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Antigone
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In Antigone as well as the other Theban Plays, there are very few references to the gods. Hades is the most commonly referenced god, but he is referenced more as a personification of Death. Zeus is referenced a total of 5 times in the entire play, and Apollo is referenced only as a personification of prophecy. This lack of mention portrays the tragic events that occur as the result of human error, and not divine intervention. There ... is no reference to Mount Olympus in the entire play, and indeed the gods are portrayed as chthonic, as near the beginning there is a reference to "Justice who dwells with the gods beneath the earth." This conflicts with the other Athenian tragedians, who reference Olympus often.
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Sophocles' Antigone was produced @442 BCE. Thus it comes first, in order of composition, before Oedipus the King (@430) and Oedipus at Colonus (posthumous, 403). In the order of the Theban saga, though, it would be third, after the death of the father. You must remember it was NOT part of a "Theban trilogy," as contrasted with the Oresteia, which is a true "Mycenaean trilogy." This clears up an apparent conflict: in the Antigone, Ismene says her father died in disgrace, while in OC, he dies redeemed (an example of Greek playwright's latitude in reformulating myths).
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Antigone and Creon's debate has a number of fascinating implications. Antigone's argument is a rebuttal of the Chorus' "Ode to Man." She implies that man has no power over the rites to life and death - that these are functions of the gods, and that since Zeus made no announcement about the burial of Polyneices, she is free to bury him as she likes. The gods' laws live for all time, and no man can suddenly change them or manipulate the penalties surrounding them. Creon, meanwhile, sees such an attitude not as relating to the debate over the powers between man vs. god, but rather in terms of the mundane, mortal struggle between man and woman. For as long as Antigone claims to serve a higher power than Creon, according to Creon she "would be the man." Creon believes that Antigone must be killed to right the balance and ensure that no woman will ever best a man. Indeed, he believes that as long as he stamps out this woman who serves a higher power than himself, he will ensure that man's established laws always reign supreme. Ultimately, then, the battle between Creon and Antigone can be distilled to Creon's tragic flaw: his belief in the absolute supremacy of man's law.
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Do Antigone's choices have anything in common with the choices and situations in Oedipus's life? Is Antigone's tragic fate the result of an inevitable destiny or does she make choices which contribute to the fulfillment of that fate?
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The play Antigone was originally written by Sophocles around 441 B.C. Although Antigone was written first, you can think of it as a sequel to that touchstone of classical Greek drama, Oedipus Rex. It's the Godfather Part 2 of its day. In 1943, French playwright Jean Anouilh found within Sophocles' play elements reflective of his own time and place — France during the Nazi occupation. He stripped Antigone down to its lean essentials, tweaked motivations and characterization, and crafted this powerful contemporary update. So this version isn't about Antigone's choice between human and divine law, as Sophocles' was, but about the conflict between integrity and compromise, especially as that conflict smudges the line between courageous idealism and self-defeating zealotry. After Antigone is caught trying to bury the body, Creon attempts to spare her by asking her to collaborate with him in covering up her crime.
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Creon makes a final appeal, saying that Antigone needs to understand what goes on in the wings of her drama. As a child, she must have known her brothers made her parents unhappy. Polynices was a cruel, vicious voluptuary. Being too cowardly to imprison him, Oedipus let him join the Argive army. As soon as Polynices reached Argos, the attempts on Oedipus' life began. But Eteocles, Thebes' martyr, too plotted to overthrow his father.
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Antigone