Antigone
Shanice Douglas
Ms. Masterson
English Honors II
September 18, 2015
The gratifying qualities of Sophocles tragedians plays, establishes him as one of the most infamous playwrights in Greek history. His refreshingly realistic themes and contradictory characters remain the topic of conversations today. Sophocles’ unorthodox approach of a female character also set him aside from other renowned playwrights. In his play Antigone, audiences are still indecisive on who is the tragic hero; Antigone or Creon. City law versus natural law is the primary issue in Antigone, characters are conflicted with the choice of breaking the law in order to do what is right. The events that occur display Sophocles’s view on human behavior and teaches the audience an important lesson on decision making and the effects of unbridled pride. Creon who is too blinded by his power and pride to look past the surface and seek different solutions, blatantly disregards the needs of his city and family. His impulsive decisions are the elements that contribute to his fall from grace. Antigone’s headstrong personality is admirable, because she breaks Creon’s decree in order to follow her beliefs. Creon deemed Polyneices, Antigone 's brother an unhonorable fighter and retracts his natural right to be buried. Antigone did not fear the consequences when she buried her brother, she stood by her decision because she knows the God’s are the ultimate power. Sophocles play Antigone shows the truth of
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
In Sophocles' play "Antigone," the main character is an example of moral conviction; she defies the authority of the state by upholding her commitment to family obligation and divine justice. Antigone makes a strong case that speaks to continuing topic concerns through her perspective, rhetorical appeals, response to counterarguments, and thematic engagement. In the end, she emphasizes the superiority of morals above state laws. Antigone's viewpoint is based on her theory that divine law outweighs state law. Despite Creon prohibiting her brother Polynices's burial, she claims she needs to honor him.
In the story, Antigone by Sophocle is a Greek tragedy whose characters misfortunes lead to their final deaths. This play is about a royal family’s cured and King Creon’s selfish ways. Antigone is a young royal lady who fights for her beliefs and defies the king’s ruling by burying her dead brother. In the end, to the king’s dismay, finds that all his loved ones, dead. Creon and Antigone differ from each other by how Antigone is loyal, beliefs, and consideration.
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 the reader 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 tells her it’s dangerous. Antigone responds, “Creon is not enough to stand in my way” (Prologue. 15). This shows Antigone represents
Sophocles' Antigone dives into many hard-hitting themes such as Political Corruption, Generational Trauma, Pride/Stubbornness, and unquestionably the theme of Law & Order vs. Individual Morality. This idea describes one’s preference between following the law and doing what the population believes to be correct, or whether to follow their own morals and stand on what they believe is the right thing to do. In the Greek tragedy interpretation of Antigone, her brothers Polynices and Etocles are killed. The ruler of their country, Creon, decides not to give Polynices a proper burial. Antigone, with the help of her sister Ismene, fights to get their brother’s rightful honor, even if it means execution.
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.
Aristotle once said that a Greek Tragedy must include an important person that has a flaw. By this flaw, the audience should feel pity and fear. Creon, a character in the Greek tragedy “Antigone”, resembles a perfect example of a tragic hero. This play was written by Sophocles, a historic playwright during the 5th century. It begins with the illegal burial of Polyneices, Antigone’s beloved brother. Creon, the King of Thebes, is coerced to condemn his niece Antigone to death. Being loyal to his city, Creon follows through with his punishment of Antigone. By doing so, his character is changed forever. Creon has the qualities of a tragic hero: he is a good person with superior status, he has a tragic flaw, and he comes to realize the role he
The play “Antigone” by Sophocles, and translated by Paul Roche, is set in Thebes where Antigone’s uncle, Creon takes control of the throne and leads the fall of Antigone’s family. In battle for the throne, both of Antigone’s brothers die, and while Eteocles is given a burial, burial for Polyneices is refused under the assumption that he was a traitor. The tragic hero demonstrates hamartia and hubris which lead to their downfall. Throughout the play Sophocles proves that Creon is the tragic hero which lets his distrustful and stubborn attitude leave him in sorrow.
The dramatic question of this play is whether it is right to disobey the laws of man if it is right by the laws of the gods. Antigone decides that it is the gods’ laws that are to be obeyed rather than human laws and acts accordingly. As a result, Antigone is the protagonist of this play because her actions are the direct focus and defining factors that illustrate the playwrights meaning and purpose. She is also the character that directly and with zeal, acts in response to the inciting incident. In contrast, Creon, is the antagonist, that prevents Antigone from accomplishing her goal to bury her brother. He believes throughout the play that his laws dominate over the laws of the gods, and is punished as a result. This is seen in the resolution of the play, as due to Creon’s tyranny and Antigone’s death, Haemon and Creon’s wife decide to follow in Antigone’s footsteps in ending their own lives. This resolution appearing at the end of the play, and revealing the lesson for Creon that pride destroyed him.
