Theme Of Power In Antigone

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 Sophocles’ Antigone, a strong-willed uncle ,Creon, is faced with the burden of punishing his young rebellious niece, Antigone. Creon is the ruler of Thebes, after a struggle for power and the wrath of a family curse. Creon’s stern ruling after the death of his treacherous nephew, warrants fate to take over. Creon’s hubris attitude, unrelenting fate and error of judgement, make him the epitome of an Aristotelian tragic hero.

Furthermore, Creon going against the gods leads up to the tragic events which later take place and make him a tragic hero. Although Creon was the King of Thebes, he had no power to disobey the gods. However, despite knowing this, Creon defies the gods when stating that Polynecies will have no burial. In the article, “The Wrath of Creon: Withholding Burial In Homer And Sophocles”, the author confirms this when he states, “…Creon is guilty of overstepping the bounds of appropriate behavior for mortals, by presuming to give burial to one hero and deny to another the rights that are due to every mortal in the eyes of the gods, regardless of the circumstances of his death” (Shapiro 2).

Power is a negative concept that turns people against each other if power is used in a wrong way.

In the hands of the wrong person, power can have a negative effect on others because they put their selfish desires above others. In Antigone, Creon wants everyone to agree with and follow his laws, so he tells everyone to give no support to those who do not follow his laws. This shows that he doesn’t give anyone a choice, he tells them to follow his laws or ignore the laws and be ignored by everyone else. One of his laws state that “No one shall bury him, no one mourn for him, but his body must lie in the fields.”

When the title of a play is a character's name, it is normally assumed that the character is the protagonist of the play. In Sophocles' Antigone, most people probably believe Antigone to be the tragic heroine, even after they have finished watching the play. It may be argued, however, that Creon, not Antigone, is the tragic character. When we examine the nature and concept of the Greek Tragedy and what it means to be a tragic character, it becomes clear that Creon is indeed the tragic hero of the play Antigone.

“Your temper terrifies them” (Sophocles 222). In Sophocles’ tragedy “Antigone”, Creon, the obstinate king of Thebes, embodies the stereotypical monarch. Ancient Athens, where Sophocles called home, used plays to educate their audience and persuade them to think a certain way; thus, Sophocles wrote of the struggle between Creon, and his son, Haimon, from the perspective of a member if a democratic government. Sophocles sought to influence his audiences political beliefs by creating the character Creon, the King of Thebes’, whose power hunger and temper makes monarchies appear absurd; however, strengthening stereotypes as a political weapon did not cease in Ancient Greece. In the past century, American screenwriters have

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

Being a component of society is an unavoidable status that every person falls into. To escape it would be impossible as society itself is the interweaving lives, systems, beliefs and ideas that every individual contributes to and experiences. Without a contextual perspective, comprehending one’s place in society while in the chaos of personal and widespread clashes is challenging. Sociology and, thus, the sociological perspective allows people to understand the threads that connect them to someone else or to the institutes that surround them.

As the tragedy concludes, the chorus issues its final words: "Pray for no more at all. For what is destined for us, men mortal, there is no escape," demonstrating how justice remains impartial to the prejudice of men; those who make imprudent judgments will ultimately suffer from the consequences of their actions. In Sophocles' Antigone, these prejudices notably surface in the form of paternalism as demonstrated through Creon's government, highlighting the importance of gender roles throughout the play. Therefore, analyzing the motif of gender roles and its effect on the definition of justice through the perspectives of Ismene, Antigone, and Creon enables the audience to understand how Sophocles' macroscopic analogy to humanity's

Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone, follows protagonist Antigone, through her quest for justice with emphasis on integrity, sacrifice and the laws of man. Taking place around 441 B.C., Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, wants to bury her brother Polyneices after he was killed in war. Creon, King of Thebes, has forbidden Polyneices to buried and said that anyone who tries to bury him will be killed. Antigone, acting out of love for her brother and in defiance of Creon, intends to ignore such threats and bury Polyneices anyways. While Antigone’s sister, Ismene is too afraid to do it, Antigone admits she is willing to die to give her brother his rightful burial. She then proceeds to bury her brother, not once, but twice, to which enrages Creon. After she is caught, Creon intends to kill Antigone but first he gets in an argument with his son Haemon (also Antigone’s fiancé) and a blind prophet appears to tell Creon not to leave Polynieces unburied or kill Antigone, as it will upset the gods. After some deliberation, Creon decides to release Antigone and bury Polyneices, out of fear of his own fate. Yet is too late as Antigone hanged herself, Haemon accidentally killed himself, and finally, Creon’s wife killed herself out of despair. In the end Creon cannot catch a break as even when he asks to die, his punishment for his wrong-doings is that he must live the rest of his miserable life.

In the play Creon goes against the Gods by making it illegal to bury Polyneices, Antigone’s brother because he is deemed a traitor. The burying of a dead body is seen as a necessity by all of

In the Greek tragedy Antigone, written by playwright Sophocles, a conflict is presented in the aftermath of a rebellion against Thebes, wherein the brothers Polyneices and Eteocles kill each other, as leaders of opposing armies. Creon, their uncle, assumes rule of Thebes, as the only remaining heir of the previous king; then honors Eteocles as a hero, but forbids any burial for Polyneices, calling him a traitor. Antigone defies this, claiming the gods require him to be buried. This essay will argue that Creon was correct to forbid the burial of Polyneices. Both Antigone and Creon have ample justification. The justification, and flaws therein, for Creon’s actions will be discussed, resolving the conflict.

Power is like a virus, once it gets to one’s head, they’re corrupt. In Sophocles’ Antigone, both of Antigone’s brothers killed each other at war for the throne of Thebes. Creon, the new king, only honors and buries one, Eteocles. Creon bans anyone from burying the other brother, Polyneices but Antigone decides that she will in order to honor her brother. Creon gives two speeches, one about how he’s going to rule and how he forbids anyone from burying Polyneices, and another about bribery and how money corrupts people. He says that money is the reason someone has betrayed him by burying Polyneices. In Antigone, Sophocles uses the characterization of Creon to reveal the negative effects in the development of power.

Sophocles’ play, Antigone, presents conflicts such as Antigone vs. Creon and Antigone vs. Ismene. However, there is an overlooked conflict between Creon and his son, Haemon. This father-son conflict stems from the view that a son should be submissive to his father. However, Haemon does not abide his role of being submissive to his father and tries to entangle himself with his father role, which indirectly results in his death. As well through analysis of Creon’s and Haemon’s relationship gives an insight to their fates; and furthermore, sheds light on the underlying issue between democracy and dictatorship in the Greek society.