Prompt: Antigone and Antony in Cleopatra both present their narratives through not only what the audience sees happen on the stage but also what characters report happening off stage. Write one of the scenes that the play implies but does not explicitly present. Your scene should comprise at least 150 lines of poetry or 1000 words (the minimum is whichever is less). You may either a) write the scene in the style of the original or b) forge your own style (e.g., a novelistic depiction or a stand-alone poem). 

(Haemon goes to the dungeon, sees Antigone’s dead corpse.)

HAEMON

Oh!

(Comes up closer to her.)

Oh Antigone! How can I live without you—

without your sweet presence, without your most amazing excellence?

For you were the world to me,

worth more than a thousand diamonds,

more than the most precious jewels of the world.

Oh, my Antigone, my Antigone!

(Bursts into tears, approaches her and holds her in his arms.)

What could I ever do without you, my sweet Antigone.

You, here, deceased, nothing will ever bring me joy

nor ever bring you back to life.

No woman, no beauty, no happiness could ever

compare to yours, my sweet, dear love.

But now, you disfigured yourself, a precious sight,

but a sight that is not alive, not living.

You took your own life through your own linen veiling

to fight against the unjust death of my king and father.

Creon would have given you a terrible cause to die,

but you decided to go on your own path of death instead.

How brave of you, Antigone,

a woman of such valor and courage,

willing to take your own life to escape the hands of Creon,

but oh! How I miss you Antigone!

Why could I not take my own life with you?

And why must you have committed your brave deed

to only result in me being alive alone,

unbearably saddened by your deceased presence.

Oh, Antigone! What shall I do?

How can I ever repay your death,

 by the hand of my father? My father! My father!

 Creon is responsible for your death,

acting foolish and savage by his own law,

being unjust through his own judgment,

wrongly condemning you to death.

Why, Creon! Why! Why did you have to mistreat Antigone

just because she wanted both of her brothers buried?

Oh, father, how I loathe you, how I hate you!

You yourself should be condemned to death

by causing Antigone’s noble deed and my eternal sadness.

Oh father, from this day on you’ll never see

a son that loves you again.

Cursed be you and your kingdom forever,

for it deserves to crumble and fall

under your wicked and destructive hand.

(Enter Creon and his soldiers, planning to release Antigone.)

CREON

Haemon! What do you do here with Antigo—

 she’s, she’s dead. How did this happen?

HAEMON

She died to escape your cruel death, father.

CREON

But I was about to release her.

HAEMON

Your actions cannot exceed the will of the gods nor woman’s ambition.

CREON

But I would release her, set her free.

Son, I realize that I may have made a mistake.

It was wrong of me to give Antigone

such a harsh and unusual punishment.

Even if she did break the sacred laws of the kingdom,

I shouldn’t have condemned her to death.

That was harmful to her, and to you, my son.

Perhaps I should have given her a different punishment,

one that would actually cause her to learn,

and correct her mistakes. I dealt with this matter unjustly.

Forgive me son, and let go of your troubles.

She has passed away; forget about her!

HAEMON

Father, this I cannot forget,

nor let go of the suffering this causes,

for Antigone was the most precious thing to me,

the love of my life, she who gave me

meaning, and happiness, and understanding.

But this is all gone, through her own taken death.

Father, hear my words: I will never forget about this!

CREON

Haemon, you are troubled. Take ease. Take rest.

You must let go of your pain,

for I cannot bear to see you so burdened and so troubled.

Antigone is within the dead, let her remain within the dead.

Focus on the life you’re in, the life of the living.

HAEMON

Father, you do not understand,

the union of Antigone and I. Our bond in life

shall remain in death. We cannot separate from each other.

Why must she die? Why must she take her own life,

commit her courageous deed to avoid, you, you father,

and your terrible cruelty! How dare you!

Her death is on your own hands. Antigone died because of you,

for if you never condemned her unjustly,

she would live in peace with me. Why, father?

