Antigone

Antigone is Sophocles' tragedy set after a civil conflict in Thebes has ended with the deaths of two brothers. Creon forbids burial for Polyneices, but his sister Antigone regards the rites owed to the dead as binding beyond a ruler's decree. Their confrontation draws Ismene, Haemon and the prophet Tiresias into an increasingly severe crisis. Neither the city's security nor family loyalty can be treated as a simple private preference. Sophocles gives the tragedy its force through delayed recognition: by the time Creon accepts the limits of his judgment, the consequences of his decisions cannot be recalled.