Ethos In Ancient Greek Civilization

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

The theme of the play Antigone, by Sophocles, is that too much pride and power can result in losing what people love. A battle just took place in Thebes that resulted in two brothers’ deaths. Creon, the king and also the brothers’ uncle, is an example of what happens when pride and power overtake someone’s life. Creon said, “Polynices, who returned from exile with hopes of burning his native land and ancestral gods from top to bottom, wishing to feast on kindred blood and lead the rest into slavery, it has been decreed that in this city he shall be neither buried nor mourned by anyone” (Sophocles, Scene 1, lines 202-209, pg. 20). Creon banned his own nephew from being buried because he didn’t want to appear weak and bury the enemy. He had so much pride that he wouldn’t let his own kin be buried. People tried to warn Creon that his decisions contradicted what the cultural beliefs at the time said about how burial and family are important. His own son, Haemon said “Don’t be so stubborn that you say you and you alone are right” (Sophocles, Scene 3, lines

The notion of honor is prevalent throughout the Iliad and Antigone. Both texts demonstrate that honor is essential to Greek heroes because honor is the foundation of the society and family. Homer and Sophocles clearly show that honor guides people’s actions and responses and decides the fate of themselves and others. Both authors also place emphasis on the importance of proper burial because it is a strong indication of honor to the deceased and the deceased’s family. As can be seen in the Iliad and Antigone, the aim of every Greek hero is to gain everlasting honor because it ensures his place in the social memory of his society resounding even after death.

Antigone is very proud, liker her father Oedipus, who also happens to be a tragic hero; I guess it runs in the family. Pride ends up being their downfall. Antigone promises her brother, before he is killed, that she will give him a proper Theban burial, but Creon the King decreed that anyone who buries him will

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.

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

Sophocles symbolizes family over authority by using Antigone and Creon to conflict each other's core beliefs, showing that Antigone is willing to die to honor the love for her family, while Creon is willing to kill to honor and enforce his own authority at any cost. As we see in the story, when Antigone's brothers die, she chooses to bury Polyneices even though she knows this will cost her her life. In the play when Antigone tells her sister what she’s going to do, ismene says, ”But think of the danger! Think what Creon will do! ANTIGONE: Creon is not enough to stand in my way” This shows Antigone represents family for the great lengths she will go to to honor her brother. By contrast, Sophocles paints Creon to symbolize authority through murder of his own bloodline. In the play he plans to kill Antigone for choosing her love for her brother over his rule, and so he plans out her execution although she is family to Creon. The Choragos asks Creon “Do you really intend to steal this girl from your son?,” which then he responds by saying “No; Death will do that for me.” Which shows the reader that Creon is unsympathetic to who Antigone is in relation to him. He disregards the importance of family to uphold his authoritative values. By the end of the play the author has shown us Creon has come to realize his ways have cost him his family, and he regrets his decisions.

Imagine knowing that both your brothers have lost their lives due to foolish decisions. The man who comes to power in place of them decides that only one of them is worthy of a proper burial. One of them is glorified and the other is left to be eaten by animals as he is thought to be a traitor. Being one of the last in your line you decide to take it upon yourself to respect the laws of the gods and honor your brother. In Antigone, a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles , Antigone faces the consequences of defying mans law in order to follow the laws of the gods.

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.

The Iliad, by Homer, is an epic poem set in the era of the Trojan War, accounting the battle logs during the time of conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles, the text’s tragic protagonist. The heroic outlook on life, in Iliadic terms, is exemplified through the construction of one’s honor through hard work. Being an aspect of the heroic outlook of life, this value is demonstrated through his contribution and dedication to the Trojan War, his experience with neglect from the deities, Achilles’ overall disdain towards Agamemnon, and, lastly, his longingness towards Briseis, his dear lover.

The major principles and beliefs of Ancient Greece are grasped through their stories, those written by intellectual, philosophical men such as Ovid, Euripides, Homer, Sophocles, and many others. Their captivating tales consisted of tragedy, chaos, deaths, love affairs, and heroic deeds; however, they all had one minor flaw: the degrading attributes they gave to women, like that of infidelity and weakness. Their goals were to define men as heroic, value their strength and hard work, emphasize their status, and to imply a patriarchal society. However, blinded by these over-powering attributes, we easily disregard that women, too, in fact, showed signs of heroism and bravery. Their roles were essential, despite their depictions. Just like today, women were the reason for protection, affection, guiding, rationale, and of course, life.

Creon shows his self pride obviously when he said, “But whoever shows by word and deed that he is on the side of the State, he shall have my respect while he is living, and my reverence when he is dead” (Sc. 1, lns. 52-55). Antigones’s tragic flaw can be seen as an act of justice to some and just breaking the law to others.

Throughout the context words of Creon and Antigone contrasts their perspective on their belief. Creon would often decide all the rulings of his country with no hesitant because of his strong pride being a King. On the other hand, Antigone’s strong bond, love for her family, commitment to bury her brother which objects the rule against Creon. In disobedience towards Creon, Antigone says her “...honours for the dead must last much longer than for those up here” (Sophocles, 275), as well as speaking that “there’s nothing shameful in honouring my mother’s children.” (Sophocles, 273). Antigone’s words expresses her love and the

This is a measure of their strength, shorn of all stage play and fog, they still shine in their human qualities. There is a deep understanding of the basis of individuality and humanism in this. Insist on yourself and show yourself unshorn, thus says the lover of truth or VERITAS in all things. The love of beauty, of nature and of humanity, whole and pure in a higher sense, above all philosophical and tolerant, shows from all their creations. Greek culture was amazingly holistic and absorptive, perhaps a legacy of the wayfaring Phoenicians, of hardy seamen and explorers. The Greeks faced nature in all its capriciousness, they did not hide or turn away but manfully, embraced nature and it’s conundrums all the same. They looked the stormy seas, inside and outside, full in the face and did not shrink from life. Embrasure of life with open arms is the very symbol of the Greeks. A cosmopolitan, tolerant, irreverent, heroic, individualistic, human, frail, weak, many sided, truthful, naturalistic, humanistic phenomenon, which challenged the might of the Persian tyrant again and again to do its worst but would not yield it’s freedom of hard birth and growth. The phoenix rebirthing again and again could be a fitting symbol of the Greek culture. The plumed Amazon warrioress, symbol of feminity, appears again and again, not shying away from a trial of strength. Passionately full of life, wiles, loves and

After reading Homer’s text, we realize that while it contains fine poetic history it is in fact about the human condition and how it affects people, Achilles primarily. The reality for people in the world of The Iliad is that they live under many gods, and that they can not please all of them; indeed, the gods are at odds with each other and to support one means to upset another. While the ideal condition for the Greeks is to possess sophrosyne, in reality there are too many uncontrollable external pressures to do so. Just as the gods who influence men are not harmonious, therefore, we find this quality also in the explanation of the human condition for Greek cultures.