Why must you seek to interfere with our lives

to take her own and ruin mine,

give her death and give me sadness?

Father, this tragedy I can never bear,

and for that I put this fault on you.

You have left me in misery, loneliness,

for you can never understand the feelings I felt for Antigone.

CREON

Haemon, be at ease!

HAEMON

Be at ease, father? How could I possibly?

I have lost what’s worth more than a thousand treasures,

a million jewels, a billion wonders,

for Antigone was more than all

those things combined; she was my life.

And by taking her life, you take mine.

CREON

Son, be careful in what you say!

HAEMON

Careful? As if you were careful in all your actions,

to punish my beloved Antigone to death?

CREON

Haemon, I already told you: I was going to release her.

HAEMON

Father, you are clearly too late in your action.

Antigone has already suffered so much

through your cruel treatment that she could take no more

of your wrath, even your forgiveness.

Oh, do you not realize what you have done?

Do you have no shame?

You have taken the world from me

by taking away the only thing I loved!

You have destroyed my purpose in life.

I have no reason to live in this world,

for it is nothing but an empty wasteland to me without Antigone.

I blame you for everything you have caused.

You are to die for this father!

HAEMON

The most miserable man in the world, father.

And you are the most wretched. Oh, Antigone.

(Holds Antigone in his arms.)

Oh, Antigone. How I love you so.

My father will die for your death, but when I think about it,

his deserving death could never compare to your noble one.

Why should you deserve to be united in death with him?

I will take my own death for you!

CREON

Oh, Haemon! No!

HAEMON

You are deserving of my death, and

I am deserving of seeing you in my death.

We shall be united in death, as we were united in life.

We shall love each other for eternity,

and nothing shall bother us in our death.

CREON

Haemon, speak no further! Not another word!

HAEMON

I love you, Antigone, and I will die for you,

to escape this terrible life. Happier will I be in death than life.

So, alas, my sweet Antigone, I will die with you.

(Stabs himself with his sword.)

CREON

No, Haemon! No!

(Starts to weep bitterly.)

HAEMON

Antigone?

(Holds her again in his arms again.)

Oh, Antigone. I love you,

more than anything else in the world.

I will be united with you in my death.

(Haemon dies. His gasps out blood, and it stains Antigone’s cheek.)

CREON

Oh, my son! Why did you have to die? Die for this terrible woman?

Oh, Haemon, do you know how unhappy my days will be now?

I lost my own son, Eurydice is all I have left.

Soldiers, get a messenger for me. Tell him to spread this news

to the others, and most gently to my wife Eurydice,

for she will be most sensitive and saddened by this news.

Get you away, now, for I must be alone with my own son!

(The soldiers exit.)

Oh, Haemon! My pain for your death is indescribable.

Forever will I be miserable; forever will I be a miserable man.

Do you not realize how much I love you? Oh, Haemon!

I would go back in time and never have imprisoned Antigone

if it would have prevented your misery and death.

Forgive me, son. Oh, my son!

Rest in peace in the world of the dead

you are now doomed to be a part of.

I hope I will soon be there too,

for I neither can bear this pain of eternal sadness.

(Enter the Guard.)

GUARD

My lord, I do not mean to disturb

you in your time of privacy.

I bring word to you to tell you

that Eurydice has received your startling message.

But now, I do believe we must bury the body of your son,

for Haemon actually deserves a proper burial unlike Polyneices,

and he deserves it more than Eteocles.

Seek to bury him now.

CREON

I must, for I can no longer see him.

I will even bury Antigone too

if it will make him happy to be united with her in death.

Soldiers! Come from wherever you may be.

(Soldiers enter.)

Bury my son now. Bring a bier for him.

We will carry him out, and give him a proper funeral.

Bring a bier for Antigone too, for she will also be buried,

and she shall be buried next to him.

(Soldiers exit. They come back with two biers and carry the two lovers out of the dungeon.)