Heaven Shall Burn Antigone and Deaf to Our Prayers (2004-2006)
what is antigone and dea to our prayers?
what is antigone and dea to our prayers?
After signing to Century Media in January 2004, Heaven Shall Burn's label debut Antigone was released on April 26. The LP version of the album was released through Lifeforce. Shortly after the release of Antigone Heaven Shall Burn filmed a music video for the song "The Weapon They Fear". Antigone was further promoted during a headlining tour through Europe, supported by Maroon. On this tour they appeared at the hardcore punk festival Fluff Fest for the third and thus final time.  After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Heaven Shall Burn teamed up with Napalm Death and the Haunted and released the split single Tsunami Benefit to raise money for charity. The single was limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies and was sold on two exclusive Napalm Death shows.  In March 2005, Heaven Shall Burn appeared at the Independence D Festival in Japan. In summer 2005 Heaven Shall Burn and Caliban's second split album The Split Program II was released through Lifeforce Records. Shortly after participating at the Hell on Earth Tour 2005 Heaven Shall Burn announced that guitarist Patrick Schleitzer was leaving the band and Alexander Dietz, who played the guitar during the Hell on Earth Tour, would become the new guitarist. Heaven Shall Burn played a special farewell show with Schleitzer in Saalfeld.  Following a quiet period, Heaven Shall Burn announced they had recorded a new album titled Deaf to Our Prayers, which was released on August 28, 2006. After the release of "Counterweight", as the first track of the new album, Deaf to Our Prayers entered the German album charts at #65, being the first Heaven Shall Burn album to enter record sales charts. During Summer 2006, Heaven Shall Burn played shows at Summer Breeze Open Air and other festivals. Live footage, recorded at Summer Breeze was later used in the "Counterweight" music video. In September and October they headlined the Hell on Earth Tour 2006 on the European mainland, also part of the tour were Cataract, Maroon, and God Forbid. At the end of the year they embarked co-headlining tour with Caliban through Germany and Belgium. CANNOTANSWER
Heaven Shall Burn's label debut Antigone
Heaven Shall Burn are a German extreme metal band from Saalfeld, formed in 1996. The band consists of vocalist Marcus Bischoff, guitarists Maik Weichert and Alexander Dietz, bassist Eric Bischoff and drummer Christian Bass. They are currently signed to Century Media. They have released eight studio albums, as well as a number of other records. One of their albums, Veto, entered the German Album Charts at #2 in 2013, with their latest, Of Truth and Sacrifice, reaching number 1.

Heaven Shall Burn's musical style has been described as metalcore, melodic death metal and deathcore. Their lyrics often express heavy support for anti-racism and anti-fascism. They also have lyrics about resistance, oppression and animal rights. All members are vegans or vegetarians and most follow or followed a straight edge lifestyle.

History

Formation and first releases (1996–1999) 
Heaven Shall Burn was formed by guitarist Maik Weichert and drummer Matthias Voigt in the fall of 1996 under the name Consense. After the first demo recording in early 1997, cousins Marcus and Eric Bischoff joined the band as vocalist and bassist, respectively. In this form they started playing shows and festivals, this led to a contract with Deeds of Revolution Records. The EP In Battle There Is No Law was released in 1998 through Deeds of Revolution Records and a split album with Fall of Serenity in 1999. Shortly after  second guitarist Patrick Schleitzer joined Heaven Shall Burn.

Asunder, The Split Program and Whatever It May Take (2000–2003) 
After their shared released with Fall of Serenity they signed to Lifeforce Records. Lifeforce released Heaven Shall Burn's debut album Asunder and their first collaboration with Caliban, titled The Split Program, in 2000. Heaven Shall Burn proceeded touring in Europe and South America. In 2002 their second album Whatever It May Take and a re-issue of their EP In Battle There Is No Law were released. As soon as Whatever It May Take was released Heaven Shall Burn began another tour cycle, which led them through numerous countries, including Greece, Iceland and the UK. They also played prestigious German festivals such as Party.San, With Full Force and Wacken Open Air.

Antigone and Deaf to Our Prayers (2004–2006) 

After signing to Century Media in January 2004, Heaven Shall Burn's label debut Antigone was released on April 26. The LP version of the album was released through Lifeforce. Shortly after the release of Antigone Heaven Shall Burn filmed a music video for the song "The Weapon They Fear". Antigone was further promoted during a headlining tour through Europe, supported by Maroon. On this tour they appeared at the hardcore punk festival Fluff Fest for the third and thus final time.

After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Heaven Shall Burn teamed up with Napalm Death and the Haunted and released the split single Tsunami Benefit to raise money for charity. The single was limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies and was sold on two exclusive Napalm Death shows.

In March 2005, Heaven Shall Burn appeared at the Independence D Festival in Japan. In summer 2005 Heaven Shall Burn and Caliban's second split album The Split Program II was released through Lifeforce Records. Shortly after participating at the Hell on Earth Tour 2005 Heaven Shall Burn announced that guitarist Patrick Schleitzer was leaving the band and Alexander Dietz, who played the guitar during the Hell on Earth Tour, would become the new guitarist. Heaven Shall Burn played a special farewell show with Schleitzer in Saalfeld.

Following a quiet period, Heaven Shall Burn announced they had recorded a new album titled Deaf to Our Prayers, which was released on August 28, 2006. After the release of "Counterweight", as the first track of the new album, Deaf to Our Prayers entered the German album charts at #65, being the first Heaven Shall Burn album to enter record sales charts. During Summer 2006, Heaven Shall Burn played shows at Summer Breeze Open Air and other festivals. Live footage, recorded at Summer Breeze was later used in the "Counterweight" music video. In September and October they headlined the Hell on Earth Tour 2006 on the European mainland, also part of the tour were Cataract, Maroon, and God Forbid. At the end of the year they embarked co-headlining tour with Caliban through Germany and Belgium.

