Draw Connections: Antigone and Seven Against Thebes

Draw Connections: Sophocles’s Antigone and Aeschylus’s Seven Against Thebes

Explorations of the very nature of justice, the difference between righteous and reckless actions, and the participation of the gods in rewarding good and punishing evil are found in many of ancient Greece’s extant writings, some of which were based on myths that had been passed down orally for centuries. The story of Antigone was one of these, possibly rooted in the destruction of Thebes around the thirteenth century B.C.E. but certainly altered and elaborated in the many centuries that followed. Most of Sophocles’s audience would have known the basic plot as Antigone started. However, they would have had to follow the performance to see how Sophocles shaped and framed the specifics to tell his own distinct version of this story. Aeschylus’s Seven Against Thebes (467 B.C.E.) preceded Sophocles’s Antigone by several decades.

Download the Excerpt from Seven Against Thebes and the Annotated Playtext of Antigone documents, and use them to answer the questions below about how each play explores the story of Antigone.

  1. How do the members of the Chorus arrange themselves near the end of Aeschylus’s play, Seven Against Thebes? Does the choice hint at whether Aeschylus, the playwright, supports Antigone’s intention to bury Polyneices? Or does the playwright refuse to take sides?

    Question

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    Chapter 4: How do the members of the Chorus arrange themselves near the end of Aeschylus’s play, Seven Against Thebes? Does the choice hint at whether Aeschylus, the playwright, supports Antigone’s intention to bury Polyneices? Or does the playwright refuse to take sides?
  2. In Sophocles’s play Antigone, Antigone argues with Ismene and Creon about the burial of Polyneices. In Aeschylus’s Seven Against Thebes, Antigone argues with a herald, who serves as a type of town crier. What arguments does the herald make? What arguments does Antigone make?

    Question

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    Chapter 4: In Sophocles’s play Antigone, Antigone argues with Ismene and Creon about the burial of Polyneices. In Aeschylus’s Seven Against Thebes, Antigone argues with a herald, who serves as a type of town crier. What arguments does the herald make? What arguments does Antigone make?
  3. Does the herald’s position as a worker rather than a ruler such as Creon serve to strengthen or weaken his arguments? Explain.

    Question

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    Chapter 4: Does the herald’s position as a worker rather than a ruler such as Creon serve to strengthen or weaken his arguments? Explain.