Burial at Thebes

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Recommended: A burial at Thebes赏析

The central conflicts within Antigone speak to people through the centuries as relevant to their way of life or the violent situations they find themselves in.

The lesser disputes mostly centre around family feuding. The argument between siblings (Antigone and Ismene) and the strife between father and son (Creon and Haemon) are illustrations of clashes within many families.

The arguments between the Ruler and People (Chorus/Guard) and his adviser (Tiresias) feed into the central dispute between Ruler and Rebel as personified by Creon and Antigone.

. The two sisters’ disagreement in the first pages (1 to 7) is pertinent to families throughout history. Sibling rivalry is a major point in the play as the death of Polyneices was at the hands of his own brother so a continuation of the discord between the children of Oedipus is to be expected. The first sister, with a profound sense of duty to her family, has given her life up to caring for her blind father in exile until his death while the other has stayed safely at home in the house of her Uncle. It is inevitable that Antigone‘s outrage is more pronounced than Ismene’s and her anger at the appearing lack of sibling solidarity is not surprising. In any time or place when one sibling takes the family business on their own shoulders it is natural for there to be trouble with the other members of the family who may be seen to be having an easier time of things or protected from the big decisions required. Ismene has been well looked after in the house of the King and sees no reason to ‘rock the boat’ She has always occupied the ‘appropriate female role’ within the palace and was probably looking forward to a ‘good’ marriage and a long, comfortable life. The conflict is therefore als...

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... London, Hamlyn. p347-356

Ed. Bahn, P. (1996) The Story of Archaeology, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

Gibbon, E. (1979 [1776]) Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [abridged and illustrated] London, Saturn Books.

Gibson, M. (1977) Gods, Men and Monsters, Glasgow, Peter Lowe.

May, R. (1986) History of the Theatre, London, Hamlyn.

Stafford-Deitsch, J. (2010) Kingdom of Ruins, London, I.B. Taurus and Co.

Vulliamy, C.E. (1926) Immortality, Funerary Rites and Customs, London, Methuen

Burial Practice/Court Ruling

http://freethinker.co.uk/2010/02/11/holy-smoke-british-hindu-wins-court-battle-for-a-funeral-pyre-send-off/

http://deshika.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/hindu-open-air-cremations-to-go-ahead-in-britain/

(Accessed 26.03.11)

Mythic Women Juxtaposed

http://www.annstewartanderson.com/galleries/mythic-women/Rosa.html

(Accessed 26.03.11)

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