by Jules Wrenne

Created on: March 11, 2010

Antigone:   Then and Now

The first time I was assigned to read Sophocles’ play Antigone, I was a sophomore in high school and the year was 1976.  Back then we read it aloud as a class, line by line, with the teacher stopping often to call our attention to information contained within the voluminous footnotes.   We were made to underline important passages and encouraged to use phonetic notation to help us remember, for example, that the heroine’s name was not pronounced “anti-gone”.  The test we took afterwards focused on who, what, where, when and why.   I felt like I was studying a chapter in a text book rather than experiencing a piece of creative writing.   Looking back, the teacher clearly chose to approach the play from the perspective of historical scholarship. 

This time I am forty six years old, returning to college to finish the degree I abandoned as a young adult, and Antigone is required reading in my Intoduction to Literature class.   Remembering the basic plot and that I hadn’t enjoyed the play much, I didn’t approach this second go round with much enthusiasm.   I expected to read it, participate as required in the discussion forum and move quickly on.  I understand that classical literature has its place, but I had been hoping  to study a more modern, relevant play.  Therefore I didn’t try to employ any particular critical perspective, lackadaisically defaulted to reader-response, and thoroughly surprised myself by becoming completely engaged with the story.  In marked contrast with that first reading of thirty years ago, I enjoyed the play immensely.  So what makes the difference?  Why was the first time so bad and this time so good?

The play opens with a powerful scene between Antigone and her sister, Ismene.  Right away the audience is given to know the nature of the dilemma the women face.   Their two brothers have been killed fighting on opposing sides of a battle and the new king, their uncle, has decreed that the one who fought on the opposing side to him may not, on penalty of death, be buried or mourned.  Antigone is beside herself as she explains this to Ismene and challenges her, demanding to know what she will do:  “There you have it.  You’ll soon show what you are, worth your breeding, Ismene, or a coward – for all your

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