Iconoclast trilogy (2007–2012) 
A re-mixed version of Whatever It May Take was released in 2007, featuring a different song order and an acoustic track "io". For the shows during the summer Christian Bass was hired as live drummer. In August Heaven Shall Burn announced they had begun recording a new album. In October the new album Iconoclast (Part 1: The Final Resistance) was announced, with release dates in early 2008. Heaven Shall Burn finished the year 2007, participating in the Darkness Over X-Mas Tour, co-headlining with Caliban, with support of Sonic Syndicate, Misery Speaks and the Sorrow. "Endzeit", the first song released of Iconoclast, saw its live premiere on that tour.

After its release Iconoclast entered the German album charts at #21, Heaven Shall Burn's best charting position to that date. Also a music video was released for the track "Endzeit". Shortly after a couple release shows in Germany and Greece, Heaven Shall Burn went on tour in support of Iconoclast. The first leg of the tour through Europe was joined by Aborted and Misery Speaks, the second leg of the tour was Heaven Shall Burn's first ever North American tour with support of Embrace the End and the Ghost Inside. The North American leg was a brief tour across the US and Canada winding up at the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival. Following their North American tour Heaven Shall Burn played several summer festival across Europe. In Vienna, Heaven Shall Burn played a show to celebrated their 10th Anniversary. The show was recorded for a future DVD.

The recording of the Vienna show was released as part of Bildersturm – Iconoclast II (The Visual Resistance). Heaven Shall Burn's first DVD Bildersturm was released in 2009. With its release a music video for Heaven Shall Burn's Edge of Sanity cover of "Black Tears" came along. In May Heaven Shall Burn supported Trivium on their Australian tour. Again in summer Heaven Shall Burn appeared on festivals across Europe including Wacken Open Air. In early December Heaven Shall Burn were special guest on the Taste of Chaos 2009 tour dates in Germany, headlined by In Flames and Killswitch Engage. Later in December Heaven Shall Burn embarked the Darkness Over X-Mas Tour with support of Dark Tranquillity, Swashbuckle, and Deadlock.

The third part of the Iconoclast trilogy Invictus (Iconoclast III) was released in May 2010 and became the band's and Century Media's first release to enter the top ten of the German Album Charts, entering at #9. To further promote Invictus Heaven Shall Burn embarked a co-headlining tour with As I Lay Dying through Europe, in November 2010, with support of Suicide Silence and Dew-Scented. In May 2011, Heaven Shall Burn toured across South America, again with As I Lay Dying.

In early 2012, Heaven Shall Burn were part of the Australian Soundwave Festival and played shows in South-East Asia. After that they took part at the Impericon Progression Tour, the tour line-up included Unearth, Neaera and Suffokate on the European mainland and Rise to Remain, Malefice and Adept in the UK. After numerous festival shows, including a headlining show at With Full Force, Heaven Shall Burn and Caliban joined forces to celebrate either band's 15th Anniversary. Heaven Shall Burn celebrated their 15th Anniversary playing their 500th show on December 21, 2012 in the sold out Klubhaus in their hometown Saalfeld.

Veto (2013–2015) 

In January 2013, Heaven Shall Burn announced they had finished writing their next album and were about to start recording it. On February 20 they revealed their new album Veto, which was released April 19, in Germany and April 30, in North America. To promote the album's release a music video was shot for "Hunters Will Be Hunted" and a lyric video was made for "Godiva". The release of the album was celebrated with shows at the Impericon Festivals in Leipzig and Vienna and the Loudfest in Zurich. Veto entered the official German Album Charts at #2. Heaven Shall Burn appeared on some European Summer Festivals in 2013, among these festivals were Graspop Metal Meeting and the first edition of Rock'n'Heim at the Hockenheimring. In support of Veto Heaven Shall burn embarked a headlining tour through Europe in November and December 2013, supporting acts were Hypocrisy, Dying Fetus and Bleed from Within. Before the tour began drummer Matthias Voigt released a statement and announced that he was about to step down as drummer of Heaven Shall Burn and live drummer Christian Bass would take his position.

In February 2014, Heaven Shall Burn toured South America with Parkway Drive. Heaven Shall Burn played several festivals across Europe in the Summer of 2014 including Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, Wacken Open Air, Deichbrand and Summer Breeze Open Air. Later the same year Heaven Shall Burn were special guest on Parkway Drive's European Tour 2014, along with Carnifex and Northlane. Parkway Drive shared headlining duties with Heaven Shall Burn in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

On April 30, 2015, Heaven Shall Burn became the sponsor for the tricots of football team FC Carl Zeiss Jena. It is part of their campaign "Support Your Local Team", which should encourage people to support their local clubs, not only top class clubs. May 3, was the first time Jena played in their new tricots.

As many summers before Heaven Shall Burn appeared on various European festivals during summer 2015, including Greenfield Festival, With Full Force, Resurrection Fest and Brutal Assault.

Wanderer (2016–2019) 

On September 16, 2016, the band released their eighth studio album, Wanderer, available in a standard 12-track edition as well as a deluxe edition with a bonus track and a bonus disc (which contains covers included on previous albums). The first single released from the album was "Downshifter", followed by "Bring the War Home", which was released as a lyric video.

Of Truth and Sacrifice (2020–present) 
On March 20, 2020, the band released their ninth studio album, Of Truth and Sacrifice. It was released as a double album, available in the standard 2-CD as well as a deluxe edition with a bonus DVD, which contains the movie "Mein grünes Herz in dunklen Zeiten" (My green heart in dark times). The first single released from the album was the double release of "Protector" and "Weakness leaving my heart", which was released as a music video. It was followed by "My Heart and the Ocean", which was also released with a music video made in cooperation with Sea Shepherd.

Band name 
Heaven Shall Burn's name was inspired by an album by the black metal band Marduk, which is entitled Heaven Shall Burn... When We Are Gathered.

