Antigone

Eurydice’s knitting is a symbol for life and fate, paying homage to the Greek Fates in mythology who would spin a thread of life, and cut the thread when a person died. When Eurydice makes her first appearance, the Chorus introduces her as “the gracious lady with the knitting” (15-16). Not much else is said about her character, except that she is a kind woman. The Chorus foreshadows her death, telling the audience, “She will go on knitting all through the play, till the time comes for her to go to her room and die” (16). This is the last time Eurydice appears on stage in the play.

After the Messenger delivers the tragic news of Antigone and Haemon’s suicides, the Chorus relays the news to Creon that his wife has also killed herself. He tells the king that when Eurydice “was told of her son’s death, she waited carefully until she had finished her row, then put her knitting down calmly, as she did everything” (70). After that, Eurydice slit her throat in their bedchamber. The knitting was cut short, just like her life, and just like the Greek thread of life.