How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Line). We used Francis Storr's translation found on Project Gutenberg.
Quote #1
ISMENE
To me, Antigone, no word of friends
Has come, or glad or grievous, since we twain
Were reft of our two brethren in one day
By double fratricide; and since i' the night
Our Argive leaguers fled, no later news
Has reached me, to inspirit or deject. (11-17)
Just as Oedipus’s family was the cause of his self-injury, so his sons are the cause of each other’s death.
Quote #2
I would not welcome such a fellowship.
Go thine own way; myself will bury him.
How sweet to die in such employ, to rest,--
Sister and brother linked in love's embrace--
A sinless sinner, banned awhile on earth,
But by the dead commended; and with them
I shall abide for ever. As for thee,
Scorn, if thou wilt, the eternal laws of Heaven. (69-76)
Antigone welcomes, and even loves, the idea of death. She is the only character to do so.
Quote #3
ANTIGONE
Sister, forbear, or I shall hate thee soon,
And the dead man will hate thee too, with cause.
Say I am mad and give my madness rein
To wreck itself; the worst that can befall
Is but to die an honorable death. (92-96)
Because Antigone approaches death without regret, her demise takes on a tone other than the tragic feel of Jocasta’s suicide.