Members 

Current
 Maik Weichert – guitars (1996–present)
 Marcus Bischoff – vocals (1996–present)
 Eric Bischoff – bass (1996–present)
 Alexander Dietz – guitars (2005–present)
 Christian Bass – drums (2013–present)

Former
 Patrick Schleitzer – guitars (1998–2005)
 Michael Hartmann – guitars (1997)
 Matthias Voigt – drums (1996–2013)

Session musicians
 Daniel Wilding – drums (Veto session)

Timeline

Discography 

Studio albums
 Asunder (2000)
 Whatever It May Take (2002)
 Antigone (2004)
 Deaf to Our Prayers (2006)
 Iconoclast (Part 1: The Final Resistance) (2008) 
 Invictus (Iconoclast III) (2010)
 Veto (2013)
 Wanderer (2016)
 Of Truth and Sacrifice (2020)

References

External links 

 
 

1996 establishments in Germany
Century Media Records artists
Deathcore musical groups
German melodic death metal musical groups
German metalcore musical groups
Musical groups established in 1996
Musical quintets
Antigone ( ; ) is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 441 BC.

Of the three Theban plays Antigone is the third in order of the events depicted in the plays, but it is the first that was written. The play expands on the Theban legend that predates it, and it picks up where Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes ends.

Synopsis
Prior to the beginning of the play, the brothers Eteocles and Polynices, leading opposite sides in Thebes' civil war, died fighting each other for the throne. Creon, the new ruler of Thebes and brother of the former Queen Jocasta, has decided that Eteocles will be honored and Polynices will be in public shame. The rebel brother's body will not be sanctified by holy rites and will lie unburied on the battlefield, prey for carrion animals like vultures and jackals, the harshest punishment at the time. Antigone and Ismene are the sisters of the dead Polynices and Eteocles.

In the opening of the play, Antigone brings Ismene outside the palace gates late at night for a secret meeting: Antigone wants to bury Polynices' body, in defiance of Creon's edict. Ismene refuses to help her, not believing that it will actually be possible to bury their brother, who is under guard, but she is unable to stop Antigone from going to bury her brother herself.

The chorus enter and cast the background story of the Seven against Thebes into a mythic and heroic context.

Creon enters, and seeks the support of the chorus of Theban elders in the days to come and in particular, wants them to back his edict regarding the disposal of Polynices' body. The leader of the chorus pledges his support out of deference to Creon. A sentry enters, fearfully reporting that the body has been given funeral rites and a symbolic burial with a thin covering of earth, though no one sees who actually committed the crime. Creon, furious, orders the sentry to find the culprit or face death himself. The sentry leaves.

The sentry returns, bringing Antigone with him. The sentry explains that the watchmen uncovered Polynices' body and then caught Antigone as she did the funeral rituals. Creon questions her after sending the sentry away, and she does not deny what she has done. She argues unflinchingly with Creon about the immorality of the edict and the morality of her actions. Creon becomes furious, and seeing Ismene upset, thinks she must have known of Antigone's plan. He summons her. Ismene tries to confess falsely to the crime, wishing to die alongside her sister, but Antigone will not have it. Creon orders that the two women be imprisoned. The chorus sing of the troubles of the house of Oedipus.
Haemon, Creon's son, enters to pledge allegiance to his father, even though he is engaged to Antigone. He initially seems willing to forsake Antigone, but when Haemon gently tries to persuade his father to spare Antigone, claiming that "under cover of darkness the city mourns for the girl", the discussion deteriorates, and the two men are soon bitterly insulting each other. When Creon threatens to execute Antigone in front of his son, Haemon leaves, vowing never to see Creon again.

The chorus sing of the power of love. Antigone is brought in under guard on her way to execution.  She sings a lament.  The chorus compares her to the goddess Niobe, who was turned into a rock, and say it is a wonderful thing to be compared to a goddess.  Antigone accuses them of mocking her. 

Creon decides to spare Ismene and to bury Antigone alive in a cave. By not killing her directly, he hopes to pay minimal respects to the gods. She is brought out of the house, and this time, she is sorrowful instead of defiant. She expresses her regrets at not having married and dying for following the laws of the gods. She is taken away to her living tomb.

The Chorus encourages Antigone by singing of the great women of myth who suffered.

Tiresias, the blind prophet, enters. Tiresias warns Creon that Polynices should now be urgently buried because the gods are displeased, refusing to accept any sacrifices or prayers from Thebes. However, Creon accuses Tiresias of being corrupt. Tiresias responds that Creon will lose "a son of [his] own loins" for the crimes of leaving Polynices unburied and putting Antigone into the earth (he does not say that Antigone should not be condemned to death, only that it is improper to keep a living body underneath the earth). Tiresias also prophesies that all of Greece will despise Creon and that the sacrificial offerings of Thebes will not be accepted by the gods. The leader of the chorus, terrified, asks Creon to take Tiresias' advice to free Antigone and bury Polynices. Creon assents, leaving with a retinue of men. The chorus delivers an oral ode to the god Dionysus. 

A messenger enters to tell the leader of the chorus that Haemon has killed himself. Eurydice, Creon's wife and Haemon's mother, enters and asks the messenger to tell her everything. The messenger reports that Creon saw to the burial of Polynices. When Creon arrived at Antigone's cave, he found Haemon lamenting over Antigone, who had hanged herself. Haemon unsuccessfully attempted to stab Creon, then stabbed himself. Having listened to the messenger's account, Eurydice silently disappears into the palace.

Creon enters, carrying Haemon's body. He understands that his own actions have caused these events and blames himself. A second messenger arrives to tell Creon and the chorus that Eurydice has killed herself. With her last breath, she cursed her husband for the deaths of her sons, Haemon and Megareus. Creon blames himself for everything that has happened, and, a broken man, he asks his servants to help him inside. The order he valued so much has been protected, and he is still the king, but he has acted against the gods and lost his children and his wife as a result. After Creon condemns himself, the leader of the chorus closes by saying that although the gods punish the proud, punishment brings wisdom.

