Did Antigone express wisdom or folly when, following the unwritten laws of the gods, she defied the written laws of the city and was therefore condemned to a brutal death? This tragic tale is imbued with anguish, strong emotional tension, shocking and fevered turning points. But what lessons does Antigone hold for our contemporary conscience? The themes of loneliness and death, despair and mourning, power of speech and silence, as well as the clash between law and moral sensitivity, the feminine and the masculine, violence and condemnation are burning dramas of modern-day life. A very perceptive interpreter of our psyche, the author descends into the deepest abyss of inner reality, confronts its ghosts and shadows, and expresses once again the suffering of every human being.

Eugenio Borgna is a psychiatrist and chair emeritus of the psychiatry department at Novara’s Ospedale Maggiore.