(a Classical Civilizations assignment where a scene or two had to be added to Sophocles' play "Antigone". This ending is added between the last episode and the epilogue of the play.)
Characters Include:
King Creon, Lead Servant, a host of the King’s servants, Haemon, Antigone
[starting in the end of episode five (below): ]
“Creon:
‘Yes, I go at once. Servants, servants – on the double! You there, fetch the rest. Bring axes and hurry to the hill. My mind’s made up. I’ll not slow to let her loose myself who locked her in the tomb. In the end it is the ancient codes – oh my regrets – that one must keep: to value life then one must value law.’”
Hurriedly, the King and his servants make ready for their task.
Meanwhile, by the entrance to Antigone’s would-be tomb…
Haemon:
“Antigone! My love! Are you alive? Have the fates made it my lot for you to die? Do you live? If you live, then I am overwhelmed with joy, but otherwise I myself will go to Hades if it means being with you.”
Antigone (from inside):
“I am here Haemon. Don’t rush to your death so quickly. Help me out of this tomb before there isn’t a chance for us to leave!”
After a long time, Haemon manages to get Antigone out of the prison.
Antigone:
“Now we must flee; your father will see that you and I are gone and will look for us. He will kill me, and probably you as well.”
Haemon:
“No! He has had a change of heart. When I left, he was making ready to come and find you for himself, but I believe that there is another plot intertwined with his; another’s plans, perhaps, to kill the King or us.”
Antigone:
“So we go then?”
Haemon:
“Yes. In doing so, we will save ourselves from a less than honorable death, and maybe the King as well.”
Haemon and Antigone kiss momentarily, then exit in a rush to find safety.
In Thebes, a large party of servants led by the King Creon and the Lead Servant quit the city in search of Antigone. Before two hours’ time had ended, the party had reached the hill in which Antigone had been imprisoned. The King’s men hurry forward to fetch the lady.
Lead Servant:
“What do the King’s men see?”
Servant:
“The tomb is empty! The lady is not here.”
Creon and the Lead Servant approach and verify the servant’s observation; the place was indeed empty.
Creon:
“The work of bandits!”
Lead Servant:
“Perhaps not.”
Creon:
“Speak! Why not?”
Lead Servant:
“Did not Haemon leave before the party did? Mayhap he has already taken her to safety.”
Creon:
“But where to?”
Servant:
“The country, sir! There are tracks leading into the countryside.”
Creon:
“We must find them and bring them back to Thebes.”
The party departs and follows a hound on the scent of Antigone and Haemon. They come upon an old abandoned house and barn. The party pauses to rest. Creon enters the barn some yards off. In exploring the premises, he finds Haemon and Antigone together.
Creon:
“You fool of a boy, not bothering to wait for me!”
Haemon:
“If I am a fool, then it is only because Eros has made me so.”
Creon stands face to face with Haemon.
Haemon:
“You would never take her as your daughter anyway, considering the way she’s made you look in front of your people.”
Creon:
“No. I would not.”
Knocking Haemon unconscious, Creon advances on Antigone, pulling a thick leather strap from his belt.
Antigone:
“ You would kill me with your own hands? I thought you a coward because, after all your talk about being kingly and masculine, you would kill me dishonourably by starvation!”
Creon:
“If this is the death you would prefer…”
Rapidly wrapping the strap around Antigone’s neck and pulling hard, Creon whispers into her ear:
“To tell the truth, I never wanted you to marry Haemon. You would have cursed my pure bloodline… A bloodline that my ancestors kept pure for so long. I only agreed to the requests of the city and that babbling old man to find you so I could appease the nagging lot of them. I had strong hopes you had already died. In that case, I would pretend to mourn your loss, and return to Thebes where my son would marry another. But you were slow to die, weren’t you? So I will have to tell them another story: Maybe you killed yourself out of grief? Natural causes? Or maybe Haemon killed you, the fool! They might believe that.”
Pause.
Creon:
“Farewell, you miserable wench.”
Antigone dies from lack of air, her body falls to the ground. Creon hides the strap so he wouldn’t be found culpable for the murder. He walks back outside. Sometime later, before the group is about to continue on their search, they hear Haemon screaming and find him in the barn.
Haemon holds Antigone in his arms;
“My sweet love, already wrapped in the gloom of death.”
He unsheathes a blade and prepares to stab himself.
Creon:
“My son, don’t be foolish!”
Lead Servant:
“Prince, don’t do this.”
Haemon dies beside Antigone. Creon rushes to him in a vain attempt to save him.
Creon:
“No! My son! I didn’t want this. Certainly, I was wrong to try to kill your love in the first place, but have I wronged you so that you must leave me?”
Aside:
“Now this turn of events has worked in my favor! Not only have I gotten rid of the cursed, foolhardy girl, but my air-head son as well! I am better off now than in my imagining of this plot!”
A messenger slips away to tell those in Thebes what has happened. He returns to the royal house itself…
[follow with epilogue]
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