Antigone

by

Sophocles

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Antigone's Tomb Symbol Analysis

Antigone's Tomb Symbol Icon
Creon chooses to execute Antigone by sealing her in a tomb alive. As Tiresias points out, Creon has ordered that a dead body (Polynices's) be left above ground and has ordered the entombment of a live person. Antigone's live entombment is a symbol of Creon's perversion of the natural order of things, which violate the social and religious customs of death and meddles with the affairs of the underworld.

Antigone's Tomb Quotes in Antigone

The Antigone quotes below all refer to the symbol of Antigone's Tomb. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Blindness vs. Sight Theme Icon
).
Lines 705-1090 Quotes
But if these men are wrong, let them suffer
nothing worse than they mete out to me—
these masters of injustice!
Related Characters: Antigone (speaker), Creon
Related Symbols: Antigone's Tomb
Page Number: 1019-1021
Explanation and Analysis:
Still the same rough winds, the wild passion
raging through the girl.
Related Characters: The Chorus (speaker), Antigone
Related Symbols: Antigone's Tomb
Page Number: 1022-1023
Explanation and Analysis:
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Antigone's Tomb Symbol Timeline in Antigone

The timeline below shows where the symbol Antigone's Tomb appears in Antigone. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Lines 705-1090
Blindness vs. Sight Theme Icon
Civil Disobedience Theme Icon
Fate vs. Free Will Theme Icon
...enters, and tells the guards to interrupt her lament, to take her away, build a tomb, and place her in it. (full context)
Lines 1091-1470
Natural Law Theme Icon
Fate vs. Free Will Theme Icon
...went to bury Polynices. Just as they were finishing, they heard a cry at Antigone's tomb that sounded like Haemon's voice, and rushed over. At the tomb, they found Antigone hanged... (full context)