ANTIGONE: Ismene, dear sister, Have they told you of the new decree of our King Creon?

ISMENE: I have heard nothing.

ANTIGONE: I thought so. Sister, there is something we must do.

ISMENE: Why do you speak so strangely?

ANTIGONE: Listen, Ismene. Creon buried our brother Eteocles with military honors, gave him a
soldier’s funeral, but Polyneices, who fought as bravely and died as miserably, They say that Creon has
sworn no one shall bury him, no one mourn for him. And the penalty? Stoning to death in the public
square! There it is. And now you can prove what you are: A true sister or a traitor to your family.
ISMENE: I do not understand you.

ANTIGONE: Ismene, I am going to bury Polyneices!

ISMENE: Bury him! You have just said the new law forbids it.

ANTIGONE: He is my brother. And he is your brother too.

ISMENE: But think of the danger! Think what Creon will do.

ANTIGONE: Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way!

ISMENE: Ah sister! We are only women. We cannot fight with men, Antigone. The law is strong,
We must give in to the law in this thing and worse. I beg the dead to forgive me, but I am helpless: I
must yield to those in authority.

ANTIGONE: If that is what you think, I should not want you, even if you asked to come. You may do
as you like, since apparently the laws of the gods mean nothing to you.

ISMENE: They mean a great deal to me, but I have no strength to break the laws that were made
for the public good.

ANTIGONE: That must be your excuse, I suppose. But as for me, I will bury the brother I love.

ISMENE: Go then if you feel you must. You are unwise, but a loyal friend indeed to those who love
you.

CREON: Gentlemen, I have the honor to inform you that our Ship of State, which recent storms have
threatened to destroy, has come safely to harbor at last. Unfortunately, as you know, the two sons of
Oedipus, Polyneices and Eteocles, have killed each other in battle, and I as the next in blood I have
succeeded to the full power of the throne. I have made the following decision concerning the sons of
Oedipus: Eteocles, who died fighting for Thebes, shall be buried with full military honors, but his
brother, Polyneices, who broke his exile to come back with fire and guns against his native city, is to
have no burial. No man is to touch him or say the least prayer for him; he shall lie on the plain,
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unburied, and the birds and the scavenging dogs can do with him whatever they like. This is my
command. As long as I am King, no traitor is to be honored with the loyal man. But the loyal man shall
have my reverence when he is dead.
GUARD The dead man . . . Polyneices . . . out there . . . someone . . . the body –

CREON The body? What's wrong about the body?

GUARD Chief, I've been seventeen years in the service. Volunteer: two citations. My record's
Clean. I know my business and I know my place-

CREON What's the matter with you, man? What are you shaking for?

GUARD Chief, the body! Somebody had been there and buried him.

CREON My God, I'll—!

CHORAGOS: I have been wondering, King, can it be that the gods have done this?

CREON: [furiously] stop! Must you doddering wrecks go out of your heads entirely? “The Gods!”
Intolerable! The gods favor this corpse? Why? How had he served them? Tried to loot their temples,
burn their images, Yes, and the whole State, and its laws with it? No, from the very beginning there
have been those who have whispered together, stiff-necked anarchists, putting their heads together,
scheming against me in alleys. These are the men, and they have bribed my own guard to do this thing.
[Sententiously] Money! There’s nothing in the world so demoralizing as money! Down go your cities,
homes gone, men gone, honest hearts corrupted, Crookedness of all kinds, and all for money!

GUARD It wasn’t much, you understand. Just covered over with a little dirt, that’s all. But enough to
hide it from the buzzards.

CREON (Looks intently at the Guard,) You are sure that it couldn't have been—a dog, scratching
up the Earth?

GUARD Not a chance, Chief. That's kind of what we hoped it was. But the earth was scattered
over the body just like the priests tell you “you should do it”. Whoever did that job knew what he was
doing, all right.

CREON Who could have dared? — Was there an indication as to who might have done it?

GUARD Not a thing, Chief. Maybe we heard a footstep. I can't swear to it. Of course we started
right in to search, and the corporal found a shovel, a kid's shovel no bigger than that all rusty and
everything. Corporal's got the shovel for you. We thought maybe a kid did it.

CREON A kid!—I broke the back of the rebellion; but like a snake, it is coming together
again…A kid. Look here, you. Who knows about this?

GUARD Only us three, Chief. We flipped a coin, and I came right over.

