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Scene 1: Creon’s Testimonial

[Creon sits, speaking directly into the camera.]


Ohhh, so senseless, so insane… my crimes. Oh I’ve learned through
blood and tears! The, it was then, when the god came down and
struck me—a great weight shattering, driving me down that wild
savage path, ruining, trampling down my joy. Oh the agony, the
heartbreaking agonies of our lives.

Scene 4: Antigone is Caught and Punished

[Creon enters to find Antigone “burying” Polynices.]


You, with your eyes fixed on the ground—speak up. Do you deny you
did this, yes or no?


I did it. I don’t deny a thing.


Were you aware a decree had forbidden this?


Well aware. How could I avoid it? It was public.


And you still had the gall to break this law?


Of course I did. It wasn’t Zeus(God), not in the least, who made
this proclamation—not to me.

mortal, could override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakeable

Scene 5: Creon Confronts Antigone

[Creon sits angrily, arms crossed, looking directly into camera.]

upset with Creon. to meet this doom of his is precious little pain. Die I must. three feet away. Creon I’m not the man. Lucky tyrants—the perquisites of power! Ruthless power to do and say what pleases them. I’ve known it all my life—how could I keep from knowing?— even without his death sentence ringing in my ears. could fail to find his death a rich reward? Creon Never! Sister’s child or closer in blood than all my family clustered at my altar worshiping Guardian Zeus—she’ll never escape. laughing.] Creon. Antigone So for me. not now: she is the man if this victory goes to her and she goes free. twice over—to glory in it. not out of fear of some man’s wounded pride. [Antigone sits seemingly separately. Who on earth.Creon This girl…she was an old hand at insolence when she overrode the edicts we made public. alive in the midst of so much grief as I. and face the retribution of the gods. [Antigone turns to Creon. at least. Antigone And if I am to die before my time I consider that a gain. and begins argument.] Antigone These laws—I was not about to break them. and unburied corpse—that would have been agony! This is nothing. what more do you want than my arrest and execution? Creon . But once she’d done it—the insolence. But if I had allowed my own mother’s son to rot. mocking me to my face with what she’d done.

Aren’t you ashamed to differ so from them? So disloyal! Antigone Not ashamed for a moment. Enough. Creon Wasn’t Eteocles a brother too—cut down. my own flesh and blood. Give me glory! What greater glory could I win than to give my own brother a decent burial? These students would all agree. begin conversation. such impieties in his eyes? Polynices ravaged our country!—but Eteocles died fighting in our behalf. Creon Never… Never the same for the patriot and the traitor.Nothing. So naturally all I say repels you too. Antigone I was born to join in love. every word you say— pray god it always will. see things that way. not hate—that is my nature. of all the people here. then I have it all. Scene 6: The Prophecy [Creon and Tiresias sit on opposite sides of a desk.] Creon What is it. old Tiresias? What news now? . Creon You alone. not to honor my brother. they’d praise me too if their lips weren’t locked in fear. Antigone No matter—Death longs for the same rites for all. facing him? How can you render his enemy such honors. Antigone Then why delay? Your moralizing repels me.

Tiresias I will teach you. wisdom is the greatest thing we have? You will drive me to utter the dreadful secret in my heart. All men make mistakes. that traitor. reverend old Tiresias. but the wisest fall obscenely when they glorify obscene advice with rhetoric—all for their own gain. misfortune too. Tiresias Oh go. killing the dead twice over? Creon No. I’ve never wavered from your advice before. Now. it’s only human. reflect. Tiresias It’s you. just how much a sense of judgment. my son: you are poised. You are right: all men fall. But once a wrong is done a man can turn his back on folly. once more. if he tries to make amends. I owe you a great deal. Tiresias Never stab the fighter when he’s down. Tiresias And so you kept the city straight on course. is there a man alive who knows. Creon What is it? I shudder to hear you. Yield to the dead! Creon Never. on the razor- edge of fate. And you obey the seer. Creon I will. not even in the face of such defilement will I tolerate his burial. your high resolve that sets a plague on us. I swear to that. it is only human. Where’s the glory. . who actually believes.

I killed them. not a bit of profit. not for you. best fate of all. a corpse for corpses given in return. Know this. learn it by heart! The chariot of the sun will not race through so many circuits more. Scene 7: A Decision on 8th and Broad Creon [to himself] The guilt is all mine—can never be fixed on another man. quickly now—so I never have to see another sunrise. . let it come!—that best of fates for me that brings the final day.Creon Spit it out! Just don’t speak it out for profit. This is violence you have forced upon the heavens. Tiresias Profit? No. I admit it all! Come. Oh. before you have surrendered one of your own flesh and blood. no escape for me.