preview

Antigone Conscience Vs Society

Decent Essays
Open Document

Conscience vs. Society At one point or another, one has had to choose between doing what one believes is the right choice to make and what society believes in the correct choice. The play Antigone, by Sophocles, is about a family that has gone through some difficult times: Oedipus, Antigone’s and Ismene’s father and the former king, has been banished and died, the brothers of Antigone and Ismene have just gone to war with each other and have both died, and Creon, the uncle of Antigone and Ismene, has taken the throne. The play portrays what happens directly after the death of Polyneices and Eteocles, the brothers of Antigone and Ismene. Antigone and Creon, in the play Antigone by Sophocles, both have to make decisions that will go against either their conscience or the thoughts of society. …show more content…

“Antigone- ‘Help me lift the body up-’ Ismene- ‘What, would you bury him? Against the proclamation?’ Antigone- ‘My own brother and yours I will! If you will not, I will; I shall not prove disloyal’”(Sophocles 3). In this excerpt, Antigone is determined to honor her brother’s body, even though Creon has declared that he should be left unburied; however, Ismene is reluctant to go along with Antigone because of the decree made by Creon. Antigone, in this section, is representing the will and determination of the human conscience, when, in contrast, Ismene is representing the will and laws of society. Antigone is determined to satisfy her moral principles, which, in her mind, is also satisfying the gods, while Ismene wants to stay the obedient to the laws of the kings and satisfy the

Get Access