CREON Right. Listen, now. You will continue on duty. You will uncover the body; keep a sharp
watch, and if another attempt is made to give the corpse burial, you will make an arrest and bring the
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prisoner straight to me. And you will keep your mouths shut about this. Not one word to a human
soul. You are all guilty of neglect of duty, and you will be punished; but if the rumor spreads through
Thebes that the body received burial, you will be shot—all of you.

CHORUS And now the spring is wound up tight! It will uncoil of itself. That is what is so convenient
in tragedy. You don't need to lift a finger. The machine is in perfect order: it has been oiled ever since
time began, and it runs without friction. Death, treason, and sorrow, are on the march; and they move
in the wake of storm, of tears, of stillness.

HAEMON (Entering) Antigone!

ANTIGONE Haemon, Haemon! Forgive me for quarreling with you last night. Forgive me for
everything. It was all my fault. Oh, I beg you to forgive me.

HAEMON You know that I've forgiven you. You had hardly slammed the door; your perfume still
hung in the room, when I had already forgiven you.

ANTIGONE Oh, what a fool I was! To waste a whole evening! A whole, beautiful evening!

HAEMON We'll have other evenings. And other quarrels, too. A happy love is full of
quarrels.
ANTIGONE A happy love, yes. Haemon, listen to me.

HAEMON Yes?

ANTIGONE And don't laugh at me this morning. Be serious.

HAEMON I am serious.
ANTIGONE And hold me tight. Tighter than you have ever held me. I want all your strength to flow
into me.

HAEMON There! With all my strength.

(kiss)

ANTIGONE Oh, you do love me, don't you? You love me as a woman—as a woman wants to be
loved, don't you?

HAEMON Antigone, my darling—I love you.

ANTIGONE Swear, first, that you will go away without a single word. Without so much as looking at
me. You hear me, Haemon. Swear, please.

HAEMON I swear it.

ANTIGONE Well, here it is. First, about last night, the reason why I went to your house last night was
that I wanted you to take me. I wanted to be your wife—before. I wanted to be your wife last night

3
because I love you that way very—very strongly. And also—because—I'm going to cause you such a lot
of pain. I wanted it also because I shall never— never be able to marry you, never.

HAEMON Antigone—!

ANTIGONE Haemon! You took a solemn oath! You swore! Leave me now! Tomorrow the whole thing
will be clear to you. Even before tomorrow: this afternoon. Go now. It's the only thing left that you can
do for me if you still love me.

(They both exit)

GUARD Come on, now, Miss, give it a rest. The Chief will be here in a minute and you
can tell him about it. All I know is my orders.

ANTIGONE You are hurting me. Take your dirty hands off me.

GUARD Dirty hands, eh ? And what about stiffs, and dirt, and such like. You wasn't afraid
to touch them, were you? "your dirty hands.'" Take a look at your own dirty hands!

ANTIGONE Let me go. I won't run away. My father was King Oedipus. I am Antigone.

CHORAGUS: What does this mean? Surely this captive woman is the princess Antigone? Why should
she be taken?

Sentry: Here is the one who did it! We caught her in the very act of burying him. Where
is Creon?

CHORAGUS: Just coming from the house.

[Enter Creon]

CREON: What has happened? Why have you come back so soon? !

Sentry: Here is the woman. She is the guilty one: We found her trying to bury Polyneices
again! Take her, then; question her; judge her as you will. I am through with this whole thing now, and
glad of it.

CREON: But this is Antigone! Why have you brought her here?

Sentry: She was burying him, I tell you.

CREON: [angrily] Is this the truth?

ANTIGONE Yes, it is true.

CREON And was it you who covered the body the first time? In the night?

ANTIGONE Yes, it was.

4
CREON: [To sentry] You may go. [To Antigone] Tell me briefly: Had you heard my proclamation
touching this matter?

ANTIGONE: It was public. Could I help hearing it?

CREON: And yet you defy the law?

ANTIGONE: I dared. It was not God’s proclamation. Your edict, king, was strong, but all your
strength is weakness against the immortal unrecorded laws of God. [Pause] You smile at me Creon.
You think me a fool, but it may well be that a fool convicts me of folly.

CREON: Polynices was a rebel and a traitor, and you know it.

ANTIGONE He was my brother.

CREON Did you by any chance act on the assumption that a daughter of Oedipus was
above the law?

ANTIGONE I did not act on that assumption.

CREON Pride? This girl is guilty of a double insolence. Breaking the laws and then boasting of it.
Who is the man here, she or I, if the crime goes unpunished? Go, some of you, Arrest Ismene. I accuse
her equally.

