Allusion In Antigone And Cleopatra

Sophocles uses negative diction such as "murderous", "clamor", and "blood" to depict the chorus' emotional trauma from the civil war as the civilians heavily depend on a strong leader to recover their morale. Creon exploits the fear of his people as he "keeps his [intents to regain pride] under lock and key," glamorizing his actions as endeavors to defend Thebes.

Antigone 's tragic flaw does not lead to her downfall, because of this Antigone does not meet the characteristic of reversal in fate otherwise known as a downfall. Creon’s pride is what causes Antigone 's death. For example when Teiresias tells Creon to let Antigone go and to give Polyneices a proper burial because the gods are upset he does not listen. Instead he says to Teiresias, "doddering fortune tellers...if your birds-if the great eagles of God himself- should carry him bit by bit to heaven, I would not yield"( 44- 47). Creon is insulting Teiresias, a respected prophet, and says that he wouldn 't do as Teiresias says even if the birds carried Polyneices body bit by bit to heaven. It is obvious that Creon is prideful because he has a high opinion of his superiority. This is shown when he refers to Teiresias, a highly respected prophet who has never been wrong, as

Foreshadowing is a significant device in the play where it helps the reader understand the theme of fate in the play. An example of foreshadowing is when Oedipus speaks to his children and says, “I weep for you, though sight is mine no more, Picturing in mind the sad and dreary life which waits you in the world in years to come”. This informs the reader that Antigone will have a similar fate to her father’s, however she deals with it differently. Antigone is fully aware of her fate and therefore she accepts it. She decides to obey the laws of the gods instead of Creon’s laws by giving her brother a proper burial. Even when she faces death, she still holds on to her beliefs knowing that her fate is inevitable and this is shown when she says, “my fate prompts no tears.”. Therefore both Oedipus and Antigone discovered their fates, but one of them decided to fight against it while the other decided to obey the gods by accepting it. Even when they had similar destinies, Oedipus was seen as a leader who brought shame to Thebes, while Antigone was recognized for her heroicness and courage because she respected the gods enough to follow her

Sophocles’ play “Antigone” illustrates the conflict between obeying human and divine law. The play opens after Oedipus’ two sons Eteocles and Polyneices have killed each other in a civil war for the throne of Thebes. Oedipus’ brother in law Creon then assumes the throne. He dictates that Eteocles shall receive a state funeral and honors, while Polyneices shall be left in the streets to rot away. Creon believes that Polyneices’ body shall be condemned to this because of his civil disobedience and treachery against the city. Polyneices’ sister, Antigone, upon hearing this exclaims that an improper burial for Polyneices would be an insult to the Gods. She vows that Polyneices’ body will be buried, and Creon declares that anyone who

It was soon discovered what Antigone had done. Creon her to be executed and was imprisoned in a cave. Her fiancé, Haemon, son of Creon, begged his father to let her go. He finally agreed but he was too late, Antigone had hanged herself. Haemon was devastated that his love was dead, so he committed suicide. At the news, Creon's wife and Haemon’s mother, queen Eurydice, commits suicide fulfilling Creon’s fate of being responsible for his family’s death. Antigone lines 1335-1336 “From suffering that has been/ Decreed no man will ever find escape”.

During the play Creon has a few more conversation one being with his son, Haemon, and during their “talk” his son says “Then she won’t be the only one to die. (Sophocles 19”) which he stating that if Antigone is going to die he is going to die with her. Creon just feels anger towards his son but, is unexpecting of what is to come of Antigone’s death. Afterwards he had a discussion over the topic with Teiresias which led to convince Creon that he was wrong with his decisions and needed to let Antigone free with his own hands.

Teiresias: “You’ve thrown down to those below someone from up above- in your arrogance you’ve moved a living soul into a grave, leaving here a body owned by god's below- unburied, dispossessed, unsanctified.” (Lines 1196-1200). Teiresias has given Creon insight on how he drove his fate to its edge. In Antigone by Sophocles, Creon is portrayed as a tragic figure who functions as a tool for suffering because he had brought a series of unfortunate events to those who were close to him by not allowing his emotions to surpass his overwhelming power and taking drastic actions towards Antigone and Haemon leading to unwanted deaths.

