...“Antigone” is a great Greek tragedy by Sophocles. The story is about a young brave woman who has buried her brother by breaking king’s decree, and now she is punished for obeying God’s law. However, this conflict is far more complex than that. Antigone, the protagonist, and King Creon, the antagonist, have opposing personalities and they represent faithfulness vs. false-heartedness. There are many arguments about who is the tragic hero in Sophocles Antigone, Creon or Antigone? The short answer is Antigone. Antigone is the tragic hero in this story because her suffering is undeserved and unfair to the audience ,although she has a high social status in Thebes. The central conflict starts with when Oedipus, the king of Thebes, has exiled himself....
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...In the play “Antigone”, by Sophocles, there is an antagonism between Antigone and Creon. As the novelist George Eliot says, “the antagonism between valid claims”, there is such an antagonism in the play, and it is hard to judge who is right because they both have their valid claims. Is Antigone right to bury her brother Polynices’ died body even though she will die? Yes, she is right, because she has her valid claims. First, Antigone has a strong belief in protecting her family. Antigone states: “for me, the doer, death is the best. Loving, I shall lie with him, yes, with my loved one, when I have dared the crime of piety”(71). Polynices is her brother, there is blood relation between them. I remembered that once, when my brother disputed with other people, and they wanted to fight with my brother; however, I stood in front of my brother immediately and wanted to protect him! At that moment, I don’ t where my courage comes from, but I did. It is how Antigone believes: even though I will be killed, I still want to protect my brother. Religious belief is another reason in Antigone’s decision to break the law and bury her brother. She states: “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”(450). She believes the God’s law is the only law that she obey, even though she will break the law of the state. If one believes that someone or something is the great in the world, then nothing can...
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...The Greek tragedy, Antigone shows the opposition between human and divine laws that people are forced to choose between. What the reader witnesses in this play is not only a conflict of personalities, but also a clash of principles. Creon, Antigone’s uncle, is also the ruler of Thebes. Creon is viewed as a practical man as he distances himself from the tragic purpose and goals of Oedipus. He states his only interest is in political and social order. Creon represents a political ideal and loyalty to his city. He has organized a society that has been built on guiding principles to maintain and strengthen itself, “with laws like these I will make our city grow,” and to ensure its stability. Creon makes his position absolutely clear in his address to the elders. This address contains strong reasons for a new decree on the town of Thebes. In Creon’s eyes, Eteocles died fighting for his city, and as a reward, ‘will be buried and receive all honors,’ alas sent to the afterlife. Polynices, who also fell in the same battle, ‘returned from exile with hopes of burning his native land’ and will pay a punishment of having no grave, no burial, and no mourning from anyone. Polynices’ dead body to be left unburied, ‘a feast for bird and dogs,’ left for the town to see slowly decay. Creon justifies this decision by pointing out that it is his duty to look to the stability and welfare of his country, as well as seeing it to be his duty to honor the good, and punish the...
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...In the Greek play, Antigone Creon, the uncle of Antigone is the more tragic character because everything he does produces his outcome to be worse. Nothing he does in the whole play benefits the gods or the people. Even though Creon is devoted to obey the rules, Antigone is the most committed to a moral standard because she buries her brother and does not deny the accusation of the crime. In the Greek culture, spreading dirt on a deceased’s body would allow their soul to travel to the underworld. She believed that everyone’s soul should be allowed to ascend to the underworld and would break Creon’s rules to do so. Creon acts independently of other characters the most because he does not listen to anyone’s wisdom to curve his final decision away from killing Antigone for burying her brother. Many people warn him, including his own son and only until the end of the play, he realizes they were right. Creon has more choice in the decisions he makes because there are a handful of things he could done to show the people of Thebes to not go against his ruling. For example, he could have just put her in jail for a certain time period, so...
