Antigone by Sophocles Essay

Antigone, written by the Athenian Sophocles, is about a woman named Antigone who lives in a city named Thebes. The play’s plot is based on her attempt to successfully bury her brother Polynices whom perished in a battle with his brother that also assumed the role of

Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus, the king that married his own mother, Locaste and unwittingly killed his father, Laios. When he learned what he had done, he blinded himself and left Thebes, voluntarily went into self-style exile and died over there. Antigone and Ismene are siblings, the only surviving children of Oedipus. The other two brothers Polyneices and Eteocles quarreled and killed each other in a battle when Polyneices returned to assault Thebes, then Creon, Antigone uncle became the king of Thebes being the only heir in line to the throne. Creon ordered Polyneices be left to rot unburied on the battle field as a traitor but Antigone could not see reason to let her brothers body rot unburied. Antigone

Antigone is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. ONE OF THE three surviving tragedians of classical Athens, along with Aeschylus and Euripides, and one of the great dramatists of world literature, Sophocles spanned in his long life (497-406 B.C.) the cultural flowering of Athens in the fifth century(Segal 1). Antigone is named after the daughter of King Oedipus of Thebes, a young woman who stood against the king’s decision and believed in the gods’ law. There are many arguments regarding who is the real protagonist and antagonist in this play. The protagonist is generally regarded as the good guy and antagonist is the bad guy. Antigone is a protagonist as she is the title character in the

Sympathy for the Main Character in Sophocles' Antigone Sophocles' play is named after its main character, Antigone, and for

inconsistency in her beliefs. Majorly, nearing the end of her life, she begins to regret all her deeds of which

A tragic story has its own occur of events. The main factors that always end a tragedy is through conspiracies, love, or hatred. In the story Antigone written by Sophocles, it demonstrates a tragedy filled with consequences to the characters. Antigone shows similarities to Aristotle’s paradigm because of the plot, characterization, and actions that were pursued throughout this story. In Aristotle’s Poetics, he puts his view of how a tragedy should be portrayed to make the concept of it more understandable towards the audience. Through the usages of Aristotle’s criteria it will help analyze topics that demonstrates the views of Aristotle.

Family, an important theme of life, gets expressed throughout many ways in society. Family may take precedence over many things, including authority and the law. Within the tragic play, Antigone, the author Sophocles presents situations where the characters have to choose between their family and the law. The characters must choose what is more important to them, their family or obeying the laws of Thebes. Throughout the play, Sophocles presents a strong theme of family values and the importance of it through the actions of Antigone, Creon and Haimon.

Antigone is a play based on a Greek tragedy, that takes place in the city of Thebes. Antigone is one of four siblings, her two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, and her sister, Ismene, and soon to be married to Haimon. Her two brothers Eteocles and Polyneices do not live to the end of this drama, but die fighting one another for the throne of the kingdom. Creon, a ruthless leader, takes the heir of the throne. He demands Polyneices not have a burial for he was a traitor, and anyone who attempts to disobey his ruling would be punished. Antigone violated the ruling and attempted to bury Polyneices. Creon showed no pity for the fact that she was his only son’s fiancee and instead gave Antigone a death punishment. Antigone states multiple times that she believes she did nothing wrong, as well as others in the city think that. Haimon uses rhetorical devices throughout the drama in attempts to keep his father from killing Antigone and to show his father how he is affecting the city.

The moral compass of planet Earth intends to point north at all times. This isn’t always the case. People make mistakes, and others immediately judge their decision. Are they right, or are they wrong? If they are right, then perfect -- no harm done. If they are wrong feelings of guilt and shame may overcome. It is at this moment in time where the wrongdoer needs to make a decision in accordance to their actions. In an excerpt from Antigone, by the classic Greek playwright Sophocles, the wise Teiresias observes, “Think: all men make mistakes, But a good man yields when he Knows his course is wrong, And repairs the evil: The only Crime is pride.” Teiresias statement is valid. The time period in which this poem was written does not remove its

Antigone and her sister Ismene are the daughters of King Oedipus of Thebes and Jocasta. She is of high birth standing and in a state of good fortune. Antigone's values loyalty to gods and family.

"Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep

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

Antigone was written in 441 BC by the Greek playwright Sophocles. The play is set in the ancient city of Thebes. Women were not recognized of importance in ancient Athens, so in turn they were not allowed to attend the plays and any character that was a woman was to be played as a man, wearing a mask. Sophocles wrote many other great Greek tragedies including Odeipus the King. In the prequel to Antigone, Odeipus the King, Odeipus is born as a curse. His parents went to the oracle and received terrible news about their son, Odeipus. Odeipus would soon kill his father and lay with his mother. To prevent this, his parents dropped Odeipus off in the woods as a child but he still managed to survive. Years later he is walking on the outskirts of Thebes and he runs into his father, they have a thrown down and Oedipus kills his father, completing the first half of the prophecy the oracle foretold. Shortly after Thebes recognizes Oedipus as a worthy leader and is elected king. And with tradition he must marry the queen of Thebes, his mother, completing the second half of the prophecy. Odeipus later then finds out the truth that he in fact killed his father, the king of Thebes, and is married to his mother and has committed fornication. Oedipus gouges his eyes out stating “Don’t tell me what I’ve done is not the best. And from now on spare me your advice If I could see, I don’t know how my eyes could look at my own father when I come to Hades or could see my wretched mother.

Choices affect all of our lives. We are always faced with choices. What we do with those choices will determine how are lives will turn out, what destiny lies before us and even what will become of us. The choices we make are in our complete control. Whether we make choices during the heat of the moment or with an open mind there are going to be consequences that follow whether good or bad are can only be blamed on us. Sophocles's Antigone portrays human emotions and consequences that follow two distinct choices. We can broaden the spectrum by saying that Creon represents public policy and Antigone represents individual conscience. According to E.S. Shuckburgh we must examine which is more important 'state law or

The play Antigone, composed by Sophocles, informs us that fate cannot be controlled by anyone. Fate is an essential part of many tragedies. As for the characters in Antigone, their fates end up being unavoidable, whether it is due to the reason that they refused to accept it until it was very late, or they accepted the fate and permitted it to come to pass. The character’s lives possess set conclusions, and there exits some clues on what these conclusions shall be, and when they shall happen. The characters are frequently capable of knowing their fate and reacting to it. At certain periods, characters accept their fate since it is vital to them, or they trust that it is unavoidable (Stegar, 1). A vital theme of Antigone is the conflict amidst fate and a person’s action. Whereas free decisions, like the choice of Antigone to disobey Creon’s orders, are important, fate is actually accountable for most of the very overwhelming and vital occurrences of the trilogy. Through raising the fate’s significance, Sophocles implies that characters cannot be completely accountable for their undertakings. It gets challenging, for instance, to blame Oedipus for marrying mother, provided his ignorance (Shmoop, 3). The main character’s fate in the play “Antigone” by Sophocles shows the risks of extreme pride. The forces of the gods or fate, bears grave and weighty impacts on the lives of human beings. Various tragic results might certainly arise from the will of the gods, and not simply a