2: Mhm.

Ww1: It was hard to sleep. But then it kept going.

Ww2: Oh really?

Ww3: He didn’t pardon her right away?

Ww1: No ma’am.  Said something about being a man…yada yada yada.

Ww2: Oh that sounds just like him.

Ww1: So they took her to a cave to await execution.

Ww2: poor girl got executed…

Ww1: Not quite she was sent to starve to death.

Ww3: Just terrible…

Ww1: After speaking with Tiresias, Creon decided he would yield and release Antigone.

Ww2: That’s great!

Ww3: So they kept her alive. What a nice end to the story.

Ww1: They tried but she was already dead.

Ww2: She was murdered?!

Ww3: She slipped and cracked her head?

Ww1: She killed herself

[2&3 gasp]

Ww1: And by the end of the day she wasn’t the only one that was dead.

Ww2: Someone got revenge on Creon?

Ww3: I bet it was Haemon! Antigone’s bethrothed!

Ww2: Oh, yes! That boy is scrumptious! I bet he went in and whooped Creon!

Ww1: He might be a little less handsome now. He’s the one who died.

[2&3 gasp again]

Ww2: Oh! A tragedy!

Ww3: How’d it happen?

Ww1: Creon and Haemon had a fight…with swords.

Ww2: There isn’t no way that the old man beat that strapping young man

[1&3 both look at 2]

Ww3: Would you stop?

Ww1: the boy is dead!

Ww3: disgusting…

Ww2: I was just saying…

Ww1: anyway. As the fight went on Haemon decided to kill himself. And he did.

Ww2: wow…

Ww3: agreed.

Ww2: Those noble folk are an odd lot.

Ww1: I KNOW! They kill themselves every chance they get it seems.

Ww3: Well, I’m glad we don’t have to deal with all of the complicated stuff

Ww2: Mhm. I’m to pretty to be killing myself everyday.

[All laugh]

Ww3: Oh! Did you see the newest guard yet?

Ww1: I haven’t! Dish! Is he good looking?

Ww2: Good looking!?

END

Haemon's Deleted Romantic Solioquy
By: Heather Nawrocki

(Versed by Haemon before he discovers that Antigone has committed suicide)

[Haemon]: Antigone, Antigone, why has thou art gone from me?
                  We were so close to our happily ever after,
                  But you threw that away; I should have acted faster.
                  I should have saved you from yourself,
                  From your pride and your determined nature.
                  For if I had, you would have been my forever.
                  My lover, my friend, until whatever end,
                  I shall find you now so that I can defend.
                  Defend you from my Father, oh, what a terrible man!
                  Before he became King, I was his biggest fan.
                  Now, he must rule Thebes with an iron fist,
                  For if he would let you go, the city would throw a fit.
                  You are a criminal in their eyes,
                  But I love you all the same.
                  You buried your brother for the sake of his name.
                  You could not let him be, a traitor for the world to see.
                  So now you await to die,
                  But I shall save you and we will fly,
                  Fly away from this wretched kingdom
                  To a life of love and freedom.
                  Who wants to be a king? Who wants to be a queen?
                  As long as we are together, that's all I need.
                  My lover, my friend, until whatever end.
                  I shall find you now so that I can defend!
                 

Antigone Poem

The king is dead for he went mad

His two sons have chance for power

One son was good, the other bad

Fought against one another but in the end death reach both their hour

Two of his daughters are alive

Antigone courage she had shown

Now the decision had arrive

She was going to bury the bad brother and forget the king of the throne

Ismene however left her do so alone

Creon is officially the new King

He sets commands to bury the good brother with a royal ceremony

And the other brother to rotten and to the birds.

Time passes as Messenger goes to Creon with words

That someone had bury the bad brother without asking the King.

Creon now mad

Sends people to find out who done this

Finds out Antigone had done this and ask for a death wish.

Debating is now taking place.

Who is right Antigone or Creon?

Now Son of Creon comes in the picture

Haemon is his name

He agrees with Antigone and his views are the same.

He set to marry Antigone.

