The Greek Mythology

The conditionality of burying the dead shows that gods’ law is less sacred for Antigone than she claims to be. Neither does she care about her living families. She humiliates Ismene publicly, causing Creon’s death indirectly and set her uncle Creon in a dilemma where he needs to punish his daughter-in-law. Her real incentive is individual reputation, for she excludes Ismene from standing by her and asks Ismene to spread the news about her defiant act. She seems to use religion and family as elegant reasons to achieve honor. On the contrary, Creon, as a king, weights the interest of the overall state more than his own family. After experiencing the civil war caused by Polyneices, he understands the great need of the polis for order and thus enacts harsh laws to punish people causing riots. Unanimous obedience to law would also encourage his people to fight bravely in the war by being “loyal and dauntless at his comrades’s side”. Creon has to retain the validity and effectiveness of the law, because if every citizen can pursue any personal interest without fear for grave consequences, the entire social operation mechanism would break down. Punishing Antigone is necessary to retain the order of the polis.

In the play Antigone, Creon, king of Thebes faces a harsh conflict with himself, involving the values of family and religion verse the civic responsibility he must maintain for the city of Thebes that comes with being the new king. In theory no decision Creon makes is going to be the rite one. Although both Antigone and Creon have justified reasons for believing in there own laws only one can be upheld by the play and how Sophocles interoperates the play himself. Creon must decide whether to punish Antigone, a princess, daughter of king Oedipus, or fail at enforcing his own law and look weak in front of the citizens of Thebes as their new leader. The law stated that anybody who touched the corpse of Polyneices, a prince, and son of Oedipus

     Finally, Creon is a dynamic character. He undergoes changes in emotion throughout the work. He realizes his mistakes when Tiresias forecasts the future. Thus, Creon attempts to correct himself by releasing Antigone. But he is too late. He is forced to live, knowing that three people are dead as a result of his actions. This punishment is worse than death. Although Creon’s self-righteousness and inflexibility did not change until the end of the play, his motivations traveled from patriotic ones to personal ones. This created a major portion of the

The characters, stories, themes and lessons of Greek mythology have shaped art and literature for thousands of years. Later Greek writers and artists used and elaborated upon these sources in their own work. Did you know that in ancient Greece, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life. They explained everything from rituals to the weather, and they gave meaning to the world people saw around them. Many consumer products get their names from Greek mythology. For example sports teams (Titans, Spartans and Trojans, for instance) also get their names from mythological sources and the website Amazon.com is named after the race of mythical female warriors.

This quote explains the main conflict of the play. Creon has ordered that Polynices, Antigone’s brother, cannot receive a proper burial because in Creon’s eyes he is a traitor. Polynices fought against his brother to claim the throne of Thebes, the pair ended up killing each other. Tiresias tries to tell Creon that he is wrong to do this because it is angering the gods that he is denying them a body. Tiresias even warns Creon not to be stubborn, “Stubborness/ brands you for stupidity-pride is a crime.” (1137-1138). Pride in Greek tragedies is most often the cause of a characters downfall and Creon is no exception.

As King of Thebes, Creon is forced to make difficult decisions. As a new ruler, he feels it is necessary to prove himself to his citizens, therefore he rules his state with a firm hand. He believes that Polyneices should not be buried because he was a traitor to his country and family. Creon knew this decision would be hard on some

Antigone retaliates by saying that his law is not that of the Gods so it does not stand. He wants to have Antigone killed, but his son his her fiancé. He tries to explain to the king that the gods would have wanted Polyneices to be buried and that Antigone did the right thing that she should not be punished for it. Creon’s hubris however comes out yet again. He will not even listen to a word his son has to say; however now he does not want to kill her, but to send her away into a tomb, where the Gods can determine her fate.

Even if he believes he is right and his son should obey him, he doesn’t show an ounce of sympathy for Haemon, who loves Antigone. Creon details his thoughts on the importance of the rule of law over other loyalties, and his belief that to allow any anarchy or, seemingly, freedom would threaten the state. Creon’s method of executing Antigone is interesting. By entombing a living person, Antigone, and denying burial to a dead person, Polynices, Creon’s laws seem to go against common sense, tradition, and nature itself. Creon does not keep a cool head, as a wise leader should, or look for a way to compromise. He is as stubborn as Antigone, as if this were a street fight, he feels he could never back down.

