Annotated Bibliography: Creon in Antigone

Tyrell  W. Blake and Bennett J. Larry. Recapturing Sophocles’ Antigone. Washington DC: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1998. Pp. 10-192.

In this book, the authors make a profound analysis of Sophocles’ Antigone in the context of the setting that was there in Athens of the fifth century. The authors attempt to interpret the work in a way that is faithful to the issues and the interests of the fifth-century Athenians as opposed to those of modern scholars and philosophers. As they take the play in the context of the dynamics present in the ancient Athens, the authors make a discussion of the texts on the Antigone in illumination of the contemporary developments in the study of Greek tragedy and Antiquity. They turn to the most modern rituals of lamentations for evocative analogies.

Tyrell and Bennett have been able to analyze the past and the present of the texts on the topics and managed to come up with a compelling book that opens up new insights into the text. It challenges the validity of the old texts and eases the difficulties in their interpretation. The book is, therefore, a significant contribution to the core projects of classical scholarship in the recent years. It highlights the essence of social and political contexts in the interpretation of the ancient works. One of the classic examples in the book is the linkage of the authors between Antigone and the Athenian public funerals and the related funeral orations as they draw on historical events such as Samian War and other literature such as Illiad.

MacKay, L.A. "Antigone, Coriolanus, and Hegel". Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 93. (1962), p. 166-174.

MacKay, L.A in this article has provided an all-inclusive insight into the themes of revolt and conflict as demonstrated in the sentiments and the characters of the Antigone play. It is, therefore, a valuable source for the subject area. The article written by an author best known for composing various analytical essay especially on Creon and published in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association makes it highly credible and reliable.

According to Mackay, Sophocles presents a conflict between family loyalty and loyalty to the state, between the demands of the state and the will of the individual and also between politics and piety. The themes have been highlighted in the works and also their importance estimated but for the author and the audience at the first time, it probably was a dramatization of the two principles of political organization that were competing for men’s allegiance. The author presents the issue between Creon and Antigone as being what constitutes Citizenship and not what represents piety. Creon has no quarrel with the gods and he sincerely believes until Tireasis points out that he is doing the gods an adequate service.

Rose. The Problem of the Second Burial in Sophocles' Antigone. The Classical Journal  Vol. 47, No. 6, 1952. Pp. 219-221+251

In the article, the rose can give an account of how the second burial that Antigone performs for her brother is a problem. She states that the burial to Polynices is an issue because the drama in the action was unmotivated. She cites the problem by looking at what the son of the great Wilamowitz says when he states, “For the second visit of Antigone, not the least explanation or motivation is given.” According to Rose, the burial is just fulfilling a demand by the demand propriety that demands for a second burial.

“A summary of the action of the play just before the point where Antigone is brought before Creon by the guards so as to confess the deed will suffice to make this clear.” She draws reference to the play to support her arguments and even makes summaries of the play to support her claims in the works, which makes her article a reliable and valid source of reference when analyzing the Antigone works.

Collins Churton. Sophocles' Antigone. Trans. Robert Whitelaw. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.

The article aims at illustrating the real complexity that underlies the apparent simplicity of the art of Sophocles through the illumination of the ethics of Antigone. The author relates the law that has its sanction with the private conscience, the relations imposed on human beings as citizens and the members of the state as well as the obligations imposed on them at home as members of the family. In support of the major themes of the article, Collins uses the example of Creon when he issued the ruling and justified his brother’s denial of funeral rites although he was the head of the state at the time. Creon also clearly demonstrated the conflict that may be present between responsibilities to the state and those to the family.

Butler, Judith. Antigone's Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Butler is a celebrated author of Gender Trouble. In this book, she redefines the legacy of Antigone recovering her significance and also liberating it for a progressive feminism and sexual politics, she analyzes the incest taboo about kinship. The book demonstrates Antigone as an insurgent in the works of Sophocles and that she was the feminist icon of defiance.

The book further explores the meaning of Antigone wondering what forms of kinship may have allowed her to stay alive. She also considers the works of Hegel, Lacan, and Irigaray. She asks, “Would psychoanalysis be different if it had taken Antigone-the post-oedipal subject other than Oedipus as its part of departure?”