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    The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone
    The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone
    The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone
    Ebook81 pages54 minutes

    The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone

    By Sophocles and Seamus Heaney

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Sophocles' play, first staged in the fifth century B.C., stands as a timely exploration of the conflict between those who affirm the individual's human rights and those who must protect the state's security. During the War of the Seven Against Thebes, Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, learns that her brothers have killed each other, having been forced onto opposing sides of the battle. When Creon, king of Thebes, grants burial of one but not the "treacherous" other, Antigone defies his order, believing it her duty to bury all of her close kin. Enraged, Creon condemns her to death, and his soldiers wall her up in a tomb. While Creon eventually agrees to Antigone's release, it is too late: She takes her own life, initiating a tragic repetition of events in her family's history.

    In this outstanding new translation, commissioned by Ireland's renowned Abbey Theatre to commemorate its centenary, Seamus Heaney exposes the darkness and the humanity in Sophocles' masterpiece, and inks it with his own modern and masterly touch.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJan 13, 2014
    ISBN9781466855489
    The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone
    Author

    Sophocles

    Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than or contemporary with those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides.

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    Reviews for The Burial at Thebes

    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      Studied for a course, but surprisingly enjoyable. Thought-provoking and an easy version to read. It makes me want to re-read Kamila Shamsie's "Home Fire" now I am more familiar with the story.
    • 5/5


      Seamus Heaney's translation is outstanding!
    • 5/5
      Aargh.Seamus Heaney is a great poet and a great translator - I love his Beowulf - and this is a well done and moving translation of the Sophocles original. Except for one thing; Heaney goes overboard in making sure his readers understand that Creon is supposed to be George W. Bush, and Antigone a war protester. Just in case you don't get it from the play's text, he explains it in his introduction.In one of those interesting examples of connectivity among various books with seemingly unrelated topics, The Blank Slank mentions Antigone as the one work of literature that discusses every possible area of human conflict - young versus old, men versus women, lovers versus kin, humans versus the divine, state versus family, and living versus dead.
    • 4/5
      I recently read the Fagles' translation of Sophocles' Antigone and had thought that this would make a nice companion piece. I had thought based on the title that this was an adaptation of the play but it turned out to be a fairly straight-forward translation. Heaney brings his own poetic gifts to the translation and I would recommend this 'version' to anyone interested in reading this play.Here is an example of Heaney's translation, in a passage at the beginning of the play (Antigone is talking to her sister Ismene):This is law and orderIn the land of good King Creon.This is his edict for youAnd for me, Ismene, for me!And he's coming to announce it."I'll flush 'em out," he says."Whoever isn't for usIs against us in this case.Whoever breaks this law,I'll have them stoned to death."In the afterword, Heaney discusses his doubts about creating a new translation and how, in 2003, he saw the Bush administration reenacting much of the play's situation in its tactics & arguments for the war on Iraq. In these days of Donald Trump's unexpectedly (at least to me) successful candidacy, rereading this play might be a good idea for many Americans!
    • 4/5
      This is an enjoyable translation of the Greek tragedy, *Antigone*. King Creon learns of the deaths of two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, the sons of Oedipus. Both died in the battle that ended with the salvation of Thebes, but Polyneices is deemed a traitor and, unlike the hero Eteocles, he is denied a proper burial. Further, Creon decrees that any who undertake to bury Polyneices shall be in violation of his law and subject to grave punishment. Antigone cannot fathom allowing one of her brothers to lie exposed to the elements and wild animals; she determines to bury Polyneices despite King Creon's dictate. This she does and is locked in a cave in the hills to suffer a slow death. This being Greek tragedy, Creon's own son, who happens to be Antigone's fiancé, rushes to her rescue. Too late, for Antigone has taken her own life. Overwhelmed with grief, Haemon follows suit, leaving Creon desolate and depraved. There is more but suffice it to say that this is modernized Greek tragedy at its best. Heaney retains the tone, the rhythm, and the structure of the original while rendering the story accessible for the 21st century reader.
    • 3/5
      I've always been interested in Sophocles' works -- which is good, since I studied Oedipus for both GCSE and A Level Classics; I more or less had to like it -- and I was intrigued when I saw that Seamus Heaney had done a 'translation'. This is less of a translation and more of a version: I wouldn't use it for scholarly study of the play itself, though it would be interesting in studying modern rewritings and retellings of ancient myths. He keeps the play format, and some of it is really, really good poetry, though it threw me off that as usual with Heaney, there was a lot of colloquial language. I'm used to the play in a quite formal, conservative translation, which doesn't help.

