Citation

Saïd S. Atene e Roma 2017; 11(1-2): 35-54.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

In contrast with Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes which takes place in an open space, the scenic space in Antigone and OedipusTyrannus is defined by the skene that is the royal palace. This paper looks successively at the scenic space with the entrances and exits of the characters and the chorus, the evocations of the intra-scenic space, the extra-scenic space beyond the two parodoi and the imaginary Theban space. In Antigone (1-780) excepting the prologue, the movements of the actors and the chorus obey the orders of Creon, but from the entrance of Haimon to the end, Creon has not anymore control on the entrances and exits of the characters and the focus of the play moves from the city to the family. In Oedipus Tyrannus the royal palace also takes pride of place and the movements of the characters and chorus are all commanded by Oedipus, but at the end, Oedipus himself is compelled by Creon to reenter the palace. In both plays the evocation of the intra-scenic space is associated with the suicide of a female character, but it becomes also the setting of Oedipus' blinding which quickly supersedes Jocasta's death. In Ant. the eisodos 1 leads to the place where Polynices' corpse is exposed and Antigone is later on buried alive and the eisodos 2 to the city space including the house of Teiresias. In OT the eisodos 1 leads to the city with the houses of Creon and Teiresias and the eisodos 2 to various foreign places, Delphi, Corinth and the Cithaeron. In Ant. the imaginary Thebes is first identical with the Thebes of the Seven with its walls and gates threatened by the Argive army, then its temples where the victory is celebrated and its geography. But it is also in the present a city polluted by Creon's impious deeds. Conversely in OT there are very few precise allusions to Theban monuments and topography in order to facilitate the identification of the legendary Thebes with contemporary Athens also victim of the plague. © 2018 Deutschen Forschungsanstalt fur Luft-und Raumfahrt. All rights reserved.

Language: it