Social Context of Antigone

• What do we mean by the social context? - it is the background information on somebody, where their from, where they went to school, who their friends and family were ...

• How did people live at the time Antigone was created?-  In the 4th Century Art, theater, music, poetry, philosophy, and political experiments such as democracy started to flourish. In Athens, society was male-dominated, only men could be citizens and only upper-class had a formal education. Women had few political rights and were expected to remain in the home and look after the children. One quarter of the population was made up of slaves,most of them were prisoners captured during the Greek fights overseas. These slaves worked in shipyards, quarries, mines, and as domestic servants. Most homes were modest, windowless and wrapped around a courtyard. Furniture was very rare and people spent the most of the day outside. The Greek diet was mainly made up of wine and bread. A typical day would start with bread dipped in wine, the same for lunch and a dinner of wine, fruits, vegetables and fish. Meat was reserved for special occasions such as religious holidays.

• Who was the target audience for the piece?Mainly men as only men were allowed to watch the play.

• What were the needs, values and beliefs of the target audience?- Women were the lower gender and only men should watch and perform in the plays. Also how men should be first priority above women.

• How did this influence the themes and characters of Antigone? - Well in the play Antigone tries to bury her brother and in doing so disobeys the orders of Creon. Antigone is then ordered to be killed by Creon and even though Creon is Antigone's Uncle he must go along with this rule as he is newly king and must show what he believes early on so no one defies him again. And also as Antigone is a women he mush show that women have less power then men and cannot go against the King and especially not men.

• What have you found out about the social context of Antigone? Think about what was going on at the time that Sophocles wrote the play. - When Antigone was being written there was a war going on between Athens and Sparta. Also philosophy was becoming increasingly popular, but people disagreed with this as it went against religious beliefs, and as we know religion was a very big deal in these times. In Antigone it shows the power religion had over people and what it would make them do, for example Antigone buries her brother because the Gods told her too. Also in the time Antigone was written, women were seen as the ones who looked after the children and wouldn't go out and do important things that the men would do. In Antigone you see Antigone being mistreated because she is women and she is seen as inferior compared to the men.

• Who went to the theatre? - Only men were aloud to go to the Theatre.

• What was the relationship between theatre, politics and religion? - The Greeks believe that they performed for the God of Theatre (Dionysus). 

Sophocles

He was born about 496 BC in Colonus Hippius, his father was a wealthy merchant. He had a very good education and he studied all of the arts. By the age of sixteen, he was already known for his beauty and grace and was chosen to lead a choir of boys at a celebration of the victory of Salamis in 480 BC. From 468 BC, Sophocles won first prize about 20 times and many second prizes. He died in 406 BC at about the age of 90.

In his lifetime wrote more than 100 plays of which seven complete tragedies and fragments of 80 or 90 others are preserved.