Give a summary of lines 1-6 of the Prologue to Antigone.

In the Prologue to Antigone, the first six lines are Antigone's statement to her sister Ismene:

"Ismene, dear sister, / You would think that we had already suffered enough / For the curse on Oedipus: / I cannot imagine any grief / That you and I have not gone through. And now –– / Have they told you of the new decree of our King Creon?"

In these lines, Antigone recalls the curse that has...

In the Prologue to Antigone, the first six lines are Antigone's statement to her sister Ismene:

"Ismene, dear sister, / You would think that we had already suffered enough / For the curse on Oedipus: / I cannot imagine any grief / That you and I have not gone through. And now –– / Have they told you of the new decree of our King Creon?"

In these lines, Antigone recalls the curse that has been put on her family because of the poor, misguided actions of her father Oedipus, who, blinded by his own hubris, tried to outwit his fate. Antigone says that she and her sister Ismene have already suffered terrible loss: both their parents are dead, and now both brothers too. Antigone then refers to the decree that Creon has made in Thebes, which the reader will soon learn is death to anyone who attempts to bury the body of Polynices, Antigone's and Ismene's brother, whom Creon considers a traitor to Thebes.  These opening six lines set up the central conflict of the play--is it better to suffer and obey the laws of the king or the laws of the gods?