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...“Antigone” is a play about struggle and passion. To fully understand the play, the previous plays needs to be understood. Antigone and her sister, Ismene, are the daughters of Oedipus, from the play “Oedipus Rex”. Eteocles takes control of Thebes and his brother Polynices raises an army to attack the city; both are killed in the battle. This is where the story of Antigone comes into play. Creon, Oedipus’s brother in law and uncle (Oedipus married his mother) is now King of Thebes. He issues a decree for Eteocles to be buried but for Polynices to be left where he was killed and not to be buried. He honors Eteocles for defending the city, but leaves Polynices body lying out for the people to see and the dogs to eat. However, as part of Polynices family, it is Antigone’s duty and obligation to bury her brothers, and she does so against the orders of the King. Under Creon’s decree, this places the death penalty upon the stubborn young girl. Creon becomes increasingly stubborn as well, eventually showing hubris, which means immense disrespect and excessive pride, this being his hamartia. He imprisons her alive in a tomb, not knowing that his son, Haemon, who is in love with her, follows them to the...
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...In the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, Antigone represents a strong-willed young woman, who believes her own beliefs stronger than that of her leader's rule. She is also braver and more independent than her sister, Ismene is since she dares to fight for the honor of her family. As the play begins, Antigone's dead brother, Polynices, is considered a traitor and King Creon "forbids anyone to bury him, mourn him", under penalty of death (Sophocles 34). However, Antigone wants to protect her dead brother's honor by giving him a proper burial, even if she has to break the laws of King Creon. Therefore, she says to Ismene, “I'll raise a mound for . . . my dear brother . . . he [Creon] has no right to keep me from my own!” (Sophocles 95, 59)....
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...Sophocles’ play ‘’ Antigone’’ centers around the royal family of the Greek city-state Thebes. The play begins with Antigone and her sister Ismene discussing Creon’s edict that prohibited the burial of their brother Polynices. Antigone pays no heed to the law set by Creon and spreads dirt on Polynices’ body so his soul can move on to the afterlife, this results in Antigone being sentenced to death. Creon is the tragic hero as opposed to Antigone being the heroin; this is because the play portrays him as having all the six characteristics of a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle, a Hamartia, Hubris, Peripetia, Anagorisis, Nemesis and Catharsis. In accordance with Aristotle’s Art of Poetry the first characteristic of a tragic hero is ‘’Hamartia’’...
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...Antigone vs. Creon: Struggles, Beliefs, and Morals In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, Creon and his young niece Antigone encounter many struggles in their lives because of moral views and political laws. Conflicts would arise when the values and actions of these two individuals disagreed with one another. Antigone’s conflict in the play held the approach of god’s law in the way, and on the opposing side, Creon chose his way of political beliefs that he would personally create as king. In my paper, I will discuss these characters, and interpret why and how their actions reflect their own personal beliefs and morals as individuals. The difference in beliefs, moral views, and opinions seen through-out the play were constantly disputed between Creon and Antigone. Antigone felt that Creon ignored the laws of gods through his laws. When she was captured after giving her brother proper rites and brought to Creon, she said, “Your edict, King was strong, but all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now: they were, and shall be operative forever, beyond man utterly” (Rand, 4). Antigone supports the laws of the God’s in heaven and believes that if someone is not given proper burial rites after death, they will not go to heaven. Her religious views were very important to her and the love for her brother would ultimately sway her decisions to go against the law of the king. Creon’s laws and orders became very personal...
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...play Antigone, main character Antigone decides to go against the king Creon and follow the laws of her Gods. In line 565, Antigone says “Take me and kill me - what more do you want.” She was okay with the consequences given from Creon because she believed that the Gods were okay with her decision to unbury her brother, Polyneices. Antigone’s words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character to the point of these two characters having conflicting motivations. These conflicting motivations cause the characteristics of being rude, stubborn, and selfish to be highlighted within Creon’s character. In the end, these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by showing his true colors towards the people of Thebes. These character interactions advanced the plot by leading to a climax. Antigone's words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character by showing how rude he is to the people of Thebes. Toward the beginning of this play, Creon starts to yell at the Guard and Chorus Leader and punish them for the...
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...Maintaining or practicing resistance in a developing fascist country populated by nationalist sure is difficult. Thomas Carter’s film, Swing Kids, shows teenager Peter attempt to maintain internal battle of resistance of the Nazi regime. In Sophocles Greek tragedy, Antigone, Antigone shows her resistance by defiling the ruling of the developing dictator of Thebes Creon. Although the two’s situations differed in many ways, their common actions in rebelling from dictatorship while surrounded by pressuring nationalists, in the end proved a positive outcome. Antigone and Peter both have many differences in their situations. Antigone is conflicted with the king of Thebes, Creon’s, decision to ban the burial of one of Antigone’s brothers, Polyneices....
