Sophocles' earliest of the three Theban plays is entitled the Antigone. The focus is on the character traits of the main character of the play Antigone with some analysis of Creon's actions towards Antigone. The play begins with a general introduction the Greek theatre of the time (the fifth and sixth centuries BC) giving an outline of what theatre meant to the people of ancient Greece as well as what it meant to the writers themselves. It then carries on to take a close look at the main characters and their strengths and weaknesses. Antigone is an especially powerful story because of the main female character which is an unusual focus point in that time. It also talks a bit about whether or not the gods did favor her by making her a hero or disapproved by letting her die. The city of Athens was the center of intellectual and artistic life for most of the fifth century. Well being for the people was very important to the cities leaders who used the wealth they recovered from the empire and its commercial operations to create and produce incredible public festivals for the people.
             The play's contents were depictions of myths where gods, men, women, heroes and heroines of the past would be the characters. The myth in the theatre was seen as a sort of telling of the countries' history. The gods are always questioned or referred to and even though they may not be seen on the stage in this particular play, they are very much a part of it. A problem historically speaking with this type of "history telling" was that from person to person or city to city, facts could vary or change as well as the fact that a poet could add his own parts to the play. The Antigone is a play with a political conflict base line; the state/city against the individual and human nature. Creon's speech on the correct and proper loyalties the citizen should have toward the state was often later used as a lesson in patriotism. Ones loyalty to the state had to be...