Is love getting in the way?

Does not matter, for Creon, his decision had been made

To put Antigone to death as she will be put away in a cave.

Day goes by as they put Antigone for death.

The prophet however had a vision

If Creon continues these actions, sadness will come upon him.

Creon does not believe and will not swallow his pride.

For he continues his decision and made up his mind.

Later finds out the prophet vision had come true.

Haemon, his son, is now dead for his love was to strong

Creon now knows the decision he made went wrong.

Now feeling powerless.

Creon feels no right to be a King

As he leaves the palace with nothing to love.

For it is now above.

 

 

The Face of Antigone

antigone picture

Payne Horning: Antigone Protagonist Debate

Antigone Protagonist Debate

Payne Horning, Theater 100: Antigone Creative Response

Story Untold: Alternate Ending

Story Untold: Alternate Ending 

Characters: Antigone, Creaon, Haemon 

By: Shane Gabbard

     At the cave where Antigone was left to die, shortly after Haemon disowned his father.  Before Antionge committed suicide. 

HAEMON:  (after successfully sneaking up on the guards and killing them) Antigone, Antigone... can you hear me? I've come to save you.

ANTIGONE:  Yes my love I'm here, I knew you would come!  How did you get past the guards?

Haemon runs in the cave before any more trouble comes their way and helps Antigone out of the cave.

HAEMON:  Don't worry about it my love I'm here to save you now.

ANTIGONE:  (after seeing the guards dead) Oh Haemon what have you done? What are we going to do now?

HAEMON:  We are going to run away forever Antigone.  You and me, away from this nightmare of a town which was once ours.

Not long after leaving the entrance of the cave Creaon finds them escaping and orders his guards to run them down and capture them.

CREAON:  How dare you both defy me!  I will not let this go without harsh punishment.

Creaon and his guards take them to Thebes where they lock them both in a cell.  One sitting across from the other, shackles hold their hands against the cell's walls.

ANTIGONE:  I will not let us die in the hands of that man.  I will not lay in this cell until death with you either.

HAEMON:  Then what do you suggest?  We are shackled to the walls of this cold cell there is nothing we can do.

ANTIGONE:  (ponders for a moment)  My love I want to thank you for all that you have done.  We cannot die of starvation in this cell, and I will not let Creaon put his hands on us anymore.  

HAEMON:  Then what do we do?

ANTIGONE:  I want to take my last breath with you.  I want our souls to be released into the underworld together.  

HAEMON:  I love you Antigone.  Se you in the after life.

With eyes open looking into one another they both hold their breaths until they cannon take anymore.  They hold their breaths until their death...

Haemon comes in to find them dead in the cell after one nights stay.  While he is there looking at their bodies a guard rushes to tell him the news of his wife's death as well.  Creon is a broken man the gods have taught him well for defying them.  After many failed attempts to commit suicide he realizes the gods are punishing him by making him live his life with the shame and remorse until he dies an old lonesome death.

Poem

Antigone Poem

Relatives snapped by Creon’s tyranny

His royal spouse needled into suicide

After nitpicking at their son’s future wife, Antigone

Who desired a proper burial for her brother’s lost soul, so it could rest dignified

When questioned about the illicit act, she does not deny the deed

Placed in a cave as punishment, she kills herself with the help of a noose

Creon’s actions towards Antigone lead to the death of his seed

Haemon who guts himself with a sword after his emotions run loose

Left standing is her sister, who was simply her foil

And Creon as a broken man all alone

Her sister lives on as a beauty rich as oil

And Creon remains punished by actions he’s unable to atone

So the story of Antigone ends
As a lesson of justice, pride and power for humans

Antigone: Deleted Scene

                                                                  ~Deleted Scene~
                                                Characters:  Haemon and Antigone
                                               
Haemon has made haste to attempt to rescue Antigone, and arrives at the so called "mansion of the bride of Death" where she has been left to suffer

HAEMON:   (calling out in the dark "tomb") Antigone, where are you?   

ANTIGONE:  Here, let thine eyes adjust and have their final taste of my image.

