Antigone. (Teaching Notes).

By Sophocles. Video with Irene Papas, directed by George Tzavellas, I.W. Films.

Sophocles' tragic play, Antigone, provides a potent antidote to the patriarchal and conformist undercurrents that accompany Western Civilization courses. Such courses lend themselves to highlighting the achievements of the great men of the West at the expense of women, working folks, and non-Western peoples. However, Antigone, as a teenage woman, excites students' imaginations with her defiance of illegitimate male power. I have discovered that a film version of this classic play inspires students to wrestle with issues of male dominance and civil disobedience.

I use the film in my undergraduate Western Civilization course at Adelphi University. The chief obstacles in using the film are the seemingly complex plot and endless list of characters. Introducing a brief plot summary should eliminate this impediment. The play begins in Thebes, after a war in which Antigone's brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, killed one another. Creon, the autocratic ruler of Thebes, refuses a burial to Polyneices for his crime of attacking the state. Antigone buries her brother and is sentenced to death.

I open class discussion the moment after a heated exchange between Antigone and Creon. Pivotal questions concerning whether or not we should follow unjust laws are explored. The film offers countless opportunities for student discussion about the role of women and the rule of law. Paper topics along these lines are also quite successful. My pedagogical aim is to encourage students to think for themselves, to awaken their consciences. The message that history involves not simply the work of men like Socrates and Plato, but also the strivings of young women, energizes young students.