The Missing Dialogue in Antigone
After reading Antigone, one might feel that there is lacking a dialogue between Antigone and Haimon before their deaths. Sophocles does not include any direct communication between the two lovers during this drama. The reader might assume that such a conversation could have taken place but was not included by Sophocles; however, it is my belief that if a conversation occurred between Antigone and Haimon prior to their deaths, Sophocles would have made it a part of his drama. Since Antigone is a work of fiction, we cannot assume anything which we are not told. We must take the situation to be exactly as Sophocles portrays it to us. This leaves the reader to determine the importance of Antigone and Haimon not speaking together alone before their deaths. When we look at the nature of the drama, we see that the point Sophocles is trying to make is a political one.
Oedipus and Antigone; get in 1890; inventory numbe...
English: Painting: Oedipus at Colonus, by Jean-Ant...
Fulchran-Jean Harriet Oedipus at Colonus 1798The absence of Antigone and Haimon speaking alone together adds to this political atmosphere and does not inject the play with a question of romantic love and/or loyalty. Family bonds and loyalty are the crucial issues instead.
The central question of this play is a political one. What should have more power within a society, the divine laws of the gods or the laws of the land and the mortal rulers? Antigone is a representation of the divine laws of the gods, and she remains steadfast to her beliefs that the wishes of the gods should overpower the wishes of the king. Creon, on the other hand, is the representation of the laws of the land and the mortal ruler of society. He, too, remains steadfast (until the end of the play when he realizes the divine laws are stronger) in upholding his laws...