Antigone Play Critique

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The Art of the Theater 1310 3:30-4:45 T-Th October 30, 2011 Critique Paper for in class play Antigone 1. The plot of the play Antigone begins with Antigone's brother Eteocles having died defending the city of Thebes and her other brother Polyneices also died attacking it. The king of Thebes, Creon, has sworn that although Eteocles has been given a soldier's funeral, Polyneices' body will remain unburied. Antigone defies the decree and buries her brother, even though her sister, Ismene, refuses to help her. Creon then condemns both Antigone and Ismene to death. He changes his mind about Ismene, but locks Antigone away in a stone vault. Later, after the blind prophet Teiresias predicts doom for the king, Creon decides to free Antigone, only to find that she has committed suicide. Antigone's death leads to the suicide of Creon's son, Haemon, who was going to marry her, and then finally to the suicide of Creon's wife, Eurydice. In the end of this great tragedy, Creon is left in distress and great sorrow. 2. a. The section of the play I would like to focus on is the part of the play where Tiresias warns Creon that he must change his mind and give Polyneices a proper burial. I would like to start by noting that I thought this was a very clever thing that Sophocles did in writing this play. I thought it was ironic that he chose to have a “blind prophet” try to change the ways of Creon. He had visions of what would come of Creon and finally he decided he must do the correct thing. b. The set that director chose was very simple and to me it gave the play a dreary feel and it gives the viewer the feeling that something bad will happen. I also believe the simple set that was used allowed the focus to be on the characters and the story. c. As I said earlier the director seemed to use darker scenes to set the mood and tone of the script. The dark and dreary

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