Irony, defined as the reversal of expectations, is found throughout Sophocles' drama, "Antigone," which begins with three situational, ironic plot points. The work is also filled with dramatic irony, particularly in the dialogue of Creon speaking to just about anybody, and it even manages verbal irony, which is most evident in its final scenes. Sophocles may have felt, in the words of Stephen King, that a little irony is good for your blood.
Situational Irony Times Three
In the play's opening, Antigone grieves over Creon's decree: That her brother Polyneices, who died fighting against Thebes, be left to rot, while her other brother Eteocles, the city's hero, be granted sacred burial. The irony of withholding burial from one brother for political reasons is not lost on the princess, who plots to circumvent Creon's will and conduct Polyneices' funeral: "I owe a longer allegiance to the dead than the living." A princess defies a king, which begets a third situational irony: A woman makes right what men dare not.
Dramatic Irony, Presented Dramatically
Dramatic irony occurs when a character speaks unawares. Creon demonstrates this in abundance. When he learns of Antigone's burial of Polyneices, he cries in fury, "Verily, I am no man, she is the man." Meant for sarcasm, the saying is entirely true: Antigone has dared to right a wrong Creon created. When the blind Teiresias accurately predicts Thebes' ruin, Creon again tries for sarcasm: "The wisest fall with shameful fall, when they clothe shameful thoughts in fair words." Blinded by pride, Creon does not realize he is describing himself.
Verbal Ironies Abound
The kingdom falls apart, and each new disaster is accompanied by verbal irony. Antigone, condemned to living burial, compares it to her lost wedding with Haemon, Creon's son: "the bride ... whom the lord of the Dark Lake shall wed." Haemon kills himself, dying in dead Antigone's arms, and the Chorus redoubles the irony: "he hath won his nuptial rites ... in the hall of Death." Creon, his kingdom shattered, re-echoes all: "let it appear, that fairest of fates, that brings my last day!" Sophocles produces three horrendous climaxes, each with a death wish.
The Colossal Irony
To summarize the play is to evince a colossal irony, emphasized in Creon's warning to Haemon: "Better to fall from power, if we must, by a man's hand; then we should not be called weaker than a woman." The colossal irony is that the mightiest of kingdoms lies fallen because of the single deed of a frail woman, now dead. A memory, and a feminine one, brings to ruin the glory of Greece.
- The Free Dictionary: Irony
- Danse Macabre; Stephen King (Berkley paperback, 1973)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Antigone by Sophocles
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Dramatic Irony
- Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images