How would you direct the actors playing Antigone and Ismene in the prologue? What themes and relationships would you intend to show?

Authors Avatar

How would you direct the actors playing Antigone and Ismene in the prologue? What themes and relationships would you intend to show?

I would set my version of Antigone in a Nazi Germany Concentration Camp and Antigone and Ismene would be Guards in the Camp and Kreon would be the Chief Guard.  To show the conflict between Eteocles and Polyneices by saying that Eteocles was pro-Hitler and Polyneices was anti-Hitler. Antigone and her sister, Ismene argue because of their different opinions. Ismene feels that although she loved her brother, he is dead, and they should respect the law and not bury him with honour whereas Antigone is the complete opposite, the prologue summarises the moral arguments at the basis of this play, the conflicts of opposing needs and obligations, the individual against the state and divine law opposed to a human law.

The prologue, which the chorus does not overhear, sets up the whole play.  The audience finds out about the two brothers, sons of Oedipus, who have just fought against each other over who should rule Thebes.  Antigone suggests that Kreon's decree is aimed directly at her (line 38: "yes, me, I tell you"), since it is her duty to bury the dead in her family.  Antigone's act of civil disobedience in burying her brother pits divine law against Kreon's civil decree, but it is also an act of direct defiance against her uncle.  Ismene objects to help Antigone partly because of the life of shame she and her sister have already endured as the incestuous daughters of Oedipus and Jocasta.  Also the Prologue sets up the idea that Antigone is the stronger of the two sisters and that Antigone could care less what others want or think is right. Lastly her loyalty is shown to for the dead, regardless of her brother's attack on Thebes.

The costume for Antigone and Ismene will be Gestapo uniforms with the red Nazi armbands and the chorus who will be prisoners who will wear overalls which will be black and white stripes with numbers across their chests.

The personalities of the two sisters; Antigone and Ismene, are as different from one another as night and day. Antigone acts as a free spirit, a defiant individual, while Ismene is content to recognize her limitations as a woman in a male dominated society.

Join now!

Antigone’s spirit is filled with bravery, passion and fury; which allow her to symbolize the very essence of women. She is strong enough to do what her conscious tells her despite the laws of the land. Many examples in the play prove that Antigone’s character is very capable of making her own decisions in the name of justice. First, Antigone opposes Kreon’s law and buries her slain brother; because in her mind it was immoral not to. She does this because she is compassionate and loves her brother very much. Kreon, however, believes that his laws must be upheld and ...

This is a preview of the whole essay