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.
Antigone differs from Creon by being loyal. Their sibling love proves, even after one's death, that loyalty rise above Antigone proves to her brother after his passing that no law will stop her from burying him. “We saw this girl giving that dead man’s corpse full burial rites—an act you’d made illegal. Is what I say simple and clear enough? “ (pt3). In this quote it was a guard questioning the King’s action on why the King felt threatened by this courage, defiant act of Antigone. Furthermore this act of Antigone would only go on into a downward spiral, making this
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“I murdered you … I speak the truth….Then take this foolish man away from here. I killed you, my son, without intending to, and you, as well, my wife. How useless I am now. I don’t know where to look or find support. Everything I touch goes wrong, and on my head fate climbs up with its overwhelming load.” (pt6) Creon weeping for the lost of his son who was in love with Antigone died from heart break and his wife because of a lost son. “He’s to have no funeral or lament, but to be left unburied and unwept, a sweet treasure for the birds to look at, for them to feed on to their heart’s content. That’s what people say the noble Creon has announced to you and me—I mean to me”(pt2) This furthermore goes to show that the implication of Creon’s order brought chaos and finalizing his
Sophocles’ play Antigone continues the calamitous story of the Theban royal family, recounting the conflict between Creon’s authority as king and Antigone’s sense of justice. While many of the events of the play are certainly tragic, whether or not Antigone and its characters should be considered tragic is less definite. Aristotle’s theory of a tragic hero calls for a basically good character who experiences a fall due to some flaw or error, experiencing a transformative realization and catharsis as a result. When considered together, the traits of both Antigone and Creon come together to fulfill all of the requirements for the play to be a tragedy, but neither character can be considered an Aristotelian tragic hero standing alone.
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
Antigone takes place just after a war between Antigone’s two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices. Eteocles fought on the side of Thebes whereas Polynices resembled an invader. Afterwards, Eteocles is buried and seen as honorable. However, Polynices is denied a proper burial because he is considered a traitor to Thebes. In this play, Sophocles uses Antigone and Creon as foils by characterizing Antigone as a martyr and Creon as a tyrant to urge the reader to realize that one’s own morals are more significant than the decrees of any government.
Antigone’s motivation is love for her family- she puts it above all else. In fact, she is willing to sacrifice her life to defend that love. Antigone goes to great lengths to bury her deceased brother, who according to an edict issued by King Creon, died in dishonor, consequently making it illegal for anyone to bury his body. Through her actions to comply with her motivations, it is revealed that Antigone’s actions are also fueled by her strong beliefs that, first, the gods’ laws
First off, Ismene, Antigone’s sister, actually was the one that incited Antigone's actions that led to everything else that happened in the story. Without Ismene, there would not be a plot. In lines 52-59, Ismene said to Antigone “What? You'd bury him— when a law forbids the city?” Antigone replied “Yes! He is my brother and—deny it as you will—your brother too. No one will ever convict me for a traitor.” Ismene said “So desperate, and Creon has expressly—” and Antigone interrupted with “He has no right to keep me from my own.” Here Ismene is telling Antigone that her actions are not something that are legal and that comply with Creon’s laws. Antigone, being hard-headed, decides that she is not going to let a law determine what she does for
“Tell me briefly—not in some lengthy speech— were you aware there was a proclamation forbidding what you did?” (503-505). The actions, context of Antigone’s words, and also the ideas she proposed, very indepthly contrasted with Creon’s character. Thus resulting in there being a verbal confrontation between the two characters. The conflict between the two caused conflicting motivations such as stubbornness, disrespect, and anger to be projected with Creon’s character. Ultimately, these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by portraying that he knew, the decisions he made were of error, and the character interactions advance the plot by causing conflict throughout the play. Creon had also begun to change throughout the play,
The play “Antigone” is a tragedy by Sophocles. One main theme of the play is Religion vs. the state. This theme is seen throughout the play. Antigone is the supporter of religion and following the laws of the gods and the king of Thebes, Creon, is the state. In the play Creon has made it against the law to bury Antigone’s brother, something that goes against the laws of the gods, this is the cause of most conflict in the story. This struggle helps to develop the tragic form by giving the reader parts of the form through different characters.
Due to his unwavering pride and refusal to see through the eyes of others, Creon falls from his position of immense power and wealth which in the end doesn’t matter because all his loved ones and family are now dead.
While most of society define heroism as a person who saves lives, people with heroism show bravery and opposition to society or its laws. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Antigone, King Creon defies his society’s laws for his own self pride while in Voltaire’s novel Candide, a young boy breaks his uncle’s rule to fulfill his desires. Both characters challenge their society’s laws and take a stand against the flawed principles; however, should people consider Creon and Candide as heroes? Individuals do not have an obligation to challenge laws due to the fact that it leads to multiple deaths and the suffering of themselves or of others.
This play is ultimately concerned with one person defying another person and paying the price. Antigone went against the law of the land, set by the newly crowned King Creon. Antigone was passionate about doing right by her brother and burying him according to her religious beliefs even though Creon deemed him a traitor and ordered him to be left for the animals to devour. Creon was passionate about being king and making his mark from his new throne. Although they differed in their views, the passion Creon and Antigone shared for those opinions was the same, they were equally passionate about their opposing views. Creon would have found it very difficult to see that he had anything in common with Antigone however as he appears to be
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
He has a human-made institution and a calculating action. This play has illustrated each side of the tension and conflict of family and state. Antigone and Creon are the two individuals involved in this basic conflict represent. The different beliefs that they have in their life has made their character more significant.
Antigone is a tragedy story that written by Sophocles in around 441BC. Sophocles is an author who lived around B.C. which it is before Christ. He wrote 120 plays, but the are seven plays that still continue to read which are Antigone, Ajax, The Women of Trachis, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. The main characters of the play is Antigone and King Creon and they are relatives who have conflicts between each other. They both have similarities and differences thoughts, beliefs, and decisions.
The play takes place in in the city of Thebes, it follows the same pattern as many other Greek tragedies, because one character’s decisions that affect the other characters. The conflict throughout the play is that Creon and Antigone are both stubborn and constantly fight, because Antigone would rather serve her duty to the gods rather than Creon. Because of this, Creon declares that Antigone will be killed since she decided to go against his decision of burying her brother Polyneices, since he fought against Thebes and Eteocles. Creon is warned that, “stubborn self-will incurs a charge of stupidity” (L, 1028) and that he should reconsider his options. Ignoring what he’s been told, Creon, and his decision does not falter.
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.