Publisher's Synopsis
Kamila Shamsie's celebrated novel Home Fire is a modern-day rewriting of Sophocles' play Antigone. Whilst Antigone has been re-adapted time andtime again, this study guide aims to examine how the key elements of the ancient play have been uniquely adapted by Shamsie in Home Fire.The original Ancient Greek version of the play is set against aCivil War in Thebes. Antigone's two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, lead the opposing sides, with both being killed in battle. The new ruler of Thebes, King Creon, declares that Eteocles' body will be honoured and Polynices' remains put to public shame. The rebel brother's corpse will not be sanctified by holy rites and will lie unburied on the battlefield, prey for carrion animals, a punishment considered particularly harsh and cruel by the Ancient Greeks. Yet a defiant Antigone breaks the declared law andburies Polynices in thename of tradition and familial honour. She is buried alive for her flouting of the State as well as Creon's will.
