Antigone : dal mito al teatro, dal teatro al mito

The success of Sophocles’ Antigone has been such that it has set a thorough standard for reception: in order to fully grasp the significance of the reception process and to appreciate the influence of Antigone on the whole of Western culture, we must follow the character’s journey from its beginning, through the first stagings to its reception in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The present essay follows Antigone’s long itinerary in the attempt to identify the landmarks in the reception of the myth, the breaks that have changed the lines of the character, as well as its contemporary outputs. A myth made into drama, Antigone has become a real critical myth.