      It'd be a bit of a shock to an unsuspecting Classics student, I'm sure, but it's also a very lively and interesting read. I'm not sure what I think about this trend of 'updating' the classics to make them more readable for a modern audience, but Heaney does it well.

    Book preview

    The Burial at Thebes - Sophocles

    The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

    TO MARIANNE McDONALD

    Table of Contents

    Title Page

    Copyright Notice

    Dedication

    Characters

    Begin Reading

    A Note on the Burial at Thebes

    Also by Seamus Heaney

    About the Author

    Copyright

    THE BURIAL AT THEBES was first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on April 5, 2004. The cast, in order of appearance:

    ANTIGONE

    Ruth Negga

    ISMENE

    Kelly Campbell

    CHORUS

    Barry McGovern

    Garrett Keogh

    CREON

    Lorcan Cranitch

    GUARDS

    Aidan Kelly

    Mark D’Aughton

    HAEMON

    Owen McDonnell

    TIRESIAS

    Stephen Brennan

    TIRESIAS’S BOY

    Alan McMahon

    William O’Sullivan

    MESSENGERS OF THE PALACE

    Aaron Monaghan

    Mark D’Aughton

    EURYDICE

    Cathy Belton

    DIRECTOR

    Lorraine Pintal

    DESIGNER

    Carl Fillion

    LIGHTING DESIGNER

    Paul Keogan

    COSTUME DESIGNER

    Joan O’Clery

    CHARACTERS

    ANTIGONE

    ISMENE

    CREON

    HAEMON

    TIRESIAS

    EURYDICE

    CHORUS

    GUARD

    MESSENGER

    The scene is Thebes, in front of CREON’s palace, just as the dawn is breaking. ANTIGONE and ISMENE enter hastily.

    ANTIGONE

    Ismene, quick, come here!

    What’s to become of us?

    Why are we always the ones?

    There’s nothing, sister, nothing

    Zeus hasn’t put us through

    Just because we are who we are—

    The daughters of Oedipus.

    And because we are his daughters

    We took what came, Ismene,

    In public and in private,

    Hurt and humiliation—

    But this I cannot take.

    No, wait.

    Here’s what has happened.

    There’s a general order issued

    And again it hits us hardest.

    The ones we love, it says,

    Are enemies of the state.

    To be considered traitors—

    ISMENE

    How so? What do you mean?

    ANTIGONE

    I mean—have you not heard?

    ISMENE

    What I heard was enough.

    Our two brothers are dead,

    The Argos troops withdrawn

    And the pair of us left to cope.

    But what’s next, I don’t know.

    ANTIGONE

    That’s why I came outside.

    The walls in there have ears.

    This is for your ears only.

    ISMENE

    What is it? You have me scared.

    ANTIGONE

    And right you are to be scared.

    Creon has made a law.

    Eteocles has been buried

    As a soldier, with full honours,

    So he’s gone home to the dead.

    But not Polyneices.

    Polyneices is denied

    Any burial at all.

    Word has come down from Creon.

    There’s to be no laying to rest,

    No mourning, and the corpse

    Is to be publicly dishonoured.

    His body’s to be dumped,

    Disposed of like a carcass,

    Left out for the birds to feed on.

    If you so much as throw him

    The common handful of clay

    You’ll have committed a crime.

    This is law and order

    In the land of good King Creon.

    This is his edict for you

    And for me, Ismene, for me!

    And he’s coming to announce it.

    I’ll flush ‘em out, he says.

    "Whoever isn’t for us

    Is against us in this case.

    Whoever breaks this law,

    I’ll have them stoned to death."

    I say,

    He has put it to us.

    I say,

    It’s a test you’re facing,

    Whether you are who you are,

    True to your seed and breed

    And generation, or whether—

    ISMENE

    Antigone

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