There is a choral episode between two episodes. It consists of Senators of Thebes. It serves many purposes. In the ancient Greek plays, there used to be few actors (three traditionally) and only two characters would be on stage at any given time, later increased to three by Sophocles. Thus the choral episodes allowed the actors to go off stage and change their costumes to suit the character they were about to play.
The chorus prepares us for the any upcoming dialogue and action. In the first chorus, we are told of Creon coming to power (“the King is here, Creon, Menoecus’ son, draws near ;”), and the following episode begins with his acceptance speech. The second chorus talk of Antigone as a “prisoner” and she is brought in captured by the Sentinel. The third Chorus is a short one that talks of Ismene waiting “out by the doors” of Creon’s room and “weeping drops of sisterly grieving”, and the following episode begins with Creon, Ismene and Antigone’s dialogue and Ismene pleading to be punished along with her sister. Just like this, the chorus prepares us for the next episode. This form of introduction is effective. It prepares the audience for the next scene and simplifies the shifts in scene which may have confused people who saw the play.
The narration by the chorus also gives us the account of the third person and gives us the opinion of the common man, on the actions of Creon and Antigone. The fifth chorus serves as the best example, when Antigone joins in the recitation and says she is “unhappy”, and the chorus feels pity for her. This shows how the chorus agrees with Antigone, and the transition in its viewpoint from calling Creon the “heaven sent change” to calling Antigone, whom he punished, “godlike” Viewed only from the two main characters eyes, each characters own action will seem correct, and the others wrong.
The chorus also gives us background history of matters. In the first chorus, we are told of the battle between Polynices and Eteocles, and their “common fate” of death by each others “lances”. It also gives us hints of the action that has taken place off stage, for example, in the first chorus, Antigone is called a “prisoner” and she is brought in as a captive by the Sentinel in the following episode.
This also shows an important characteristic of Sophocles’ play. Throughout the book, we never “see” any physical action i.e. we are always told, by a third character, or by the chorus what action has taken place behind the stage. For example, the Sentinel narrates what had happened to Polynices body, and how Antigone was capture, but the viewers of the play and readers never see it happen on stage. The same is seen when the Messenger tells the Senator of Haemon’s death, and when he tells Creon of Eurydice’s suicide. This was done because of the low number of actors allowed on stage.
Since we don’t see any physical action as the first person, it is clear that the only action we see is in the form of dialogue. The dialogue of this play is its action. This is because of the customs of traditional Greek tragic plays of limiting the number of actors. Sophocles intended to expound the message that a fall is preceded by pride, or hubris. Hence the use of dialogue as action is appropriate. Dialogue is perhaps more important than physical action as the theme of this play is the clash of two idealistic people, and how they refuse to budge from their views even though many others warn them. We learn of the strength of the two characters and their beliefs in their ideals through their dialogue. Antigone is told she desires “impossibilities” by Ismene, yet it is clear Antigone will stick to her plan of burying Polynices and will accept death as penalty. Haemon tries to convince Creon by saying “the populace of Thebes” disagrees with his decision of Antigone, yet Creon decides to go through with his actions of putting Antigone in a “rock hewn cave”.
By dialogue, we also see the vulnerability and feeling of characters in the play, a side of them that is different to what they show to others. In Antigone’s monologue we see her helplessness as she fears dying “friendless, unwept, unwed”. She immediately changes, however, in front of Creon and becomes adamant and proud.
Due the dialogue we see the arrogance and hubris of Creon, the way he dismisses Haemon as a “boy” whose advice he will not take, the way he addresses his subordinates as he accuses the sentinel of “sell(ing)” his “soul” and covering Polynices’ body for money. We see in his dialogue with Tiresias that he has respect only for those who will follow him. He says that “reverend” Tiresias has “done” him “Good service”, but then calls him “covetous” when Tiresias tells him to undo his will of entombing Antigone. We also see a change in Creon from the start of the play, when he is confident of himself, to the end, when he is unhappy, and realises “the fault was mine (Creon’s)” because of which Haemon and Eurydice killed themselves. Thus the dialogue also helps in expounding Sophocles’ message that pride always precedes a fall.
I feel that the structure of the play and the way the action unfolds in this play was good for the time when it was written, but is not appropriate for contemporary times. Introducing physical action may actually help the developing of the themes and message of the play. I feel that even in a play “actions speak louder than words”, hence the excellent dialogue would be complemented by the action. The dialogue and character development in the play is excellent, and choral recitations are excellent in helping create suspense, diffuse tension between two dramatic episodes and give the opinion of the populace of Thebes, rather than the main characters of the play. Taking in account the time when the play was written, and the constraints on Sophocles’ regarding play structure when writing this play, Antigone is a suspenseful and effective tragic play.