Characters
 Antigone, compared to her beautiful and docile sister, is portrayed as a heroine who recognizes her familial duty. Her dialogues with Ismene reveal her to be as stubborn as her uncle. In her, the ideal of the female character is boldly outlined. She defies Creon's decree despite the consequences she may face, in order to honor her deceased brother.
 Ismene serves as a foil for Antigone, presenting the contrast in their respective responses to the royal decree. Considered the beautiful one, she is more lawful and obedient to authority. She hesitates to bury Polynices because she fears Creon.
 Creon is the current King of Thebes, who views law as the guarantor of personal happiness. He can also be seen as a tragic hero, losing everything for upholding what he believed was right. Even when he is forced to amend his decree to please the gods, he first tends to the dead Polynices before releasing Antigone.
 Eurydice of Thebes is the Queen of Thebes and Creon's wife. She appears towards the end and only to hear confirmation of her son Haemon's death. In her grief, she commits suicide, cursing Creon whom she blames for her son's death.
 Haemon is the son of Creon and Eurydice, betrothed to Antigone. Proved to be more reasonable than Creon, he attempts to reason with his father for the sake of Antigone. However, when Creon refuses to listen to him, Haemon leaves angrily and shouts he will never see him again. He commits suicide after finding Antigone dead.
 Koryphaios is the assistant to the King (Creon) and the leader of the Chorus. He is often interpreted as a close advisor to the King, and therefore a close family friend. This role is highlighted in the end when Creon chooses to listen to Koryphaios' advice.
 Tiresias is the blind prophet whose prediction brings about the eventual proper burial of Polynices. Portrayed as wise and full of reason, Tiresias attempts to warn Creon of his foolishness and tells him the gods are angry. He manages to convince Creon, but is too late to save the impetuous Antigone.
 The Chorus, a group of elderly Theban men, is at first deferential to the king. Their purpose is to comment on the action in the play and add to the suspense and emotions, as well as connecting the story to myths. As the play progresses they counsel Creon to be more moderate. Their pleading persuades Creon to spare Ismene. They also advise Creon to take Tiresias's advice.

Historical context
Antigone was written at a time of national fervor. In 441 BCE, shortly after the play was performed, Sophocles was appointed as one of the ten generals to lead a military expedition against Samos. It is striking that a prominent play in a time of such imperialism contains little political propaganda, no impassioned apostrophe, and, with the exception of the epiklerate (the right of the daughter to continue her dead father's lineage), and arguments against anarchy, makes no contemporary allusion or passing reference to Athens. Rather than become sidetracked with the issues of the time, Antigone remains focused on the characters and themes within the play. It does, however, expose the dangers of the absolute ruler, or tyrant, in the person of Creon, a king to whom few will speak freely and openly their true opinions, and who therefore makes the grievous error of condemning Antigone, an act which he pitifully regrets in the play's final lines. Athenians, proud of their democratic tradition, would have identified his error in the many lines of dialogue which emphasize that the people of Thebes believe he is wrong, but have no voice to tell him so. Athenians would identify the folly of tyranny.

Notable features
The Chorus in Antigone departs significantly from the chorus in Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes, the play of which Antigone is a continuation. The chorus in Seven Against Thebes is largely supportive of Antigone's decision to bury her brother. Here, the chorus is composed of old men who are largely unwilling to see civil disobedience in a positive light. The chorus also represents a typical difference in Sophocles' plays from those of both Aeschylus and Euripides. A chorus of Aeschylus' almost always continues or intensifies the moral nature of the play, while one of Euripides' frequently strays far from the main moral theme. The chorus in Antigone lies somewhere in between; it remains within the general moral in the immediate scene, but allows itself to be carried away from the occasion or the initial reason for speaking.

Significance and interpretation
Once Creon has discovered that Antigone buried her brother against his orders, the ensuing discussion of her fate is devoid of arguments for mercy because of youth or sisterly love from the Chorus, Haemon or Antigone herself. Most of the arguments to save her center on a debate over which course adheres best to strict justice.

Both Antigone and Creon claim divine sanction for their actions; but Tiresias the prophet supports Antigone's claim that the gods demand Polynices' burial. It is not until the interview with Tiresias that Creon transgresses and is guilty of sin. He had no divine intimation that his edict would be displeasing to the Gods and against their will. He is here warned that it is, but he defends it and insults the prophet of the Gods. This is his sin, and it is this which leads to his punishment. The terrible calamities that overtake Creon are not the result of his exalting the law of the state over the unwritten and divine law which Antigone vindicates, but are his intemperance which led him to disregard the warnings of Tiresias until it was too late. This is emphasized by the Chorus in the lines that conclude the play.

The German poet Friedrich Hölderlin, whose translation had a strong impact on the philosopher Martin Heidegger, brings out a more subtle reading of the play: he focuses on Antigone's legal and political status within the palace, her privilege to be the hearth (according to the legal instrument of the epiklerate) and thus protected by Zeus. According to the legal practice of classical Athens, Creon is obliged to marry his closest relative (Haemon) to the late king's daughter in an inverted marriage rite, which would oblige Haemon to produce a son and heir for his dead father in law. Creon would be deprived of grandchildren and heirs to his lineage – a fact which provides a strong realistic motive for his hatred against Antigone. This modern perspective has remained submerged for a long time.

Heidegger, in his essay, The Ode on Man in Sophocles' Antigone, focuses on the chorus' sequence of stophe and antistrophe that begins on line 278. His interpretation is in three phases: first to consider the essential meaning of the verse, and then to move through the sequence with that understanding, and finally to discern what was nature of humankind that Sophocles was expressing in this poem. In the first two lines of the first strophe, in the translation Heidegger used, the chorus says that there are many strange things on earth, but there is nothing stranger than man. Beginnings are important to Heidegger, and he considered those two lines to describe the primary trait of the essence of humanity within which all other aspects must find their essence. Those two lines are so fundamental that the rest of the verse is spent catching up with them. The authentic Greek definition of humankind is the one who is strangest of all. Heidegger's interpretation of the text describes humankind in one word that captures the extremes — deinotaton. Man is deinon in the sense that he is the terrible, violent one, and also in the sense that he uses violence against the overpowering. Man is twice deinon. In a series of lectures in 1942, Hölderlin's Hymn, The Ister, Heidegger goes further in interpreting this play, and considers that Antigone takes on the destiny she has been given, but does not follow a path that is opposed to that of the humankind described in the choral ode. When Antigone opposes Creon, her suffering the uncanny, is her supreme action.

