Historical and social contexts have an influence on they way in which Antigone is constructed Catherine Wang 12th Grade

“Antigone”, by Jean Anouilh, is a political allegory written during the Nazi occupation of France in the early 1940’s. The play served as a way for Anouilh to subtly persuade the people of France to rebel against the Nazi regime and state power. At the time, when “Antigone” was first performed, the French Resistance worked somewhat ineffectively in cells, and Anouilh’s purpose was to critique this method and advise the French Resistance to unite and persist as one unit. However, to do so, the play needed to be performed without being seen as a breach against the Nazi party, so Anouilh embedded his intention within the play and relied on the intellects of France to interpret his discrete message. The historical and social contexts at the time of which “Antigone” was written impacted directly upon how Anouilh chose to write his play in terms of characterization and setting.

In Anouilh’s “Antigone”, the historical and social contexts influence the way that the protagonist and antagonist are characterized. Antigone, the titular character, is characterized to be petulant, stubborn, and immature. In contrast, the king and leader of Thebes, Creon is characterized as logical and pragmatic, and is portrayed with many characteristics...