Antigone Essay

To illustrate, Antigone articulates to Ismene that Creon lacks the power to prohibit her from burying Polyneices (Prologue, line 35). Disregarding Creon’s powers, Antigone extends both her immaturity and recklessness in amanner that both generates a hazy impression of Antigone’s plausibility and discredits her personality because of the seldom conflict between the king and women in Ancient Greece. Furthermore, characters such as Eurydice and Jocasta, who experience much more tragedy, diverge from Antigone in the course of their reactions. While Jocasta and Eurydice grieve for their loved ones and succumb to the sorrow, Antigone’s reaction exists at the opposite end of the spectrum where she acts with the sole intent to spite Creon. Continuing, Antigone dictates that she is “not afraid of the danger; if it means death, / It will not be the worst of deaths - death without honor” (Prologue, lines 80-81). Recognizing her inevitable fate, Antigone makes little effort to alter her actions or consequences. Her proud acceptance of her death, which she claims to be one of honor, projects her arrogance and stubbornness toward her situation. This immediate compliance fails to reflect the true outlook and reaction toward approaching death both today and in her time. Additionally, the diatribe provided by Antigone to the chorus near her death sparks much criticism when she asserts that she prays Creon’s punishment equals her own when the truth of her actions emerges (Scene 4, lines 67-69). Antigone’s blatant assault on Creon’s life conveys her ignorance, which also transmits the impossibility of her individuality. Sophocles employs Antigone to generate the generalized perspective of tyranny Conversely, many individuals justify Antigone’s reckless behavior

In Antigone, Sophocles introduces the struggle between loyalty to civil law versus familial loyalty and divine law, which is a central conflict in the play. Antigone has a firm belief in upholding family values and honoring the gods and deceased by burying her brother. In contrast, Creon wants to do what is best for the city which is, in his opinion, forbidding the burial of Polynices. Both Antigone and Creon believe that their point of view is more important, and neither is willing to change perspective, causing the chain of destructive events in the plot. Loyalty causes the deadly dispute between Antigone and Creon because of their conflicting perspectives about precedence.

When a messenger comes to Creon, bringing the news that Antigone has buried her brother, he begins his arguments why Antigone has broken the law. He begins by stating that a man shows what he is made of by his "skill in rule and law." In other words, the law is everything and as a ruler, he must do everything for his country. He considers Polyneices an enemy of the city and a threat to the security of the city as well. Thus Polyneices will be called a traitor in life and in death and dishonored. The scene when Antigone and Creon face each other is the opportunity for both to defend themselves. Creon questions Antigone. She bases her responses on that the city laws proclaiming her as illegal are not the laws of Zeus or laws proclaimed by gods, but rather, laws made by a man that one day will also die. She will honor her brother's death because this is what the gods have proclaimed for all mankind. (lines 460-463)

Standing for what you believe in and know what's right and wrong is important . In the play, Antigone, Sophocles demonstrates that through the conflict of the character. The play is a well-known tragic drama about the conflict between Antigone and her uncle Creon who is king of Thebes.Both character have different believes, idea and opinions regarding divine law and civil law. In Antigone the author Sophocles demonstrates the how important one's moral beliefs is, through the actions of the characters and how the beliefs impact the outcome of the play.The conflict between civil and divine law through Antigone and Creon, shows the important one's beliefs and how it impacts the outcome of the play. A reader can Identifying which law is more important in the play by looking at how the laws impact the characters and the outcome of the play. Both Antigone and Creon go at it expressing each others believes and whether one is right or wrong.Throughout the play civil law is more significant and powerful.

Even though Antigone exhibits a blamable pride and a hunger for glory, her disobedience is less serious than those of Creon. It is evident that Antigone’s actions are driven by a love for her brother, and a desire to please the gods. While Creon’s actions are

It is important to discuss Antigone’s point of view on the situation when considering the rhetorical strength of her argument. She stands by the belief that her decision to bury her brother was the right one. Her morals and past experiences have shaped this point of view. Antigone has a strong foundation of family loyalty. This is evident in almost all of her actions, the most obvious being the illegal burial of her brother. Antigone also has lingering discontent towards Creon due to the fact that he took the thrown after her father’s death. These past experience may have shaped attitudes towards Creon beyond the simple unjustness of his law.

The play “Antigone” is a tragedy by Sophocles. One main theme of the play is Religion vs. the state. This theme is seen throughout the play. Antigone is the supporter of religion and following the laws of the gods and the king of Thebes, Creon, is the state. In the play Creon has made it against the law to bury Antigone’s brother, something that goes against the laws of the gods, this is the cause of most conflict in the story. This struggle helps to develop the tragic form by giving the reader parts of the form through different characters.

Pride is the cause of the main conflict in Sophocles’ play, Antigone. Everyone should have pride, but Creon had too much of it and that blinded him. His pride in his power and abuse of authority was his tragic flaw that ultimately led to his downfall. On the other hand, Antigone takes pride in her beliefs and has the courage to speak out for what she thinks is right. For this, Antigone is seen as an honorable character and the hero of the play. It is shown that there are often two sides to things; pride can be both a source of strength and self-destruction.

In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the importance of family over authority is heavily expressed. With Antigone’s opening scene, to the interaction with Haimon and Creon, and then ending with Creon's loss of his family due to his mistakes, the story expresses the moral of family over the law.

