Autadelphos nell' Antigone di Sofocle

Abstract

he article proposes a new interpretation of the first line of Sophocles’ Antigone, by showing that from the beginning of the play Antigone underlines the complex relationship between the members of the family of Labdacus. The analysis of autadelphon confirms the paradoxical doubleness of each brother and sister, morbidly connected through incest. In this sense, ‘o volto d’Ismene che è il mio, lo stesso del fratello’ translates the line not only in terms of an invocation, but of a concrete stage direction, revealing the deep meaning of the action.