Section outline

  • Please bring a copy of the play with you if at all possible, in either hard copy or electronic form.

    In advance of the lecture, if you have time, please try to read at least some of the pages/sections of Hegel's work indicated in the online reading list. The material is highly abstract and challenging; the guidance page below should be helpful.

    Before Week 4, please prepare material for The Antigone Inquiry in the Monday seminar. Groups will be allocated, and briefs for each group are available here.

    • The Antigone Inquiry Session 1 Page

      The Monday seminar takes the form of an inquiry hearing, set up to investigate the events and issues that led to the outcomes represented in the play. One group will act as the inquiry panel; others will represent different figures in the play. This page sets out the briefs for each group.

    • Inquiry panel - wiki for preparation
      You can use this wiki to prepare your questions for Session 1.

      Not available unless: You belong to Team A
    • Antigone - wiki for preparation
      You can use this wiki to prepare your statement for Session 1.

      Not available unless: You belong to Team B
    • Creon - wiki for preparation
      You can use this wiki to prepare your statement for Session 1.

      Not available unless: You belong to Team C
    • Chorus - wiki for preparation
      You can use this wiki to prepare your statement for Session 1.

      Not available unless: You belong to Team D
    • Haemon - wiki for preparation
      You can use this wiki to prepare your statement for Session 1.

      Not available unless: You belong to Team E
    • Guidance notes for Hegel on tragedy Page
    • Lacan - key quotations Page
    • Butler - key quotations Page
    • Lecture slides File
      95.9 KB
    • Antigone in performance: Juliette Binoche at the Barbican Folder

      A BBC4 broadcast of a 2015 stage performance of Antigone, in Anne Carson's translation. The production involves the illustrious Dutch director Ivo van Hove, and the very well-known actress Juliette Binoche as Antigone. It's worth reflecting on what Binoche brings to the role.

      Click here to access the video via the Box of Broadcasts (BoB), a database available to UK educational institutions. You'll be prompted to login via Queen Mary, and will be sent a verification email if it's your first visit to BoB.

    • Key quotations from an important edition of the Greek text Page

      Quotations on this page are taken from the introduction to Sophocles, Antigone, ed. Mark Griffith (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). Griffith typically abbreviates various names: the author's name becomes 'S.' the play's title is 'Ant.', etc. He also transliterates Greek names in ways that reflect modern scholarly practice rather than traditional anglicized forms: hence he refers to 'Kreon', 'Oidipous', and so on. You'll soon get used to this. Some of his comments are very useful not only for an understanding of Antigone, but also in relation to your first assignment. For example, he shows how S. made major changes to the story of Ant. [see, this abbreviation habit is catching] in the interests of arousing pity and fear. You may find this useful when preparing your plot summary and reflective commentary, in showing how inventively you can treat your source material.