Sophocles’s play Antigone promotes a good life that, through careful analysis, is very similar to the Stoic theory of the good life. Antigone is a story about the members of the ancient Theban aristocracy vying for control of themselves and others; however, in its core it contains an exploration of the good life, that is trying to investigate what values will allow one to get what they want out of life. A group of philosophers, also of Greek origin, produced a theory of this topic; this group of thinkers is called the Stoics. Concerning the good life they had two main values, from which they believe a good life can originate. The first of the two is finding happiness from inner resources, or trying not to depend on things around you such as wealth or adventure to give you a sense of happiness. The second facet is that of not worrying about things that are out of your control, as there is no use. Antigone brings to stage these topics, and shows characters who either live according to them, and exit with a good life, and others who deny these, and end the play living in a bad life. Therefore the play shows through example, that Stoic values will lead to a positive way of living, and living against the values will lead to you not getting everything out of life. The two main characters in this tragedy are Creon, the king of Thebes, and uncle of the other character Antigone, the daughter of the last king of the same city Thebes. Creon does not live according to the values of
The first specification for the tragic hero is one of the few that both Antigone and Creon exhibit; both characters are between the extremes of perfect morality and pure villainy. Antigone’s moral neutrality is illustrated through her noble intentions and the unorthodox way she acts upon them. When she is confronted by Creon and demanded to give an explanation for her disobedience, Antigone says, “For me it was not Zeus who made that order. Nor did that Justice who lives with the gods below mark out such laws to hold among mankind” (Sophocles 207 ll. 450-2). Along with love and loyalty to her brother, Antigone is largely motivated by her desire for justice and appeasement of the gods. While her intentions are noble, Antigone’s actions in the
In the play Antigone, Creon starts off as the loyal king of Thebes. He is loyal to the gods and loyal to the welfare of Thebes. However, over the course of the play, Creon degenerates into a tyrant. His degeneration is showing his character development. Creon’s pride about the human law also develops throughout the play, creating conflict with the divine law. When Antigone rebels against his law, he becomes stubborn, and makes myopic decisions and grows into his hamartia. Besides his hamartia, Creon’s position as the king makes him a power hungry man. His power madness degenerates him into becoming a ruthless and vindictive man, even to his family. However, over the course of the play, Creon begins to see that because of the laws of men, he was being blinded of what’s
Her determination to honor the deceased led to her eternal rest. The play Antigone by Sophocles is a tragedy about a young woman named Antigone whose brother died in combat and was not permitted to be buried by the king. This leads Antigone to bury her brother and face the wrath of the king’s punishment. After Antigone’s death, fate changes for Creon, the king, when he loses all of his family members for going against the laws of the gods. As the eponymous character of the play Antigone, Antigone breaks Creon’s law by burying her brother and is sentenced to death, even if it were her uncle’s decree. Nevertheless, the character Creon suffers a fate far worse than death for upholding a law he had set up. The role of family ties in Antigone is
The main characters in Sophocles’ drama, Antigone, are Antigone herself, the play’s tragic heroine and Antigone’s uncle and King of Thebes, Creon. Both characters are ruled by powerful motivations and beliefs; however, they differ from one character to the next.
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.
In the Greek tragedy Antigone, the characters Antigone and Creon can both be thought of as the tragic hero of the play. Though Antigone does show some of these characteristics of a tragic hero, Creon demonstrates the attributes more clearly and concisely. Creon is the King of Thebes, as well as the uncle of Antigone. Creon took the throne after a tragic quarrel between his two nephews, Eteocles and Polyneices. Despite his harsh governing and his crude ideals, he is not good or bad. Creon is the tragic hero of the play Antigone, because of his superiority in his society, his nobility, and his tragic flaw, self-pride.
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.