Creon becomes king, basically on the day of the battle, and he begins making policy decisions to cement his rule. First off, he decides that it will be considered a crime if anyone buries the body of Polyneices (222ff). On the surface, it looks as if he is just acting out of common sense. Invaders who betray their city should not be honored in any way. But his motivations run deeper than that.By issuing this decree, Creon symbolically aligns himself with the city. He makes Eteocles out to be the savior of the city, and buries him with fullest honor. In contrast, he makes Polyneices out to be the worst enemy of Thebes, whose goal in attacking the city was to raze it, though this is surely not the case. Why would anyone destroy a city that he wants to control? But this characterization serves Creon's best interest. By making Eteocles the symbol of the best of Thebes, and Polyneices into an aggressor, he is able to align himself with Eteocles through the symbolic action of burial, and thus consolidate his new rule.

Unfortunately, Creon does not always make the correct decision because of personality traits that he possesses. When Creon sentences Antigone to death, he is wrong. This decision is based on Creon’s downfalls. He has hamartia and he judges wrong, and he also suffers from hubris. He is excessively prideful and believes that his choice is the only correct one. Creon also has an inaccurate view of his place in relation to the Gods. He believes he is in a position to know what They want and know what They feel is best. No mortal truly knows what the Gods want, but Creon believes he does because he cannot imagine that what he believes is wrong, even to the Gods. Antigone’s death is a bad decision that Creon makes based on his beliefs that the Gods view Polyneices as a traitor and would not want him honored in death.

Before advancing to the throne, Oedipus had unknowingly killed Laius, his father and the king of Thebes. Shortly after killing the king, he married the dead king’s wife, his mother. He had committed incest by marrying and having children with his own mother. As a result he became father of Polyneices, Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene. Oedipus stabs his eyes out and his sons, Polyneices and Eteocles killed themselves in combat, over the power of the throne. Creon was in the process of reconstructing Thebes from the ruins that his own family created. He also had to make a name for himself, after all the chaos the past rulers had made. If Creon did not set an example for civilians they would simply rebel. Creon was to stand firm by his word because no one is above the law, no matter who committed the act. In other words Creon was not a villain; he was the antagonist of Antigone. Imagine how biased Creon would appear to the Theban population if he did not pursue the punishment that he himself had instituted. In agreement to his law, Creon’s intentions were just. There’s no doubt about it, Creon’s law was harsh but when truly analyzing the situation, Polyneices was a traitor because he allied with other cities and attacked his homeland. Creon’s strong and steadfast attitudes were to support Thebes. But unfortunately, he was a little too late to understand that his fierce dedication to his decree was an error on his part.

Creon meant to clarify to his son that anyone who commits a crime should be punished - even if the criminal is a member of one's family. Creon's doctrine says that once the state decides something, the law applies to everybody. Therefore, he sees no alternative other than to leave the body unburied for the state. Creon would do anything for the sake of the community whereas Antigone is devoted to her family. The situations mentioned above create tensions in the play because Antigone and Creon are bi-polar in their beliefs.

He flouts religious law by refusing Polyneices a burial and then forces death upon Antigone by entombing her. The seer Tiresias chastises him for his hubris, telling him “you took one who dwells above and tossed her below/You reject a living soul and peopled a tomb with her./And you took one who belongs down there and kept him/here,/Untouched by gods, unburied, unholy, a corpse exposed” (Sophocles 46). If he was acting with proper reverence towards the power of fate and its embodiment--death--he would have allowed Polyneices to have a proper burial and cross over to the realm of dead, and he would have not taken control of Antigone’s fate by mandating her death. Tiresias further censures Creon, telling him “the dead are no business of yours; not even the gods above/Own any part of them. You’ve committed violence against/them” (Sophocles 46). Tiresias’ statement further crucifies Creon because he emphasizes the gravity of Creon’s crime by noting that not even “the gods above” have power over their fate of the dead. Creon allowed his hubris to guide him and asserted himself above even the

The Romans believed that as long as Zeus ruled the Titans, the Golden Age, a time period of peace and happiness, will last.

There are many ways and reasons why modern producers put Greek mythology on film and television. The first example in the Hercules (2014) movie where a part of Greek mythology is seen is in the beginning when Hercules is shown fighting the Lernaean Hydra as part of his twelve labours that he had to perform. The filmmakers used CGI and special effects to create the Hydra because it would be much more realistic and enjoyable to watch rather than a person in a costume. Similarly, the filmmakers would have a stronger sense of control through CGI to achieve the effect they want and to make the scene as effective as possible, therefore making the viewer more interested. Moreover, some people may be more intrigued by seeing creatures from Greek mythology. In my view, using CGI and special effects is a great way to include different creatures as it’s a great way to draw in the reader.