The character of Antigone in Sophocles’ play, Antigone, is one of the most controversial tragic characters in classic literature. The war in her city has torn her family apart, caused the death of both her brothers, and created a reason for her to fight against the King, her uncle. Her uncle, Creon, makes a ruling that her brother, Polynices, is not to be buried because he is a traitor, but according to her religion, her brother’s soul will not go to the afterlife until he is buried. In defense of her brother, she buries his body illegally and is subsequently sentenced to death. With her complex patterns of thought, bold actions, and the end she encounters, the character of Antigone causes debate among critics as to
Lord Acton, a well-known British historian, writer, and politician, resonated the repercussions of power and dominance by stating that "All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Moreell, "Power Corrupts"). This is just one of the themes covered in Sophocles 's Antigone. Within this dramatic play, Sophocles questions the conventions of hubris, hamartia, and power. They all play a role in the narrative where Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, vows to pay respects to her dead brother, Polyneices, as he laid dead in the battlefield outside Thebes. At the same time, the ruler of Thebes, Creon, issues an edict against the burial of Polyneices 's body since he was the man responsible for trying to invade and destroy Thebes. In Creon 's mind, he sees Polyneices as a traitor and deserves no respect from anyone in Thebes. For Antigone, a question arises on whether she must follow the law or provide rest and comfort to her late brother in a dignified manner? Within the play Antigone, Sophocles expresses that hubris and the hunger for power and control can lead anyone to their ends, without regard to original motive. Sophocles uses Antigone and Creon serve as examples of the interaction of the themes of hubris, hamartia, and power.
Family is very important and is shown through the many ways in society. That family will often be more important than the authority or law. The tragic Greek play, Antigone written by Sophocles. Within Antigone, Sophocles presents many situations where characters are forced to face their feelings of law or family. Throughout Antigone, Sophocles proves his strong devotion to family, even more. Sophocles presents these through the actions of Antigone, Creon, and Haemon with the choices that they make throughout the play. For instance, Antigone had many chances to obey the law or her own familial bonds. Antigone chooses to obey family, and bury Polynices even though burying breaks Creon's law. Antigone pleads with her sister to help, but when she says no, Antigone responds, “But as for me/ I will bury the brother I love” (Prologue. 192). Antigone was willing to break Creon's authority as a family means much more to her, this presents her as selfless. Along with breaking the law, Antigone also risks execution for that crime. When Antigone learns of her punishment, after Creon discovers, Antigone decides if entombing her brother was worth it. Following Creon's warning, she says, “This death of mine/ is of no importance; but if I had left my brother/ lying in death unburied, I should have suffered. / Now I do not” (Scene II. 208). Antigone shows the courage that even death won't scare her from her goals. Antigone chooses family, when in the face of the capital punishment.
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.
Universal themes that are outside of time and space, but are rather applicable to human nature itself, are a key element in Greek tragedy. Antigone has a clearly defined theme of family versus state. In Sophocles's tragedy, he depicts the conflict of Antigone wanting to save her family from dishonor against Creon's obsession with law and civil order. Antigone is portrayed as a headstrong and close-minded woman who is determined on following the rituals Greek gods expect upon death by burying her brother, Polynices. Her sister, Ismene, warns her multiple times to pay her loyalty to the state, especially since they are women and cannot strive against men. However, Antigone wishes to create and live by her own rules. She buries her brother without feeling she owes any obligation to the law. On the contrary, Creon is shown as a very prideful man who eventually brings his own destruction upon himself. He believes his word is the law for he was appointed by the city.
When a ruler frightens his society, people tend to keep their feelings and opinions to themselves, muted by fear, they become hostile towards their ruler. This will lead to rebellions. In Sophocles’ tragic play, Antigone, the main character, a young stubborn woman named Antigone goes against her uncle Creon. Creon is the king of Thebes, the city in which they live. Antigone’s brother Polyneices tried to take over the city of Thebes but Eteocles, Antigone’s other brother stopped him. During the battle, they kill each other. Eteocles was given an honorable burial but since Polyneices was seen as an enemy he was left to rot on the streets by Creon who placed an edict to not allow a person to bury him. Antigone becomes furious and tries to bury him, but she is caught and sentenced to “death” as the reader advances through Antigone, it ends up noticeably clear by the plot twists that the play is a tragedy on the most fundamental level. Antigone is willing to suffer the consequences in order to do what is morally right, going through with actions like civil disobedience and insolence.