The modern reader often considers the protagonist to be the hero of the story. Antigone is no exception to this behavior, as readers tend to characterize Antigone as the hero who defies the state in favor of blood ties and Creon a villain who wrongly denies the burial of Antigone’s brother. The western world values individualism greatly and that shows in its praise of Antigone, and to further embed the hero/villain image, Creon’s actions are seen as barbaric, as to disrespect the dead, friend or foe, is seen as a depraved and evil act. It is only fair to judge the story of Antigone and its characters by modern moral standards and values as they are the only ones we truly possess, but stories are meant to be read through the lens of it’s culture’s own standards and values. Donning the metaphorical eyeglass of ancient Athenian values causes a shift in the lines of hero/villain, a shift where Antigone is the one committing

Antigone and Creon, protagonist and antagonist, hero and anti-hero; neither character is fully one role. In the play, Antigone, there is a constant struggle to define what is a just act and whether the kings or the gods create the true laws. Antigone, desired to bury her deceased brother, Polyneices, unfortunately it was decreed a capital punishment to do so by King Creon. Antigone saw much of her family die; the only blood relative left is her sister Ismene. But it is more than closure that Antigone wants when burying Polyneices. King Creon is Antigone’s uncle (but they are no family); and certain events in the past involving Antigone’s family led to Creon becoming king, leaving many dead in the path. While Polyneices was suspected to be a traitor by Creon, this is irrelevant because to the citizens of Thebes, everyone deserved a proper burial. Antigone buried Polyneices and it ultimately resulted in her death. Although, it was not how one might have expected it to occur. Her reasons for doing so include fighting against patriarchy, protesting Creon’s rule, fame and the most obvious one, simply to give her brother the burial he deserves. King Creon, on the other hand, has numerous reasons why he could not repeal his ban on burying Polyneices, which consist of being certain he was a traitor, to not appear nepotistic, because he is always right, and misogyny. Without further inspection, these two characters seem opposites, clear enemies; but that is until one understand the

The Greek tragedy, Antigone, explores a dramatic conflict between the individual and the state. The epicenter of this tragedy revolves around the juxtaposition of Antigone and Creon—symbols of the moral law and the human law. They embody moral arguments that converge in opposition to one another, but since both parties failed to accept each other’s opinion, both were defeated at the end. This ensures no explicit answer on which side should take precedence over the other, making the play ambiguous and open to debate. With this, the Greek playwright Sophocles conveys the message that although people’s ideologies clash, a conflict will remain unresolved when both parties are intolerant of each other’s views.

Greek tragedies are noted for containing many powerful themes. Such themes like fate play an important role in many tragedies. Character lives or stories have a set end and throughout the story, there are subtle or noticeable hints of what will become of the character and when will it occur. Whether it be the protagonist, antagonist, or another character, they might be able to recognize their fate and respond by either accepting it or fighting against it. Power is another important theme in Greek tragedies. Power has a tendency to corrupt and blind characters from doing the right thing. Many tragic characters corrupted by the power they held suffer terrible fates from not making the right choices. Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Antigone, was no exception to this, as fate and power are central themes in the story and play prominent roles in the respective downfall of the play’s two major characters, Antigone and Creon. From the very beginning of the play, Antigone’s fate is essentially laid out when she confides to her sister, Ismene, that she plans to bury their brother, Polyneices and why it is necessary to do so. This action is in direct defiance of the edict set by their uncle, Creon, but Antigone nonetheless accepts her fate. She stands by what she did wholeheartedly and accepts the consequences without a moment’s hesitation. While fate greatly affected Antigone, power and fate play a great role in what becomes of Creon by the play’s

The tragic play ‘Antigone’ by Sophocles is a tale that will forever project different interpretations and meanings, one no more accurate than the other. The play’s protagonist, Antigone, is typically always seen in an innocent aspect, and Creon is always seen as a villain due to the ongoing quarrel between the two. But, who is to say that either one is heroic or villainous? Sure, there are many admirable qualities that Antigone possesses, but she also shows that she is unwilling to change her ways or her mindset even if she is wrong. Creon, who undoubtedly has harsh ways of ruling, does show that he has some compassion in his heart and is not a complete scumbag. This leads us to really debate the conflict, and dissect the facts from what we tend to think is truth. The nature of the conflict is that both Creon and Antigone are both so set in their ways that they fail to see the error within them. It is not a story of a terrible king or a brave woman, but rather, two individuals so caught up in defending what they believe in that they fail to realize how gravely their choices affect the family and Thebes as well.

Creon continuously asserts his power, both in terms of social and gender status; he is the ruler of the city, in fact, its defender in what is seen an unlawful attack by Polyneices against his own fatherland (the gravest of sins in civic terms). Moreover, he is a man, faced with an insubordinate, stubborn, powerless female who is also a member of his own family and under his jurisdiction and protection. Antigone, on the other hand, continuously asserts the validity on her argument in religious and moral terms, being, at the same time, constantly aware of her limitations due to her gender and position in the city and her own family. Yet, although they both take pains to highlight the unbridgeable gap between them, contrasting civic/rational (Creon) and family/religious (Antigone) duty, they are remarkably similar in the way they approach and respond to one another. Both are characterised by unyielding stubbornness, a deep belief in the rightness of their own value system, and complete failure in identifying any validity whatsoever in each other’s argument. Both insist on upholding their respective values with obstinate determination to the end: Antigone dies unchanged, whereas Creon’s change of heart comes too late having first caused the destruction of his entire family.