Creon has sentenced Antigone to capital punishment for disobeying his orders. After learning that Antigone was about to face death, the Chorus, a group of old men, are used to remind the audience of the similarities between Antigone’s fate and the fate of her father, Oedipus. Both have been cursed by God. The Chorus states that “For once the gods attack a family, their curse never relents” to show that because of a wrongdoing, an ancestral curse has been created by the gods, which will be passed down to each generation of the house of Oedipus (631-633). Each child thereafter will have inherited the guilt for wrongdoings committed by his or her ancestor. The Chorus believes that the curse began with Oedipus and his wife/mother. Then it moved down to Oedipus’ sons and finally Oedipus’ daughters. A domino effect of death has been created. The Chorus does not blame Antigone for her actions, but rather sees her actions as a result of the family curse brought upon her by god.
The Chorus begins to pray to Zeus as he is the omnipotent and can curse families for generations. However, the opinion of the Chorus differs from that of Antigone. Antigone herself does not believe that god is the main root of her suffering. She believes that because she has followed the law of the gods by burying her brother, she should have less suffering when she enters Hades. The main root of her problems lies in Kreon, a “mere man” who attempts “to trample on the gods’ unwritten and infallible laws” (490-492). The Chorus is used to show that even if god is set to be the cause of all fates, god is never seen as a villain and never suffers any bad judgment. (Which contrasts from The Odyssey, where mortals seem to blame god for all their problems)
Although most of the choral ode explicitly mentions Antigone and the family curse, the last two paragraphs implicitly relate to Kreon. It foreshadows his future downfall. The Chorus states “evil seems noble—early and late—to minds unbalanced by the gods, but only for a moment will such men hold off catastrophe,” which means that if god wishes to guide a man to ruin, that man will see the good in evil, but will soon see catastrophe (684-691). The audience can imply that the Chorus is foreshadowing the downfall of Kreon because Kreon has seen the good in evil. Kreon believes that by burying Eteokles, and not burying Polyneikes, he is honoring his city and committing a good deed. It is not until the death of every member in his family that he realizes that he has disobeyed gods law by not respecting the god, and has done evil by leaving Polyneikes’ body for dogs and crows.
In the second choral ode about family curses, the Chorus is used to relate the tragic history of Oedipus’ family. Moreover, it is able to add foreshadowing and a new perspective on the relation between god and human.
The quote “evil seems noble—early and late—to minds unbalanced by the gods, but only for a moment will such men hold off catastrophe” is so profound. Not only does it relate to humans in general, but it really shows how out of touch Kreon is with the authority of the gods, and completely foreshadows the evil that ensues from his false sense of self-righteousness.
Your annotation explains the chorus really well; they’re ultimately there to show the reader/viewer the reality of the power structure including humans and gods. It’s interesting how long it took Kreon to realize this dynamic, and also interesting how he continued to act as though he WAS a god.
It’s great that we read The Odyssey, a story in which humble Odysseus was referred to as godlike and supreme, and then read Antigone, a story in which pompous Kreon who believes that he’s superior to all, is not. Wonderful contrast.
Overall your post was awesome!