Jung, Sophocles, and Socrates: Antigone Archetypes

In Sophocles’ Antigone, an illustration regarding the events of the children of Oedipus and Jocasta after the Theban Civil War is elucidated. Their sons, Eteocles and Polynices, both fought in the Theban Civil War and died while quarreling over power of Thebes. During this quarrel, the Thebans generally favored Eteocles; further, Polynices was banished from Thebes, which framed him as an outsider fighting against Thebes (this is one account of how they managed this struggle over power, but in this context, it suffices to make the plot of Antigone coherent). The new king of Thebes, Creon the brother of Jocasta, decides to give Eteocles a proper burial. Creon likewise decides not only not to give Polynices a proper burial, but to publicly shame him posthumously by leaving his corpse out on the battlefield. This is because of the perceived traitorousness of Polynices towards Thebes. Antigone, the sister of both Polynice and Thebes, refused to allow such a disrespectful burial on moral grounds. Thus, Antigone defied the law of Creon and gave Polynices a proper burial. This proper burial led to the prosecution of Antigone, via Creon leaving her to rot in a cave and eventually her suicide, along with Haemon’s (who is the lover of Antigone and son of Creon).