Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, rulers of Thebes. After the suicide of Jocasta and the exile of Oedipus, the two brothers of Antigone, Eteocle and Polynice killed each other for the throne of Thebes. Creon, brother of Jocasta is - as such - the new king and decided to offer burial only to Etéocle and not to Polynice, described as thug and traitor. He warned by an edict that anyone who dares to bury the renegade's body will be punished with death. Nobody dares to brave the forbidden and the corpse of Polynice is abandoned to the sun and scavengers.
Only Antigone refuses this situation. Despite the prohibition of her uncle, she goes several times to the body of his brother and tries to cover it with soil. Ismene, his sister, does not want to accompany him because she is afraid of Creon and death.
Antigone is caught by the king's guards. Creon is obliged to apply the sentence of death to Antigone. After a long debate with her uncle on the purpose of existence, she is condemned to be buried alive. But just as the tomb is going to be sealed, Creon learns that his son, Hémon, fiancé of Antigone, has let himself be shut up with the one he loves. When the tomb is reopened, Antigone hangs with her belt and Hemon, spitting in her father's face, opens her belly with her sword. Despaired by the disappearance of the son she adored, Eurydice, Creon's wife, cuts her throat.