ANTIGONE: [desperately] But Creon, what do you want more than my death?

CREON: Nothing. That gives me everything.

ANTIGONE: Then I beg you: kill me.

CHORAGOS: But see, Ismene comes. Those tears are sisterly and sorrowful!

CREON: Ismene, do you confess your share in this crime, or do you deny it? Answer me.

ISMENE: Yes, if Antigone will let me say so. I am guilty.

ANTIGONE: [coldly] No, Ismene. You have no right to say so. You would not help me.

ISMENE: But now I know what you meant; and I am here to join you, to take my share of the
punishment.

ANTIGONE You hear that, Creon? (She turns toward Creon,) The thing is catching! Who knows but
that others will catch the disease from me! What are you waiting for? Call in your guards! Come on,
Creon! Show a little courage!

CREON: [to the chorus] Gentlemen, I beg you to observe these girls: One has just now lost her mind;
the other, it seems, never had a mind at all. Guard!

5
ANTIGONE (in a great cry of relief) At last, Creon! Look upon me, friends, and pity me. Remember
that I died because I would not transgress the laws of the gods. [To the guard] Come, let us wait no
longer. [exit guards and Antigone]

ISMENE: O King, but how could you sentence Antigone to death knowing that she is to marry
your own son!

CREON: I want no wicked women for my sons!

ISMENE: O, dearest Haimon, how your father wrongs you!

CREON: I’ve had enough of this childish talk of marriage.

CHORAGUS: Do you really intend to steal this girl for your son?

CREON: No, death will do that for me.

CHORAGUS: Then she must die?

CREON She had to die.

CHORUS You must not let Antigone die. We shall carry the scar of her death for centuries.

CREON No man on earth was strong enough to dissuade her. Polynices was a mere
pretext.

HAEMON Father!

CREON Forget Antigone, Haemon. Forget her, my dearest boy.

HAEMON How can you talk like that?

CREON I did everything I could to save her, Haemon I used every argument. 1 swear I did. The
girl doesn't love you. She could have gone on living for you; but she refused. She wanted it this way:
she wanted to die.

HAEMON Father! They are dragging Antigone away! You've got to stop them!

CREON I can't stop them. It's too late. Antigone has spoken. I cannot save her now.

HAEMON You must!

CREON I cannot.

HAEMON Recall your edict. Bury Polynices.

CREON Too late. The law must be obeyed. I can do nothing.

HAEMON But, Father, you are master in Thebes!

6
CREON I am master under the law. Not above the law.

HAEMON But you made that law yourself, and what you ordained, you can repeal. You cannot let
Antigone be taken from me.

CREON I cannot do anything else, my boy. She must die and you must live.

HAEMON Live! For what? A life without Antigone? A life in which I am to go on admiring you as
you busy yourself about your kingdom; go on admiring you as you make your persuasive speeches and
strike your attitudes? Not without Antigone. I love Antigone.

CREON Haemon—you will have to resign yourself to life without Antigone. Sooner or
later there comes a day of sorrow in each man's life when he must cease to be a child and take up the
burden of being a man. That day has come for you.

HAEMON That giant strength, that courage. That massive god who used to pick me up in his arms
and shelter me from shadows and monsters—was that you, Father ? Was it of you I stood in awe ?
Was that man you?

CREON Yes, that was me.

HAEMON You are not that man today. For if you were, you'd know that your enemies were
abroad in every street. You'd know that the people revere those gods that you despise. You cannot put
Antigone to death. She will not have been dead an hour, before shame will sit on every Theban
forehead and horror will fill every Theban heart. Already the people curse you because you do not
bury Polynices. If you kill Antigone, they will hate you!

CREON Silence! That edict stands!

(Haemon stares at Creon for a moment, then turns and quickly goes out)

CHORUS Creon, the gods have a way of punishing injustice.

CREON (contemptuously) The gods!

CHORUS Creon, that boy is wounded to death.

CREON (Turns to Chorus) We are all wounded to death.

CHORAGUS: Gone, gone. Creon, a young man in a rage is dangerous.

CREON: Let him do, or dream to do, more than a man can. He shall not save these girls from
death.

[Enter Tiresias, the old blind prophet.]

7
TIRESIAS: This is the way the blind man comes, Princes, Princes, lock-step, two heads lit by the
eyes of one.

CREON: What newest thing have you to tell us, old Tiresias?

TIRESIAS: I have much to tell you: listen to the prophet, Creon.

CREON: I am not aware that I have ever failed to listen.

