The LitCharts ThemeTracker is a mini-version of the entire LitChart. The ThemeTracker provides a quick timeline-style rundown of all the important plot points and allows you to track the themes throughout the work at a glance.
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- Oedipus, king of Thebes, has four children with queen Jocasta: Polynices, Eteocles, Ismene, and Antigone.
- Years later, Oedipus discovers that his real parents were not the people who raised him. He is actually the son of Laius and Jocasta. He unknowingly killed Laius and is married to his own mother. His children are also his siblings.
- Jocasta kills herself. Oedipus gouges out his own eyes and is banished from Thebes.
- In Oedipus’s absence, Polynices and Eteocles struggle for power. Eteocles wins the throne and exiles Polynices, who moves to Argos and raises an army to attack Thebes. During the battle, Polynices and Eteocles kill each other. Their uncle, Creon, is now king of Thebes.
- Creon’s son Haemon is engaged to Antigone.
- The play begins at the royal palace of Thebes after the invading army of Argos has been defeated.
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1-416
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- Creon decrees that the traitor Polynices’s body will be left to rot, unburied. The punishment for burying Polynices is death. Antigone vows to bury the body.
- Ismene is frightened by Creon’s decree and begs Antigone not to add to their family’s tragedies.
- Antigone is defiant. She feels she is obeying the higher law of the gods, which demand proper burial rites. She grows angry with Ismene and says she no longer welcomes her sister’s help.
- Creon tells the chorus that, although Polynices is his relative, a good leader must do what is best for the nation. Polynices must be left unburied to serve as an example of what happens to traitors.
- A sentry comes with the news that someone has performed burial rites for Polynices and covered him with dirt.
- The chorus chants about man’s ability conquer every obstacle but death.
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417-704
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- The sentry returns with Antigone as a prisoner. They caught her returning to Polynices body to perform more burial rights.
- Antigone tells Creon she was aware of his decree. She chose to break his law because it conflicted with the more important unwritten laws of the gods, which call for proper burial rituals. She says she’s willing to die if she has to.
- Creon says he will not let a woman defy him. He declares that Antigone and Ismene, who he also thinks is guilty, must die.
- Ismene arrives and claims that she’s as guilty as Antigone. Antigone denies it.
- Ismene tries to reason with Creon and begs him not to kill his son Haemon’s fiancée. Creon refuses. Guards take Antigone and Ismene away.
- The chorus chants about the many tragedies of the house of Oedipus. People live at the whim of the gods, who can lay waste to anyone’s power and fortune.
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705-1090
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- Haemon comes to speak to his father. Creon tells him to forget Antigone. He (Creon) must punish her because if people disobey the state’s laws, anarchy will ensue.
- Haemon tells Creon that the Theban people support Antigone’s decision to bury her brother, although they’re too afraid of Creon to say so publicly.
- Haemon asks his father to realize he may have made a mistake. Creon gets angry and starts to sound like a tyrant who doesn’t care what his people think.
- Creon insults Haemon and accuses him of disobedience. Haemon threatens that Antigone’s death will cause another, then rushes away.
- Creon decides to spare Ismene, since she didn’t participate in the crime. He decides to place Antigone into a sealed tomb alive. Either the gods will save her or she’ll starve to death.
- Guards bring Antigone from the palace. She laments her approaching death. The chorus tells Antigone that her own stubbornness has destroyed her.
- Before being led away, Antigone calls out to the gods to make Creon suffer if she is right and he is acting against their wishes.
- The chorus chants about great mythical figures who were also entombed alive.
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1091-1470
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- The blind prophet Tiresias comes to tell Creon that he is making a terrible mistake. Creon is outraged. He accuses Tiresias of false prophecy and of accepting bribes. Tiresias prophesies that the gods will punish Creon for killing Antigone by taking the life of his own child.
- Creon is shaken by the prophecy. The chorus advises him to free Antigone quickly and bury the body of Polynices. Creon rushes off to free Antigone.
- A messenger arrives and says that Haemon discovered that Antigone hanged herself, attacked Creon, then killed himself.
- Creon and his attendants bring Haemon’s body back to the royal house. Creon grieves and calls himself his son’s murderer. A messenger brings the news that Creon’s wife, Eurydice, has cursed Creon for killing their son and then killed herself. Creon is a miserable, broken man. He sees that he has been too stubborn and proud.
- The chorus reminds the audience that the proud are knocked down by fate, but that wisdom is gained through suffering.
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