The problem of the second burial
An important issue still debated regarding Sophocles' Antigone is the problem of the second burial. When she poured dust over her brother's body, Antigone completed the burial rituals and thus fulfilled her duty to him. Having been properly buried, Polynices' soul could proceed to the underworld whether or not the dust was removed from his body. However, Antigone went back after his body was uncovered and performed the ritual again, an act that seems to be completely unmotivated by anything other than a plot necessity so that she could be caught in the act of disobedience, leaving no doubt of her guilt. More than one commentator has suggested that it was the gods, not Antigone, who performed the first burial, citing both the guard's description of the scene and the chorus's observation.

Richard C. Jebb suggests that the only reason for Antigone's return to the burial site is that the first time she forgot the Choaí (libations), and "perhaps the rite was considered completed only if the Choaí were poured while the dust still covered the corpse."

Gilbert Norwood explains Antigone's performance of the second burial in terms of her stubbornness. His argument says that had Antigone not been so obsessed with the idea of keeping her brother covered, none of the deaths of the play would have happened. This argument states that if nothing had happened, nothing would have happened, and doesn't take much of a stand in explaining why Antigone returned for the second burial when the first would have fulfilled her religious obligation, regardless of how stubborn she was. This leaves that she acted only in passionate defiance of Creon and respect to her brother's earthly vessel.

Tycho von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff justifies the need for the second burial by comparing Sophocles' Antigone to a theoretical version where Antigone is apprehended during the first burial. In this situation, news of the illegal burial and Antigone's arrest would arrive at the same time and there would be no period of time in which Antigone's defiance and victory could be appreciated.

J. L. Rose maintains that the solution to the problem of the second burial is solved by close examination of Antigone as a tragic character. Being a tragic character, she is completely obsessed by one idea, and for her this is giving her brother his due respect in death and demonstrating her love for him and for what is right. When she sees her brother's body uncovered, therefore, she is overcome by emotion and acts impulsively to cover him again, with no regards to the necessity of the action or its consequences for her safety.

Bonnie Honig uses the problem of the second burial as the basis for her claim that Ismene performs the first burial, and that her pseudo-confession before Creon is actually an honest admission of guilt.

Themes

Civil disobedience
A well established theme in Antigone is the right of the individual to reject society's infringement on her freedom to perform a personal obligation. Antigone comments to Ismene, regarding Creon's edict, that "He has no right to keep me from my own." Related to this theme is the question of whether Antigone's will to bury her brother is based on rational thought or instinct, a debate whose contributors include Goethe.

The contrasting views of Creon and Antigone with regard to laws higher than those of state inform their different conclusions about civil disobedience. Creon demands obedience to the law above all else, right or wrong. He says that "there is nothing worse than disobedience to authority" (An. 671). Antigone responds with the idea that state law is not absolute, and that it can be broken in civil disobedience in extreme cases, such as honoring the gods, whose rule and authority outweigh Creon's.

Natural law and contemporary legal institutions
Creon's decree to leave Polynices unburied in itself makes a bold statement about what it means to be a citizen, and what constitutes abdication of citizenship. It was the firmly kept custom of the Greeks that each city was responsible for the burial of its citizens. Herodotus discussed how members of each city would collect their own dead after a large battle to bury them. In Antigone, it is therefore natural that the people of Thebes did not bury the Argives, but very striking that Creon prohibited the burial of Polynices. Since he is a citizen of Thebes, it would have been natural for the Thebans to bury him. Creon is telling his people that Polynices has distanced himself from them, and that they are prohibited from treating him as a fellow-citizen and burying him as is the custom for citizens.

In prohibiting the people of Thebes from burying Polynices, Creon is essentially placing him on the level of the other attackers—the foreign Argives. For Creon, the fact that Polynices has attacked the city effectively revokes his citizenship and makes him a foreigner. As defined by this decree, citizenship is based on loyalty. It is revoked when Polynices commits what in Creon's eyes amounts to treason. When pitted against Antigone's view, this understanding of citizenship creates a new axis of conflict. Antigone does not deny that Polynices has betrayed the state, she simply acts as if this betrayal does not rob him of the connection that he would have otherwise had with the city. Creon, on the other hand, believes that citizenship is a contract; it is not absolute or inalienable, and can be lost in certain circumstances. These two opposing views – that citizenship is absolute and undeniable and alternatively that citizenship is based on certain behavior – are known respectively as citizenship 'by nature' and citizenship 'by law.'

Fidelity
Antigone's determination to bury Polynices arises from a desire to bring honor to her family, and to honor the higher law of the gods. She repeatedly declares that she must act to please "those that are dead" (An. 77), because they hold more weight than any ruler, that is the weight of divine law. In the opening scene, she makes an emotional appeal to her sister Ismene saying that they must protect their brother out of sisterly love, even if he did betray their state. Antigone believes that there are rights that are inalienable because they come from the highest authority, or authority itself, that is the divine law.

While he rejects Antigone's actions based on family honor, Creon appears to value family himself. When talking to Haemon, Creon demands of him not only obedience as a citizen, but also as a son. Creon says "everything else shall be second to your father's decision" ("An." 640–641). His emphasis on being Haemon's father rather than his king may seem odd, especially in light of the fact that Creon elsewhere advocates obedience to the state above all else. It is not clear how he would personally handle these two values in conflict, but it is a moot point in the play, for, as absolute ruler of Thebes, Creon is the state, and the state is Creon. It is clear how he feels about these two values in conflict when encountered in another person, Antigone: loyalty to the state comes before family fealty, and he sentences her to death.