Antigone is the antithesis of Creon. The play, Antigone, by Sophocles translated by Paul Roche is a tragedy. It starts off with Antigone telling her sister, Ismene, that Creon, the king and their uncle, has made an edict that their brother, Polyneces, will not receive a proper burial and will be left to be eaten by carrion birds and dogs because he is a traitor. Their other brother Eteocles, will be given a proper burial, as he fought for Thebes. Antigone also tells her sister that she is going to bury him anyway, but Ismene decides not to help, for fear of their place as women. Antigone is caught and sent to a stone tomb to starve to death. Haemon, Creon’s son and Antigone’s betrothed,
“The good life” can have various interpretations to different people. Sophocles’ Antigone and Socrates in the Apology represent similar principles that guide the way in which the characters live their life. In Sophocles’ play, Antigone goes against the wishes of her uncle, Creon, to do what she believes is morally right and just. Similarly, in the Apology, Socrates defends himself against the accusations of Meletus, who claims that Socrates does not acknowledge the gods of the city and corrupts others by teaching philosophy (Apology, 28). Both Antigone and Socrates believed that “the good life” was rooted in following the wishes of the gods and doing what was right in accordance with the divine. Additionally, Socrates held the idea that
Around 442 BC in the city of Athens, Greece, Sophocles wrote the greatly admired tragedy, Antigone. Antigone includes many themes such as Freedom, Protection of Personal Dignity, Obedience to Civil Law, Protection of Community/Nation, Loyalty/Obligation to Family, and Observance of Religious Law. Many of the Greek tragedies that have been written include a tragic hero that has his/her tragic flaw. In Antigone there are two main characters; Creon, the tyrant king of Thebes, and Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. One of these main characters must be chosen to be the tragic hero in the story. Creon and Antigone are almost polar opposites when it comes to views of society, but their attitudes are almost identical.
In the Antigone, unlike the Oedipus Tyrannus, paradoxically, the hero who is left in agony at the end of the play is not the title role. Instead King Creon, the newly appointed and tyrannical ruler, is left all alone in his empty palace with his wife's corpse in his hands, having just seen the suicide of his son. However, despite this pitiable fate for the character, his actions and behavior earlier in the play leave the final scene evoking more satisfaction than pity at his torment. The way the martyr Antigone went against the King and the city of Thebes was not entirely honorable or without ulterior motives of fulfilling pious concerns but it is difficult to lose sight of the fact
The play Antigone by Sophocles is a play like no other. There are three major themes or ideas which have a very important role in the play. The first major theme is fate, on how the play comes about and the turn of events that come about throughout it. Another main theme or idea is the pride the characters have and their unwillingness they have to change their minds once they are set on something. The last major theme is loyalty and the practical problem of conduct involving which is a higher law between the divine laws and those of the humans. It is an issue of which law is the "right" law, and if Creon and Antigone's acts are justifiable or not. The issues that Antigone and Creon have between them
Throughout the Greek play Antigone by Sophocles, there exists a dispute as to who should receive the designation of main character. Antigone, the daughter of the cursed King Oedipus, as well as Creon, stately king of Thebes, both appear as the key figures in this historic play. I believe that Creon, king of Thebes, should be considered the main character in this work of Greek theater. Three points can be used to make this argument: Creon suffers greatly, he learns a lesson, and is a tragic hero.
Unlike most Greek tragedies, Antigone is not essentially about the opposing powers of good and evil. Instead, the play demonstrates the conflict between one’s duty towards their family and their country and social expectations. “Antigone presents a conflict between family loyalty and loyalty to the state, between demands of the state and the will of the individual” (MacKay, 166). The king
Antigone is a play that was written in ancient Greece by the playwright Sophocles. It is the third play in a trilogy of tragedies about the city-state of Thebes, revolving around Oedipus Rex. Antigone starts the day after a civil war fought between the two sons of Oedipus Rex after his death. The civil war ended in death for both brothers, so their uncle, Creon, assumed the role of King of Thebes. The main conflict of the play begins when Creon gives one brother, Eteocles, a burial with honors, but passes a law forbidding a burial for the other brother, Polyneices with the penalty of death. One of the sisters of Eteocles and Polyneices, Antigone disagrees with this law, and decides to bury Polyneices, resulting in Creon sentencing Antigone to death. A conflict emerges between Antigone and Creon, who appear to be opposites. However, despite Antigone and Creon’s different stances on law, they are ultimately more similar than different because of their shared value of loyalty and their shared characteristic, hubris.