Antigone by Sophocles - Essay Example

The unity of action limits it to a single set of incidents that are related as cause and effect, "having a beginning, middle, and an end."

Antigone, a play by Sophocles, is based on the story starting with two brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, who died fighting a war against each other. Creon, the new king of Thebes decided not to bury Polyneices as he considered him to be the rebel. Antigone, his sister thought that it was wrong and decided to carry out the deed herself. She called Ismene outside the palace for her help but she refused. Meanwhile, Creon went to the chorus of Theban elders and asked them to support his verdict and they vowed allegiance to him. Then, a sentry came and told Creon that Polyneices has been buried by Antigone. Angry, Creon summoned the sisters and temporarily imprisoned them.

Haemon, Creon’s son and Antigone’s fiancé went to his father and tried to persuade him to release Antigone, but it only resulted in a quarrel. Creon then decided to spare Ismene and imprison Antigone in a cave. Then a blind prophet Teiresias told Creon that the gods were siding Antigone and that he must spare her or face the wrath. The chorus and Creon decided to bury Polyneices. Another messenger then entered telling Creon that Haemon and Antigone have committed suicide. Eurydice, Creon’s wife heard that and went back into the palace. Then, another messenger told that Eurydice has also killed herself. The broken man, Creon, was taken back to the palace.

From the analysis of the play, we can see that it does follow the three unities. Firstly, the unity of time. After the war, the reaction of Creon against Polyneices and Antigone deciding to bury his brother, this was all in a single day. It showed the activities that happened on the day after the war ended. The imprisonment of Ismene and Antigone, the quarrel between Haemon and Creon, the prophecy of Teiresias and the death of Antigone, Haemon and Eurydice.

Secondly, the unity of place was also taken care of. As we can see all the things that happened inside the palace. The whole play was carried out in a single place, for example, Creon’s decision of not burying Polyneices, and all other decisions. Antigone also talked to her sister just outside the palace and the suicides were also committed in the palace. So the stage was set up only according to the palace as it was the only place where all the actions took place.

Lastly, the whole play had a cause-and-effect relationship. For example, in the play, Antigone’s actions had a cause, that was the decision of not burying her brother, this caused Antigone to go against the king and even risk her life. Similarly, the imprisonment of Antigone caused the quarrel between Haemon and Creon. This illustrates the unity of action that if there is an action, there must be a cause forcing it.

The play included all the unities that were set by Aristotle. Its adherence to the unities made it good, but in some places, it would have been better if these unities were infringed. If the unity of place would not have been followed, then, the play could have been extended to other locations and other interesting scenes could have been included. The adherence to the unity of time-limited the time period that the play could cover and thus it reduced the chances of the audience getting fed up. Its adherence to the unity of action made several cause-effect relationships in the play and thus it became easier to understand. So, the play was following the three unities and it made better off.