Portrayal of the gods
In Antigone as well as the other Theban Plays, there are very few references to the gods. Hades is the god who is most commonly referred to, but he is referred to more as a personification of Death. Zeus is referenced a total of 13 times by name in the entire play, and Apollo is referenced only as a personification of prophecy. This lack of mention portrays the tragic events that occur as the result of human error, and not divine intervention. The gods are portrayed as chthonic, as near the beginning there is a reference to "Justice who dwells with the gods beneath the earth." Sophocles references Olympus twice in Antigone. This contrasts with the other Athenian tragedians, who reference Olympus often.

Love for family
Antigone's love for family is shown when she buries her brother, Polynices. Haemon was deeply in love with his cousin and fiancée Antigone, and he killed himself in grief when he found out that his beloved Antigone had hanged herself.

Modern adaptations

Drama
 Felix Mendelssohn composed a suite of incidental music for Ludwig Tieck's staging of the play in 1841. It includes an overture and seven choruses.
 Walter Hasenclever wrote an adaptation in 1917, inspired by the events of World War I.
 Jean Cocteau created an adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone at Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris on December 22nd, 1922.
 French playwright Jean Anouilh's tragedy Antigone was inspired by both Sophocles' play and the myth itself. Anouilh's play premièred in Paris at the Théâtre de l'Atelier in February 1944, during the Nazi occupation of France. 
 Right after World War II, Bertolt Brecht composed an adaptation, Antigone, which was based on a translation by Friedrich Hölderlin and was published under the title Antigonemodell 1948.
 The Haitian writer and playwright Félix Morisseau-Leroy translated and adapted Antigone into Haitian Creole under the title, Antigòn (1953). Antigòn is noteworthy in its attempts to insert the lived religious experience of many Haitians into the content of the play through the introduction of several Loa from the pantheon of Haitian Vodou as voiced entities throughout the performance.
 Antigone inspired the 1967 Spanish-language novel La tumba de Antígona (English title: Antigone's Tomb) by María Zambrano.
 Puerto Rican playwright Luis Rafael Sánchez's 1968 play La Pasión según Antígona Pérez sets Sophocles' play in a contemporary world where Creon is the dictator of a fictional Latin American nation, and Antígona and her 'brothers' are dissident freedom fighters.
 The Island, a 1973 apartheid-era play by the South African playwrights Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Nthsona, features two cellmates who rehearse and ultimately perform Antigone for the other prisoners, drawing parallels between Antigone herself and black political prisoners held in Robben Island prison. 
In 1977, Antigone was translated into Papiamento for an Aruban production by director Burny Every together with Pedro Velásquez and Ramon Todd Dandaré. This translation retains the original iambic verse by Sophocles.
 In 2004, theatre companies Crossing Jamaica Avenue and The Women's Project in New York City co-produced the Antigone Project written by Tanya Barfield, Karen Hartman, Chiori Miyagawa, Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and Caridad Svich, a five-part response to Sophocles' text and to the US Patriot Act. The text was published by NoPassport Press as a single edition in 2009 with introductions by classics scholar Marianne McDonald and playwright Lisa Schlesinger.
 Bangladeshi director Tanvir Mokammel in his 2008 film Rabeya (The Sister) also draws inspiration from Antigone to parallel the story to the martyrs of the 1971 Bangladeshi Liberation War who were denied a proper burial.
 In 2000, Peruvian theatre group Yuyachkani and poet José Watanabe adapted the play into a one-actor piece which remains as part of the group's repertoire.
 An Iranian absurdist adaptation of Antigone was written and directed by Homayoun Ghanizadeh and staged at the City Theatre in Tehran in 2011.
 In 2012, the Royal National Theatre adapted Antigone to modern times. Directed by Polly Findlay, the production transformed the dead Polynices into a terrorist threat and Antigone into a "dangerous subversive."
 Roy Williams's 2014 adaptation of Antigone for the Pilot Theatre relocates the setting to contemporary street culture.
 Syrian playwright Mohammad Al-Attar adapted Antigone for a 2014 production at Beirut, performed by Syrian refugee women.
 "Antigone in Ferguson" is an adaptation conceived in the wake of Michael Brown's death in 2014, through a collaboration between Theater of War Productions and community members from Ferguson, Missouri. Translated and directed by Theater of War Productions Artistic Director Bryan Doerries and composed by Phil Woodmore.

Opera 
 Antigone, opera by Arthur Honegger, premiered on December 28, 1927 at Théâtre de la Monnaie in Bruxelles.
 Antigonae, opera by Carl Orff, a Literaturoper which uses Friedrich Hölderlin's translation of Sophokles' drama (1805), premiered on August 8, 1949 at the Felsenreitschule in the context of Salzburg Festival.
 Antigone (1977) by Dinos Constantinides, on an English libretto by Fitts and Fitzgerald
 Antigone (1986) by Marjorie S. Merryman
 Antigone oder die Stadt (1988) by Georg Katzer with a libretto by Gerhard Müller, premiered at the Komische Oper Berlin in 1991, staged by Harry Kupfer and conducted by Jörg-Peter Weigle
 The Burial at Thebes (2007–2008) by Dominique Le Gendre and libretto by Seamus Heaney, based on his translation for spoken theatre. The production features conductor William Lumpkin, stage director Jim Petosa, and six singers and ten instrumentalists.

Literature
In 2017 Kamila Shamsie published Home Fire, which transposes some of the moral and political questions in Antigone into the context of Islam, ISIS and modern-day Britain.

Cinema
Yorgos Tzavellas adapted the play into a 1961 film which he also directed. It featured Irene Papas as Antigone.

Liliana Cavani's 1970 I Cannibali is a contemporary political fantasy based upon the Sophocles play, with Britt Ekland as Antigone and Pierre Clémenti as Tiresias.

The 1978 omnibus film Germany in Autumn features a segment by Heinrich Böll entitled "The Deferred Antigone" where a fictional production of Antigone is presented to television executives who reject it as "too topical".