Haemon finally sees her in the darkness, and realizes she has prepared herself a noose for her "departure"

HAEMON:  NO!  What are you doing?  What could drive you to take such action, and destroy our hopes of tomorrow?

ANTIGONE:  I have already ruined my own tomorrow, and if yours is taken with it then so be it.  I can suffer no longer under the cruelty of Creon.  He is too high on his pedestal, and I can do nothing further.  I am ready to depart from this life, knowing that my final efforts were used to honor my brother in his burial.  Do not weep for me, I cannot take back my actions, and must obey my own f--

HAEMON: I cannot bear it! You must come down! Do not burden me with your death, I am here, I can save you and lead you away, we can have a life together without the reign of Creon!

ANTIGONE:  Dearest Haemon, my mind is set.  Nothing can pull me away from my destiny.  I have seen how this must end, and there is no other option.  Yes, my love for you is strong, but even love cannot break the bonds of fate.  If you do not desire to witness my death, leave and find peace.

HAEMON:  I will stay! I must!  There must be some other way, anything that can keep us together!

ANTIGONE:  Steadying her feet on the stool, closing her eyes  I pray that we meet on the other side Haemon,  give my sister my love......

HAEMON: Wait! Cannot we--

The stool falls to the ground and Antigone has seen her last

HAEMON:  He wails and howls in anguish      Antigone!  What have you done!  I am now left all alone... a moment passes in the dark silence  I know now that I must take my own life, for without you life is bleak and meaningless

Footsteps are heard outside

Haemon draws his sword and puts it to his chest.........

 

Antigone Project

Antigone, Antigone
thy listen to creon
for he is the king
and the throne he will sit on

Your brother has no hole
to have a proper burial
but according to Creon
the brother is easily disposable

Through all the bad love was found
as we wish a new king is bound
made he be takin off his throne
and find a new place called home.

Antigone

Why must the good die young?

In a battle between right and wrong.

All she wanted was the rites of the dead for her brother,

Instead she got the rites of the dead for herself and her lover.

Her poor uncle is left all alone,

Everyone he loves is gone.

The moral of this tragic story you might say?

It's justice, and you get what you deserve to come your way.

A movie poster that focuses on fate, and how Creon and Antigone, the debated central characters, also suffer from a dire fate, like Oedipus before them, but not the same as Oedipus. Also features masks, the traditional method of character identification in Greek theatre.
Made by Dalton Duncan

Antigone Poem

Antigone loved her brother so,

She felt it only right to give him a proper burial.

Although Creon said no,

This did not stop Antigone from comforting her sorrow.

Antigone does not deny committing this crime,

She was willing to put her life on the line.

Creon decides to put her in a tomb,

Where she will stay until she meets her doom.

All of this brings along the soothsayer Tiresias,

He says there will be a wrath if Creon goes through with it.

He was right, for now his son is slain,

The same for his wife, as she couldn’t cope with the pain.

She Tells Me No

Adrianne B. Powell

Creative Response to Antigone: Song Parody

Original Song Artist: MIKA Original Song Title: Elle Me Dit (She Tells Me)

*Parody told from the perspective of Ismene.

**Look forward to the audio file coming soon.

Antigone ,Antigone
Antigone, please just listen to Creon
Can’t you see what’s going on?
Don’t act blind like your old father.
Antigone, you could drop it, let it pass,
But you're such a stubborn ass,
Going to end up as a martyr.
Antigone, you always leave your life to fate,
Never show up to the date,
Haemon really wants to see you.
Antigone, even if you do what’s right,
And ‘Poly’ finds the afterlife
This will end up a disaster.
Antigone,

[chorus]
Antigone, it’s your life, don’t waste it out of spite.
Sure it’s a stupid law, but your choice affects us all.
Sis, I’m the same as you, I miss my brothers too
You don't take my advice, I always ask it twice:
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie? (Why are you wasting your life)
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie?
Just once, listen to me, don’t bury him, Antigone
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie?
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie?
Just once, listen to me, don’t bury him Antigone