Throughout the story, both Antigone and Creon are symbols of the theme of pride and power that is shown throughout the story. In Antigone, the theme of pride affects the plot because if Creon was self-less rather than being prideful, he would have understood Antigone’s following of the unwritten laws and accept her feelings, which would prevent her suicide. In conclusion, while there are multiple themes that appear throughout the play, pride and power are both the most

She has been caught burying the body of her brother, Polyneices, whose body was to be left alone and unburied by orders of Creon. The chorus is mainly reacting to her disobedience of the law set forth by Creon to leave the body dishonored out on the battlefield.

Antigone, a young, ambitious, powerful-beyond-her-knowledge girl sets the reader up with her awareness of the power of fate, in which she attributes all the tragedy in her family to the almighty Zeus. Fate being the upcoming of events beyond a person’s control, something that is destined to happen. We see fate throughout the story occur over again, it is a common action bestowed upon both Creon and Antigone.

Some of the times the Chorus speaks in this drama, it seems to side with Creon and the established power of Thebes. The Chorus's first speech (117–179) describes the thwarted pride of the invading enemy: The God Zeus hates bravado and bragging. Yet this encomium to the victory of Thebes through Zeus has a cunningly critical edge. The Chorus's focus on pride and the fall of the prideful comments underhandedly on the willfulness seen in Antigone and will see in Creon. In Creon's first speech, where he assumes the “Now here I am, holding all authority and the throne, in virtue of kinship with the dead” and reiterates his decree against the traitor Polynices (191-192). In lines 308-309 the Chorus says to Creon “My lord: I wonder, could this be God’s doing? This is the thought that keeps on haunting me. The Chorus is questioning Creon if it could be the doing of God who buried Polynices, Creon replies; “Stop, before your words fill even me with rage that you should be exposed as a fool, and you so old. For what you say is surely insupportable when you say the gods took forethought for this corpse” (310-313).

Sometimes, the cause of one’s downfall can be found inside themselves. The play Antigone written by Sophocles, is about a girl named Antigone who chooses to defy the king’s law and bury her brother. Creon, the king of Thebes, finds out about Antigone’s actions and decides to punish her with death. Creon’s pridefulness and stubbornness causes him to create selfish and close minded decisions that lead to future consequences.

In the first paragraph of the play it reads, "My darling sister Ismene, we have had a fine inheritance from Oedipus. God has gone through the whole range of sufferings and piled them all on us, -grief upon grief, humiliation upon humiliation"(1042). This just shows how terrible fate has treated the family of Oedipus. Creon has a different fate, one that he brought upon himself but it is much more dour than anyone else's. Creon's fate was to lose all of all of his family and the rest of his life knowing it was his entire fault because of his selfish actions and his stubborn ways. In the end of the play Creon says, "Nobody else to share the blame. Just me . . . I killed you. I killed you my dear"(1078-1079).

Throughout Antigone, fate is responsible for many of the most devastating and critical events. The characters Antigone, Creon, Ismene, Haemon, and Tirasias experience many occasions that change their destiny, some events of which were predestined. It is frequently shown that fate and free will are intertwined. Each individual has a destiny, but it can be changed if they use their free will. Sophocle’s message is portrayed throughout the story through the actions of different characters. The individuals predestined fate and willingness to change it creates the series of events.

In Jean Anouilh’s version of the play, Antigone, the protagonist, Antigone, is interpreted as a member of the resistance to despotism that parallels the antifascist French resistance against the Nazi occupation. Anouilh’s controversial play was performed in 1944 under Nazi-controlled Paris, so when Antigone sacrifices her life to defy the oppressive ruler Creon, Anouilh makes Antigone not only a heroine, but also a symbol for resistance. Anouilh based his playwright on Sophocles’ version, which was originally written in 442 BC in Ancient Greece. However, Anouilh uses different literary devices such as anachronisms, allusions, similes and symbolism to relate the story to the most disturbing dilemma during his time in the 1940’s. He writes his play to show the importance in joining the French resistance, but he must also make his play acceptable to the controlling Nazis. As such, the play Antigone can be interpreted as a political allegory of Vichy France.