A 2019 Canadian film adaption transposed the story into one of a modern day immigrant family in Montreal. It was adapted and directed by Sophie Deraspe, with additional inspiration from the Death of Fredy Villanueva. Antigone was played by Nahéma Ricci.

Television
It was filmed for Australian TV in 1966.

In 1986, Juliet Stevenson starred as Antigone, with John Shrapnel as Creon and John Gielgud as Tiresias in the BBC's The Theban Plays.

Antigone at the Barbican was a 2015 filmed-for-TV version of a production at the Barbican directed by Ivo van Hove; the translation was by Anne Carson and the film starred Juliette Binoche as Antigone and Patrick O'Kane as Kreon.

Other TV adaptations of Antigone have starred Irene Worth (1949) and Dorothy Tutin (1959), both broadcast by the BBC.

Translations and adaptations
 1550 – Georgio Rotallero: text in Latin
 1729 – George Adams, prose: full text
 1782 – Vittorio Alfieri, in hendecasyllables: text in Italian
 1839 – Johann Jakob Christian Donner, German verse
 1865 – Edward H. Plumptre, verse (Harvard Classics Vol. VIII, Part 6. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14); full text
 1888 – Sir George Young, verse (Dover, 2006; )
 1899 – G. H. Palmer, verse (Boston: Houghton and Mifflin, 1899)
 1904 – Richard C. Jebb, prose: full text
 1911 – Joseph Edward Harry, verse (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke, 1911)
 1912 – F. Storr, verse: full text
 1926 – Ettore Romagnoli, in hendecasyllables, text in Italian
 1931 – Shaemas O'Sheel, prose
 1938 – Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, verse: full text
 1946 – Jean Anouilh, (modern French translation)
 1947 – E. F. Watling, verse (Penguin classics)
 1949 – Robert Whitelaw, verse (Rinehart Editions)
 1950 – Theodore Howard Banks, verse
 1950 – W. J. Gruffydd (translation into Welsh)
 1953 – Félix Morisseau-Leroy (translated and adapted into Haitian Creole)
 1954 – Elizabeth Wyckoff, verse
 1954 – F. L. Lucas, verse translation
 1956 – Shahrokh Meskoob (into Persian)
 1958 – Paul Roche, verse
 1962 – H. D. F. Kitto, verse
 1962 – Michael Townsend, (Longman, 1997; )
 1973 – Richard Emil Braun, verse
 1982 – Robert Fagles, verse with introduction and notes by Bernard Knox
 1986 – Don Taylor, prose (The Theban Plays, Methuen Drama; )
 1991 – David Grene, verse
 1994 – Hugh Lloyd-Jones, verse (Sophocles, Volume II: Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Philoctetes, Oedipus at Colonus, Loeb Classical Library No. 21, 1994; )
 1997 – George Judy, adaptation for children (Pioneer Drama, 1997)
 1998 – Ruby Blondell, prose with introduction and interpretive essay (Focus Classical Library, Focus Publishing/R Pullins Company; )
 1999 – Declan Donnellan, with introduction by Nicholas Dromgoole (Oberon Books, 1999; ISBN 978-1-840-02136-3)
 2000 – Marianne MacDonald, (Nick Hern Books, 2000; )
 2001 – Paul Woodruff, verse (Hackett, 2001; )
 2003 – Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal, verse (Oxford UP, 2007; )
 2004 – Seamus Heaney, The Burial at Thebes – verse adaptation (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005; ), also adapted as an opera in 2008
 2005 – Ian C. Johnston, verse (modern English): full text
 2006 – George Theodoridis, prose: full text
 2006 – A. F. Th. van der Heijden, 'Drijfzand koloniseren' ("Colonizing quicksand"), prose, adapting Antigone's story using characters from the author's 'Homo Duplex' saga.
 2009 – Tanya Barfield, Karen Hartman, Lynn Nottage, Chiori Miyagawa, Caridad Svich, play adaptation (NoPassport Press, 2009; )
 2011 - Diane Rayor, Sophocles' Antigone: A New Translation. Cambridge University Press.
 2012 – Anne Carson, play adaptation (Antigonick, New Directions Press; )
 2013 – George Porter, verse ("Black Antigone: Sophocles' tragedy meets the heartbeat of Africa", )
 2014 – Marie Slaight and Terrence Tasker, verse and art ('"The Antigone Poems, Altaire Productions; )
2016 – Frank Nisetich
 2016 – Slavoj Žižek, with introduction by Hanif Kureishi, Bloomsbury, New York
 2017 – Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire, novel. An adaptation in a contemporary context, London: Bloomsbury Circus. 
 2017 – Brad Poer, Antigone: Closure, play adaptation (contemporary American prose adaptation set post-fall of United States government)
 2017 – Griff Bludworth, ANTIGONE (born against). A contemporary play adaptation that addresses the theme of racial discrimination.
 2017 – Seonjae Kim, Riot Antigone. A punk rock musical adaptation inspired by the Riot grrrl movement that focuses on Antigone's coming of age.
 2019 – Niloy Roy, Antigone: Antibody, play adaptation (contemporary Indian adaptation set in post- anarchic context of conflict between state and individual )
 2019 - Sophie Deraspe, Antigone''

Notes

Further reading

External links

 
 Antigone – study guide, themes, quotes, and teacher resources
 Sophocles' Antigone – Open Access (CC-BY) verse translation by Robin Bond
 

Books in political philosophy
Civil disobedience
Death customs
Plays by Sophocles
Plays set in ancient Greece
Political philosophy in ancient Greece
Theban mythology
Greek plays adapted into films
Plays adapted into operas
Plays based on classical mythology
hi:अन्तिगोने (सोफोकेलस)
sh:Antigona Antigone is a 2019 Canadian drama film directed by Sophie Deraspe. An adaptation of the ancient Greek play Antigone by Sophocles, the film transposes the story to a modern day refugee family in Montreal. The cast includes Nahéma Ricci as Antigone, with Rawad El-Zein, Hakim Brahimi, Rachida Oussaada, and Nour Belkhiria. It was filmed in Greater Montreal in 2018.

