Antigone is a modern tragedy written in prose, adapted from the ancient text of Sophocles. Published in 1944 under the Occupation, the play was approved by Nazi censorship, which viewed Creon’s victory as a justification of the established order. After an initially cold reception, the play experienced huge success. This is probably due to the fact that the youth interpreted the author’s intentions differently than the Nazi occupiers and admired the heroine for daring to stand up to authority, instead of seeing the play as an acceptation of the power in place.
The many anachronisms in the play, and the fact that it is presented in the form of a continuous dialogue, without any formal division, separate it from traditional French theater.
Even today, the play is the subject of extraordinary interest. All idealists can identify with Antigone’s search for purity and the absolute.
1 Quotes taken from the reference edition have been translated by BrightSummaries.com.