Antigone Plot Analysis

Initial Situation

Antigone arrives in Thebes and finds that her brothers are dead, Polyneices’s dead body is unburied, and there is a royal edict against burying him.

This is what’s up at the beginning of the book. We even have a little bit of conflict right off the bat.

Conflict

Antigone wants to bury Polyneices even though it is against the law and asks Ismene for help. Ismene refuses.

Antigone discovers that if she’s going to bury her brother, she’s going to have to go it alone.

Complication

Antigone buries Polyneices, but is caught and brought to Creon. Antigone challenges Creon’s decision and moral authority to prohibit the burial.

Antigone’s situation gets worse. (You weren’t supposed to disagree with the King. Ever.)

Climax

Creon sentences Antigone to death and locks her away.

We told you you’re not supposed to argue with the King. Antigone’s fate is sealed.

Suspense

Haemon, Teiresias, and the Chorus all plead with Creon to let Antigone go.

Although Antigone seems destined to die, there is hope again that she will be released.

Denouement

Creon decides, grudgingly, to release Antigone.

Creon’s reversal of his decision offers final hope to Antigone.

Conclusion

When Creon arrives to release Antigone, he finds that she, Haemon, and his wife have all killed themselves.

Creon’s decision came too late. The play ends.