Antigone By Sophocles ' Antigone

In Sophocles’ piece, King Kreon prohibited the burial of Polynices, Antigone’s brother, because he was seen as a traitor to his country. Antigone blatantly disobeyed King Kreon’s proclamation because she thought that Polynices ought to be buried not only because he was blood- family, but because the gods law states that burial is a necessary ceremony. Her sister, Ismene, tried to warn her of the trouble she could find herself in, if King Kreon finds out that it was Antigone who had buried her brother, the traitor. (Blondell, 21). In addition, Antigone does not hesitate to admit to this illegal deed when the guards catch her in the act (Blondell, 37,38). While she acted out of respect for her brother and the gods, it was selfish in the fact that she was only thinking of herself. She did not hesitate to disregard King Kreon’s law and did not take any factor into consideration. Antigone accepted that her life was the price to pay for her civil disobedience, but her actions also, unintentionally, led to the death of two other people. Although, in the end, King Kreon sees that Antigone was right, the reason for which she had fought, and ultimately lost her life for, had no significant positive effect on anyone else.

Antigone’s self-certainty is one of her mistakes that contribute to her tragic fate. She regards burying dead people as absolute just behavior under any circumstance. This rite is important in Ancient Greek culture, but weather or not gods desire appropriate arrangement of Polyneices’ body is under question. It is Zeus that brings death to Polyneices because

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

In Antigone, Antigone and her sister Ismene return to Thebes in an attempt to reconcile their brothers—Eteocles, who was defending the city and his crown, and Polyneices, who was attacking Thebes. However, both brothers were killed, and their uncle Creon became the king. He forbade burial is the corpse of Polyneices, declaring him a traitor. Antigone, moved by love for her brother and convinced that the command went against the law of the gods, she buried Polyneices secretly. Antigone lines 72-74 “And if I have to die for this pure crime,/ I am content, for I shall rest beside him;/ His love will answer mine”. It was Antigone’s fate to die after burying her brother. It also was her fate to be Oedipus’ daughter/sister.

Antigone is the sister of Eteocles and Polyneices. Both Eteocles and Polyneices agree to jointly rule Thebes as mutual kings. After one year, Polynices distrusts his brother, resulting in Polyneices fleeing from Thebes, only to later return with an army. In the battle, both sides are massacred. Eteocles and Polyneices kill one another, consequently giving their power up as king to in Creon, Antigone’s uncle. As acting king, Creon orders that, “Eteocles who died as a man should die, fighting for his country, is to be buried with full military honors, with all the ceremony that is usual when the greatest heros die” (Sophocles, line 160). As for Polyneices, Creon passes a law for Polyneices to be left unburied, to rot for every citizen to witness. Antigone viewed this law as immoral and unjust, for one brother to be buried with military honor and not the other. Antigone, expressing her love for Polynices, rises against Creon's higher authority command

In the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, King Creon created a law that denied proper burial rites to anyone who invaded or betrayed the city of Thebes. Antigone defied this law by burying her brother, Polynices, after he was harshly accused of being a traitor. Both Creon and Antigone showed a tenacious passion toward their perception of justice, unwilling to accept that honoring the law and honoring the individual conscience were both justified in different ways. The stubbornness that they shared led them both to meet their downfalls, which conveyed the idea that being too proud to accept guidance from others ultimately leads to dire consequences.

In Antigone written by Sophocles and translated by David R. Slavitt, Antigone decides to risk her own life to be able to bury her brother in a respectful way in which she thinks is right. Antigone had an enthusiastic determination about it, approached it without regret, and also choose her destiny and her sisters. Her father’s fate was a big affect on if she was going to precede with burying her brother or to no give him the respect like the rest of the surrounding community. Even though Antigone risked her whole life and her entire future she made the right decision by burying her brother and sticking to her own judgment.

This Sophocles tragedy seemed to touch many readers. This tragedy has made many people in present and antiquity rethink their purpose in life. This story also intended to raise many questions. One question that I will discus is what means more to you, social acceptance or staying true to your beliefs? This classic tragedy that I am referring to is called Antigone. This fascinating story touches many subject of social and religious matter. I will discuss the tragic turmoil of Antigone, her surrounding family, and the social and religious dilemma that Antigone faces that will ultimately decide her fate.

In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, the main character uses rhetoric to effectively persuade her audiences to sympathize with her. In the play, Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, dies a traitor to the Theban people. The king, Creon, decrees that no one is to bury the traitor despite the necessity of burial for proper passing into the afterlife. Believing that Creon’s decree is unjust, Antigone buries her brother. When she is brought to the king, Antigone uses this speech in defense of her actions. In the speech, she uses allusion, diction, and particular sentence structure to increase the effectiveness of her argument.