The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and received positive reviews. It won the Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film.

Antigone won five Canadian Screen Awards, including  Best Motion Picture, at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards in 2020.

Plot
In Quebec, the Hipponomes are a family of refugees from Kabylia, headed by grandmother Méni. Méni’s grandchildren are Étéocle, Polynice, Ismène and Antigone; whose parents were killed before the family left their village. While Antigone achieves straight As in high school, Polynice descends into a life of crime with the street gang, the Habibis. One day, Polynice and Étéocle are playing jacks with friends when the police show up; Étéocle is shot and killed and Polynice is arrested for assaulting an officer in the aftermath. Through Antigone's friend Hémon, the Hipponomes meet Hémon's father Christian, a local politician. Christian tells them that with Polynice's criminal record and lack of citizenship, he will likely be deported. Antigone, concerned Polynice will never survive in their home country, decides to plot a prison escape. She reasons as a minor, she will escape jail time and pressures Ismène, an aspiring hairdresser, to cut her hair. Now resembling Polynice, Antigone visits the jail with Méni. There, Antigone and Polynice quickly trade clothes, and Polynice leaves with Méni while Antigone goes to Polynice's jail cell.

The prison officials discover the ploy; Antigone is arrested for aiding an escape and transferred to a women's prison. Méni is also arrested for aiding in the escape, to Antigone's horror. A police officer tells Antigone, Étéocle was also a member of the Habibis. Antigone intends to plead guilty, but the judge questions her understanding of the gravity of the situation and assigns her legal aid, with a lawyer named O'Neil. O'Neil warns Antigone about the dangers of a criminal record and shows her the debate on social media, where users are questioning if Antigone herself, is a Habibi. Antigone is upset and asserts she is only motivated by family loyalty, accepting O'Neil's representation. Hémon quits school to organize rallies in support of Antigone; supporters pack the courtroom and disrupt the proceedings with cellphone ringtones (identical to Hémon's ringtone), and Antigone professes her heart's desire to help her brother.

After Méni is bailed out of jail, Antigone's words about her heart go viral. Buoyed by the support, O'Neil asks the judge for a suspended sentence; however, the prosecutor calls an unexpected witness, Polynice. Polynice was arrested the previous night at a bar. Antigone becomes hysterical, questioning her brother why he risked what the family had sacrificed for, and disparaging the ceremonies of the court. The judge tells Antigone she is risking her chance at Canadian citizenship. Christian takes Antigone away from jail and offers to serve as her guardian, as Méni has decided to go back to her village with Polynice. Ismène is unwilling to go with them, still desiring a loan to start her own salon. Antigone and Hémon have sex. Later, Antigone, Méni and Polynice go to the airport, passing a young refugee family resembling themselves when they arrived. Antigone hears Hémon's ringtone and turns around.

Cast

Production

An inspiration for the story was the 2008 death of Fredy Villanueva in Montreal, and an interview with Villanueva's sister director Sophie Deraspe heard. Deraspe announced work on Antigone in 2016, when she was seeking funding. She explained her decision to adapt the play by Sophocles, saying the story of a woman who defies the law for something greater resonated with her, and she wished to update it (moving it to Montreal). In May 2018 Telefilm Canada announced it would spend approximately $13 million to fund 10 Quebec films, including Antigone. In December, it was awarded half of $380,000 funding from the Quebecor Fund  for its Event and Film Production Assistance Program, with the other half going to another project, Mafia Inc. by Daniel Grou.

Nahéma Ricci said she won the title role after participating in a long series of auditions to fill all the film's roles. Deraspe particularly looked for novice actors in the process. With 850 people looking to audition, 300 auditioned over a period of three weeks. The process also served to cast the Greek chorus, appearing on the streets and the Internet.

Principal photography was scheduled for 5 May to 17 June 2018. Filming took place in Greater Montreal. Deraspe played piano for the film score.

Release
The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, and went to theatrical release in November 2019. At TIFF, it won the festival's award for Best Canadian Film.

On 20 September the film screened at Lido Cinema in Rimouski, Quebec to be eligible for consideration for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

Reception

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of  based on  reviews, with an average rating of .

For Now, Kelsey Adams called Antigone "heartbreaking" and "an incisive critique of the power imbalance between citizens and immigrants". In La Presse,  praised Nahéma Ricci's acting. Montreal Gazette writer Angelo Muredda compared the film's Antigone character to Joan of Arc, adding Ricci, in a "steely, star-making performance", somewhat resembles Maria Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). Muredda also found parallels between the story and March for Our Lives and Black Lives Matter. Cult MTLs review calls Antigone "sometimes powerful", but criticized what it called a "clumsy translation" of the ancient story to modern Quebec. For Screen Daily, Allan Hunter called the film a "meaty, thought-provoking drama" and Ricci's performance "gutsy, committed", though suggesting she looked too old for her part. Peter Howell of the Toronto Star called it one of the year's best films, praising Ricci's performance in particular. Writing for Variety, Jessica Kiang positively commented the film endeavoured to capture the spirit of Sophocles' play rather than the letter, adding it was "further electrified" by Ricci. The Globe and Mails Justine Smith noted Sophocles' play had previously been re-imagined to make statements on fascism, the counterculture movement and other subjects.

Accolades
In addition to winning Best Canadian Film at TIFF, Ricci was named one of the year's "Rising Stars". Antigone was also selected as the Canadian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but was not nominated.

On 8 December 2019, the film was named by the Toronto Film Critics Association as a finalist for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award. On December 11, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list.

See also
 List of submissions to the 92nd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
 List of Canadian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

References

External links

2019 films
Canadian films
Canadian drama films
Courtroom films
Films directed by Sophie Deraspe
Films about families
Films about police misconduct
Films about prison escapes
Films about refugees
Films about social media
Films based on classical mythology
Films based on works by Sophocles
Films set in Montreal
Films shot in Montreal
2019 drama films
Modern adaptations of Antigone (Sophocles play)
Women in prison films
Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
Best Film Prix Iris winners