Abstract

The valuable living individual did not exist in clear conceptual terms within the historical context in which Antigone was written, but he nonetheless made his possibility felt as an absence. This absence revealed itself as an object of desire and as the sign of a loss. Chapter Three focuses on this sign of loss and sees in the corpse an important figure for conceptualizing a missing individual. Polyneices's dead body, which plays a central role in Antigone, is thus read as an instrument for understanding and appreciating the specificities and contingencies of individual life. This is an inherently frustrating undertaking, however, since the corpse is defined by the lack of life. The chapter concentrates on Hegel's readings of burial rites in Antigone, since he offers the richest and most far-reaching conceptualizations of death in the play.

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