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...English- 10 18 November 2013 Antigone Essay: Theme: Wisdom vs. Power There are a lot of themes in the story of Antigone, but the theme, wisdom vs. power portrays the story the best. The writer Sophocles reminds me of Shakespeare, and includes figurative language just like Shakespeare, but of course isn’t as good as him. This story took place in a city called Thebes, where Creon, Antigone, Haemon, Polynieces, and many more live. Creon is the King of Thebes and this theme is basically based off of him and the way he does things. He has to find a way to choose a ruler, and how he/she should govern Thebes. Creon is a tough ruler because of his loyalty to Thebes, but he will not let his family come over his decisions on what to do with the city. His nephew, Polynieces was a big traitor to Thebes, and hated the fact that his uncle was king and used to disagree on everything Creon had to say. Antigone does not like Creon as a ruler, because she thinks he can’t solve issues the town has. Creon does not care what Antigone has to say about him because he sees her as a threat to his power. In the story Antigone says,” If he cannot rule his own house, how can we expect him to rule Thebes?”(Lines 658-662) The son of Creon, Haemon also disagrees to what his father says. Haemon tries to break this disagreement by bringing up general understandings of how his father runs Thebes. Thebes is not like Athens, it is not a democracy, so it needs the support of the people. Haemon also helps...
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... English 112 Antigone: Divine Law vs. Human Law The play entitled Antigone was written by a man named Sophocles, a scholarly author of philosophy and logic. The play Antigone is probably one of the most prominent interpretations of a tragic drama. The two main characters of the play are Antigone and Creon. There is much conflict between Antigone and Creon throughout the play, both of them having their own ideas and opinions regarding divine law versus human law. The theme that I am going to analyze is the conflict of divine law vs. human law. The reason for this is because this theme seems to control the whole play. It is an issue of which law is the "right" law, and if Creon's and Antigone's acts were justifiable. The play Antigone can be summarized by the following: King Creon lets it be known that Polyneices the traitor is not to be buried, but his sister Antigone defies the order because of the values she holds. She is caught, and sentenced by Creon to be buried alive - even though she is to be married to his son Haemon. After the blind prophet Tiresias proves that the gods are on Antigone's side, Creon changes his mind - but too late. He goes first to bury Polyneices, but Antigone has already hanged herself. When Creon arrives at the tomb, Haemon attacks him and then kills himself. When the news of their death is reported, Creon's wife Eurydice takes her own life. Creon ends up being all alone...
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...Intro: Antigone is a no-nonsense kind of woman—and even, when she first appears to us at the end of Oedipus the King— a no-nonsense little girl. Sophocles doesn't give her any lines, but her presence seems to be symbolic of the legacy of shame caused by Oedipus's horrific mistakes. Oedipus laments the life of humiliation that his daughters will have to lead. Ironically, he also gets (1193-1201) Creon to promise to take care of his daughters. Creon decreed that Antigone was to be thrown into a cave with one day’s worth of food. Despite her engagement to his son haemon.Ex: creon’s wife Eurydice informed of haemon death took her own life. Is the tension between individual action and fate. The behavior expected of women and the reality of their...
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...Conscience Vs. Society Have you ever had to do something that was looked down upon by others? In “Antigone” by Sophocles, the characters choose to go with with their conscience to make choices over what society thinks is best. Most of the choices that they make usually have an effect on their fate in the future. In the beginning of this story Antigone, the daughter of the tragic hero named Oedipus, chooses to go with her conscience over what society thinks is best. Her brother, Polynices, is looked as a traitor by society because he brought war upon the city of Thebes. If anyone were to bury him they punishment would be death. Antigone feels that her sister should help her bury the body, no matter what the consequence is. “Antigone. Help me lift The body up- Ismene. What, would you bury him? Against the proclamation? Antigone. My own brother And yours I will! If you will not, I will; I shall not prove disloyal.” (Sophocles 3). This quote shows that Antigone’s sister, Ismene, was with society and thought that burying the body was wrong. Antigone’s feels that she has to bury her brother so that she can feel loyal to her family. Antigone’s choice eventually leads to her death, and the death of others....
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...or think that rules don’t apply to them. A great example of determining right vs. wrong would be in the play, “Antigone,”...
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