Sophocles Movie
...brother against the orders of her superiors. Cursed from birth by an act of pride and incest committed by her father many years before, Antigone, as well as the entire House of Oedipus, was doomed. Although Antigone is a valiant and independent woman fighting for a just cause, the Greek gods believed that Antigone had been "polluted" by the actions of her father, who committed incest with his mother. Furthermore, Antigone's brothers Eteocles and Polyneices murdered one another, also an act of sacrilege. Both of these dishonorable acts caused the final ruin of the House of Oedipus.
Classical Greece, also known as the Golden Age around the time of 496-406 B.C., was a time of advancement in the arts and culture. The movie-adaptation of the play by Sophocles gives us deeper insight into Ancient Greece at this time. "Antigone" would have been performed as one of the trilogy plays presented during the yearly Greek Dionysian festival. The oral tradition was carried on through plays where hundreds and maybe even thousands would watch the unfolding of the three plays performed yearly at a festival in honor of the Greek god Dionysus. These plays reflected the philosophical, religious, and customary issues of the time period. In "Antigone", the heroine of the play portrays not only the problems regarding individual belief systems, but also the political impact of mixing religious and moral law with civil law in Athens, Greece. In "Antigone", Sophocles shows the problems that could and would arise in his present-day society as a result of these sometimes conflicting rules and laws. Although Antigone also reflects customs regarding the role of women and men in Greek society, it is more of a warning of the problems associated with mixing the folk customs (ritualistic and religious) and divine law, with civil law.
At the time that "Antigone" was performed,...
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