Eteocles and Polyneices was the start of this tragedy. “Where could I win respect and praise more validly than this: burial of my brother?” said Antigone. This quote comes from Antigone were she has strong emotions about the burial of her brother. She will do whatever it takes to get his proper burial. Antigone had very strong emotions about her brother which lead to very brave actions.

Antigone chose to give her brother Polyneices a proper burial even though it was against the king’s law. She tried talking her sister Ismene to join her on her quest because Polyneices was both of their brothers, but Ismene did not want to disobey Kreon’s order (Blondell 19-24). This left Antigone to handle this on her own, which takes a lot of courage and dedication to what she believes in. Antigone went on with her plan to bury Polyneices and his body was eventually found by a guard (Blondell 30). When the guard brought the news to Kreon he was furious and the Chorus had suggested it was a Gods doing, which led me to believe that they did not think anyone one else was willing to risk it all by not listening to their kings orders (Blondell 32). A good lesson to learn from Antigone is that even if you break the law you have to admit your doing especially when you know what you did was morally right and what you stand for as an individual. When Antigone was accused of breaking the law and burying Polyneices she did not even hesitate saying, “I don’t deny it; I admit the deed was mine.” (Blondell 38). She even goes on to tell King Kreon that his choice to not allow the burial of Polyneices is morally wrong and how he is disobeying the God Zeus who is offended by improper treatment of a corpse (Blondell 38). Though Antigone knows the consequence for disobeying the king, she continues to fight for her brother’s honor and makes sure to point out the king’s foolish decision. Even in her last words she questions what kind of men can make suffer and then gives her respects to the town, gods, and rulers.

Antigone was an agent of her own beliefs and she never hesitated to fulfill her obligation. “When at last it stopped,/There was the girl, screaming like an angry bird,/When it finds its nest left empty and little ones gone.” (Sophocles 137). Sophocles used a maternal image to describe how Antigone conducted the ritual of burial. Antigone was compared to a mother bird as she found out her babies were gone. This intense and explosive anger characterized the mental state of Antigone when she was burying her brother. Unlike a male who would seek for revenge, Antigone, as a female character, screamed and cursed to defend her beliefs and to protest her respect to the death. Though Antigone’s physical strength was small, her moral strength, in regard to how the living should respect the dead, was powerful. This moral strength, accompanied by her action, demonstrated Sohpocles’ perspective that women can make life happens despite they lack the physical strength of men.

As the play begins Antigone is just meeting up with her sister and is telling her about the decree of King Creon. Antigone and her sister, Ismene, had two brothers who had killed each other on the battlefield. One of their brothers, Eteocles, was buried with the military honors of a soldier’s funeral, and yet the other, Polyneices, was to be left out to be food for the carrion birds since he died fighting against the city of Thebes. King Creon forbade publicly for anyone to bury the body of Polyneices under the penalty of death. Antigone is now determined to bury her brother and wants Ismene to help her. Ismene does not want to go against what the king has ordered and is fearful of what may become of her if she

In “Antigone” by Sophocles, a famous ancient Greek tragedian, the main character, Antigone, demonstrates a prohibited action in a strict, male-dominated society. Greek civilization upheld strong values and rules that were designed to enforce orderly behavior among its people. There were state laws created by the King, Creon, and divine laws created by the Gods. Divine law was superior to the king laws, and if that rule was disrupted, eternal consequences could ruin an individual. In this society, men were mighty, powerful, and in control of the kingdom. Women were traditionally treated as an underclass with no voice or power. Women were restricted from performing any masculine jobs, holding high civilization positions, and disobeying men. Although Greek civilization had strict standards for women, Antigone challenges the law through her actions in order to satisfy the Gods because it is what she thought was the right decision.

Even though Antigone has familial love toward her brother, she expresses sympathy toward him. Antigone does this by telling her sister that Creon “Promotes one of them and shames the other” by denying his burial rights (22). In this part of her speech, Antigone chooses her words carefully to describe the situation to her sister and express the sympathy she has for Polyneices, especially when she uses the phrase “shames the other” and “miserable corpse” (22-26). Antigone is sympathetic of her brother Polyneices because he is not given a proper burial and is left to the “vultures, unwept, unburied” like he is forgotten (29). It is also intriguing to see how Antigone’s sympathetic response to the lack of her brother’s burial is actually the familial love she has for him. Because she loves and considers him a part of her family, she is emotionally sorrowful for the way he has been treated.