TIRESIAS: Then you have done well and ruled wisely, King. But now you stand once more at the
edge of fate.

CREON: What do you mean? Your words are a kind of dread.

TIRESIAS: Listen, Creon. I was in my place of augury where the birds gather around me. They were
all a-chatter, as is their habit, when suddenly I heard a strange note in their jangling, a scream, a
whirring fury; I knew that they were fighting, tearing each other, dying—and I was afraid. This was a
sign from heaven.

CREON: What do you mean?

TIRESIAS: I tell you Creon, you yourself have brought this new calamity upon us. Our hearts and
altars are stained with the corruption of dogs and carrion birds that glut themselves on the corpse of
poor Polyneices. The gods are deaf when we pray to them, their fire recoils from our offering, their
birds of omen have no cry of comfort, for they are gorged with the thick blood of the dead. O, my son,
these are not trifles! Think: all men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is
wrong and repairs the evil he has done. The only crime is pride. Give in to the dead man.

CREON: No, Tiresias, If your birds—if the great eagles of God himself should carry him stinking
bit by bit into heaven, I would not yield. I am not afraid of pollution.

TIRESIAS: Then take this, and take it to heart! [In a warning voice] The time is not far off when you
shall pay back corpse for corpse, flesh for flesh. You have denied the dead a grave, and this is your
crime. The Furies, and the dark gods of hell are swift with terrible punishment for you. Not many days
hence and your house will be full of men and women weeping, and curses will be hurled to you

CHORAGOS: The old man has gone, king, but his words remain to plague us. I am old, but I cannot
remember that he was ever false.

CREON: That is true, and it troubles me. Oh, it is hard to give in, but it is worse to risk everything
for stubborn pride.

CHORAGOS: Take my advice. Go quickly and free Antigone from her vault, and build a tomb for
Polyneices

CREON: I will do it; I will not fight with destiny! The laws of the gods are mighty and a
man must serve them to the last days of his life!

8
CHORUS: Creon was the most rational, the most persuasive of tyrants. But like all tyrants, he
refused to distinguish between the things that are Caesar's and the things that are God's. Antigone did
her part. She arose like a clarion call to remind men of this distinction. Their cause is always the
same—a passionate belief that moral law exists, and a passionate regard for the sanctity of human
dignity.

CHORUS What do you want? What have you to tell ?

SECOND LIEUTENANT News to break your heart. Antigone had been thrust into the cave. They
hadn't finished heaving the last blocks of stone into place, when Creon and the rest heard a sudden
moaning from the tomb.

FIRST LIEUTENANT A hush fell over us all, for it was not the voice of Antigone. It was Haemon's
voice that came forth from the tomb. Antigone had hanged herself by the cord of her robe, by the red
and golden twisted cord of her robe. The cord was round her neck like a child's collar.

SECOND LIEUTENANT Haemon was on his knees, holding her in his arms and moaning, his face
buried in her robe. More stones were removed, and Creon went intothe tomb. He tried to raise
Haemon to his feet.

FIRST LIEUTENANT I could hear him begging Haemon to rise to his feet. Haemon was deaf to his
father's voice; till suddenly he stood up of his own accord, his eyes dark and burning. Anguish was in
his face. He stared at his father.

SECOND LIEUTENANT Then suddenly he struck him— hard in the face, then he pulled out a knife
and lunged at his father. Creon leapt out of range. Haemon went on staring at him, his eyes full of
contempt—a glance that Creon couldn't escape.

FIRST LIEUTENANT The king stood trembling at the far corner of the tomb, and Haemon went on
staring. Then, without a word, he stabbed himself and lay down beside Antigone, (Creon enters)
embracing her in a great pool of blood.

(The Messenger turns and looks at Creon, then goes)

CREON: I have had them laid out side by side. They are together at last, and at peace. Two
lovers on the morrow of their bridal. Their work is done. They are all asleep. (A pause) It must be good
to sleep.

CHORUS : Tomorrow they will sleep sweetly in the earth, Creon. And you will bury them. You
who would not bury Polynices today will bury Eurydice and Haemon tomorrow. And Antigone, too. The
gods take a hand in every game, Creon. Even in politics.
CREON: The task is there to be done. They say it's dirty work. But if I didn't do it, who would?
CHORUS: Why must dirty work "be done?” (A pause) And now you are alone, Creon.
CREON Yes, all alone. I have been rash and foolish. I have killed my son and my wife. I look
for comfort: my comfort lies here dead. Whatever my hands have touched has come
to nothing. Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust.

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