Antigone, your persistence is a curse,
Now the conflict’s getting worse.
Why can’t we ever have it easy?
Antigone, what you smoking- God it stinks,
Who are you yelling at in Greek?
Do you really think that’s helping?
Antigone, sis I had a change of heart,
Should have helped you from the start, I can’t help that I’m your foil.
Antigone, deny me mercy, deny me death,
You were alone for your last breath,
Instead of rocks like it should be,Antigone

[chorus]

Antigone, it’s your life, don’t waste it out of spite.
Sure it’s a stupid law, but your choice affects us all.
Sis, I’m the same as you, I miss my brothers too
You don’t take my advice, I always ask it twice:
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie? (Why are you wasting your life)
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie?
Just once, listen to me, don’t bury him, Antigone
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie?
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie?
Just once, listen to me, don’t bury him Antigone


Antigone, your death was just the start
Our whole world is falling apart.
I’m not even mentioned later.
Antigone, why's that the title of this play?
It’s about time someone explained,
You’re not even that dynamic. 
Antigone, Haemon died from missing you,
His mom went the same way too.
No one cares where I ended up.
Antigone, Creon still sits on the thrown,
But his reward is to rule alone.
Hope that was manly enough for you.

Everyone died, everyone died, died, died Everyone died
everyone died, everyone died, died, died, everyone died
Everyone died, died, died, except Creon

[creon chorus]

Creon, it's your life, u “effed” it up quite nice.
You chose the state instead
Now you’ll sleep in that bed.
Creon, you’re the biggest fool, for having made that rule
So buddy get some rest, because there’s still one play left.
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie?
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie?
Wonder who’s going to be last in the trilogy.
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie?
Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie?
Wonder who’s going to be last in the trilogy.
Everyone died!

Living and Loathing

A great burden was placed upon my soul,

A dead brother with no burial hole.

I was told to stay away,

But my feelings made me sway,

I would never let my brother be laid to rest this way.

So alas I set out to bury,

But was caught none the less,

Now for sure I am next.

Creon tried to spare me,

But I refused,

My life’s last action was tightening the noose.

His son and wife dead,

The king’s future is now left unknown,

Only his land left to rule,

He sits alone on his throne.

Antigone Poem, By Wes Ballenger

Antigone, Antigone
why hath thou done this to me?
Thou challenged my rule
thou ignorant fool,
now you've become the death of me.

First my son
and then my wife,
curse you girl for all my strife.
A lonely king
whose heart doth sting,
a painful throne
whose fault is mine own.

Pain and shame now all I see,
why, oh why,
Antigone

Unsatisfaction

Unsatisfied with the verdict of my brother's burial
I took it upon myself to deal with what Creon called disposable
Defying Creon may have a toll
But at last at rest is a soul

Unsatisfied with the action of Antigone
I will make sure she understands the power that is invested in me
A proper burial is her toll
But at last at rest is a soul

Unsatisfied by the decisions of Creon
We will send word of the misfortunes to come
For a king his judgments are so cold
But at last at rest is a soul

Satisfaction is fulfillment of one's wishes, expectations, or needs, or the pleasure derived from this. Selfishness may drive people to forget the meaning of life but in the end is the God's that drive us back to humanity.  

Honor

What would you stand for on the day

that your brother passed away?

Would you listen to the king who says all

or the voice in your head that makes a different call?

Would honor scream inside your head

that you need to honor your brother, your friend?

If the choice decided your fate

would it make it that much harder to complicate?

Antigone made the choice that most people would deny

in fear of the kings order to have them die

But what made her choose the opposite choice?

Because of her little honorable voice

Love found a way to overcome the bad

No matter how much power Creon that he had

Antigone stood for what she believed in

Isn't that we are supposed to do in the end?

Welcome

Hello, the following blog displays the works of Intro to Theatre students at BSU. The students have been asked to generate an "artistic response" to Antigone by Sophocles. They have been told that their response can take the form of images, videos, music or the written word.

Here is how they responded: