...Some speeches go a long way to exemplifying one’s views and mindset, in ways to garner support. Creon’s speech to the council-session in Sophocles’ Antigone is one such example. This speech accomplishes two things. It gets him support in the story, as well as gaining him support in the eyes of the reader. Creon uses this speech to express his reasons for his actions in ways that will appeal to his council. One of his central themes is ‘friends’ of the state and ‘enemies’ of the state. From the beginning, he addresses his audience as ‘friends’ and stresses about how they remained faithful throughout the turbulence of the recent power struggle in Thebes. He then points this loyalty as being directed to the state and those who have lead it. The...
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...In “Antigone”, Haemon, though only briefly appearing, heavily impacts Creon’s character, by changing his actions and development, and reinforces the theme of “Antigone”. The theme of Antigone is the correctness of the natural order of life, from birth to life to death to burial. Haemon’s speech to Creon makes him begin to question his decision to execute Antigone, and be more open to others’ thoughts. Haemon does this by mentioning that the people of Thebes believe Antigone shouldn’t be punished, and by leaving after saying that Creon will “never see my eyes again”. Haemon’s speech makes Creon second guess his decision to execute Antigone for burying her brother’s body. As king, Creon needs his people to believe that he is a just...
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...Antigone Antigone is very much her father’s daughter, and she begins her play with the same swift decisiveness with which Oedipus began his. Within the first fifty lines, she is planning to defy Creon’s order and bury Polynices. Unlike her father, however, Antigone possesses a remarkable ability to remember the past. Whereas Oedipus defies Tiresias, the prophet who has helped him so many times, and whereas he seems almost to have forgotten his encounter with Laius at the three-way crossroads, Antigone begins her play by talking about the many griefs that her father handed down to his children. Because of her acute awareness of her own history, Antigone is much more dangerous than Oedipus, especially to Creon. Aware of the kind of fate her family has been allotted, Antigone feels she has nothing to lose. The thought of death at Creon’s hands that so terrifies Ismene does not even faze Antigone, who looks forward to the glory of dying for her brother. Yet even in her expression of this noble sentiment, we see the way in which Antigone continues to be haunted by the perversion that has destroyed her family. Speaking about being killed for burying Polynices, she says that she will lie with the one she loves, loved by him, and it is difficult not to hear at least the hint of sexual overtones, as though the self-destructive impulses of the Oedipus family always tend toward the incestuous. Antigone draws attention to the difference between divine law and human law. More than any...
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...Does Antigone Deserve to Be Punished? Antigone has been acclaimed as a model that challenges authority and insists on just acts. However, according to Aristotle, a tragedy requires a man’s harmartia, which means error. Therefore, as a main character of a great tragedy, Antigone must possess flaws. Antigone’s self-certainty is one of her mistakes that contribute to her tragic fate. She regards burying dead people as absolute just behavior under any circumstance. This rite is important in Ancient Greek culture, but weather or not gods desire appropriate arrangement of Polyneices’ body is under question. It is Zeus that brings death to Polyneices because Polyneices brings war to his country and undermines the peace of Thebes. He “sought to consume utterly with fire the city of his fathers and the shrines of his father’s gods, -sought to taste of kindred blood, and to lead the remnant into slavery”. In Creon’s opinion, Polyneices is so wicked that even gods do not want to see him buried. When asked whether the gods have covered Polyneices’ body, Creon replies angrily that “was it for high reward of trusty service that they sought to hide his nakedness, who came to burn their pillared shrines and sacred treasures, to burn their land, and scatter its laws to the winds”. Creon ‘s opinions are reasonable before Teiresias gives out the correct interpretation of gods’ wills. If Antigone realized the limit of her wisdom, she would hesitate to kill herself and Haemon...
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...servants about Antigone burying Polyneices after he made the speech that whoever gave Polyneices a proper burial would be stoned to death. “Disaster is linked with disaster./ Woe again must each generation inherit.” (lines 595-96). Creon knew that Antigone had to be pushined for disobeying the law. He couldn’t take his word back for killing whoever buried Polyneices. Antigone confronts Creon and tells him that no one agrees with him on his opinion about the death of Polyneices hoping someone else would speak up and agree but no one did. Creon thought that he shouldn’t give as harsh of a punishment as he said. Instead of stoning Antigone to death, he put her into a locked room with food and water for just a few days and let the Gods decide on whether Antigone should live or die....
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...One of the conflicts in Antigone, is the struggle between men and women. Ismene tells Antigone that since birth, women “were not born to contend with men,” (75) displaying women’s obedience and passivity. In the same passage, Ismene says: “we’re underlings, ruled by stronger hands,” (76) a representation of men’s aggressive and “stronger hands” that dominate women and treats them as second-class citizens. The only woman in Thebes who desires to break free from these chains is Antigone, who stands up against Ismene’s passivity urging her to “submit to this,” (77) and defy Creon by burying Polynices. By breaking Creon’s edict, Antigone challenges the traditional gender roles women and men play. In what ways does the theme of gender in Antigone, demonstrate the passion and choices behind Antigone and Ismene’s decisions? Ismene believes that women are “underlings” (76) and not “contend[ing] with men” (76) because she knows that men will always control society. This viewpoint of men’s domination of women depicts Ismene to be submissive to males while being fearful of men’s authority. Ismene is unable to have control over her destiny and decisions because she is fearful of men’s power over women, which leads to her refusing to bury Polynices. Later in the play, Ismene questions Creon’s judgment by saying “you’d kill your own son’s bride?” (641) which indicates that she is now aware that woman should have a voice and power in society. Her new understanding of Antigone’s message gives...
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...Creon and Haemon; Conflict of Antigone Creon and Haemon have dissimilar points of views when it comes to Antigone because Haemon has affection for Antigone while Creon feels animosity towards her. In the play, “Antigone” Sophocles tells the story of King Creon who rules Thebes the town. Haemon who is the son of the king falls in love with Antigone. Antigone is the niece of Creon and sister of Polynices. She plays a stubborn character. When her family is involved with the situation her attitude becomes aggressive. Polynices who is a traitor takes his last breath fighting against Thebes. The King announces anyone to honor or bury the body of Polynices would suffer a death due to the fact that he was a traitor of Thebes. The conflict of the play involves Antigone who disobeys Creon’s authority. In the speech between Haemon and Creon an Antigone is revealed between the two that exhibits Creon’s misogyny and Haemon’s analysis of his father’s discriminating attitude toward women in general. Note the tone in the following quotation: Creon: “Oh Haemon, Never lose your sense of judgment over a woman. The warmth, the rush of pleasure, it all goes cold in your arms, I warn you…a worthless woman in your house, a misery in your bed. What wound cuts deeper than a loved one turned against you? Spit her out, like a mortal enemy- let the girl go. Let her find a husband down among the dead” (1328). Creon expresses misogyny in this quote. He consults with his...
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...Antigone Questions 1. In King Creon’s speech he discusses the role and importance of “the state”. Drawing directly from this passage, discuss the nature of political authority, who has it? What is the source of power? What is the purpose of government in a society? * The “state policy” expresses that the human order takes precedence over the dive order. The divine order protects the state. King Creon is the source of power in the government and he has total control of it in the society. “it takes more than one person to make a nation, but a nation is personified it its ruler.” 2. In Haemon’s speech, analyze how Haemon’s rhetoric (his methods of persuasion and style of speaking) contrasts with Creon’s arguments. * In Haemon’s speech he speaks more calmly than his father Creon. Haemon uses strong points of interest to try and convince his father that Antigone is innocent. But Creon uses hard tactics to make all women seem to be untrustworthy and he threatens Haemon that he will die alongside Antigone if he continues to question his methods. 3. Is it ever right to disobey a law? In answering this question, define and explain the differences between “higher law” and “moral law”. How can a society function when those disobey a law still garner our sympathies? * “the penalty for disobedience is to be stoned to death, now that I’ve caught her flagrantly disobeying when everybody else has toed the line, the eyes of the nation are on me. I must stay true to...
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...In the Athenian society women are inferior to men both politically and socially, based on how they are treated and respected. The are many different pieces of evidence that have come up throughout this unit that support this claim, and some of the strongest pieces of evidence have come from literary and historical documents from around that time period. Some of the strongest pieces of evidence are found in the book Burial at Thebes. One of the main examples from this book is during Creon’s first encounter with Antigone, Antigone begins to challenge Creon’s actions and he quickly snaps back with “Go then and love your fill in the underworld. No woman will dictate the law to me” (34). This quote demonstrates the little respect that a power wielding man might hold for a woman of a very low status....
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...Intelligence” (Clouse 1, line 54-55). We usually reach this stage between the ages of 12-18. The play “Antigone” by Sophocles focuses on a girl named Antigone, who is currently going through this stage and the ordeal she goes through accomplish what she believes is the honorable act to uphold. By the end of the play, you start picturing Antigone as this naïve girl that just wanted to do the right thing but none one supported her. The reality is, Antigone was a person’s whose personality was similar to the system of a ticking time bomb waiting...
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...directly correlates to the problem of violence within society among the works of Sophocles’ Antigone, Plato’s Republic and Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. Creon from Sophocles’ Antigone, Thrasymachus from Plato’s Republic and the Melian Dialogue from Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War all illustrate how force can be used for personal gain. The characters involved in these three works evidently reveal that those who are awarded with the utmost power may not always be the people who deserve the right to make decisions. Creon, from Sophocles’ Antigone, is a prime...
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...You can see in Antigone that the role of a human is very important, in this case it means so much that she is willing to risk her life to honor what the Gods would want of her in fulfilling her role in the burial of her brother. Some major themes that are evident throughout the play is the law of the Gods and man-made law, the abuse of power, and furthermore even though the play is titled Antigone, who’s story is it really? The problem arises when both of Antigone’s brothers Eteocles and Polynices kill each other battling for the throne of Thebes. Creon who is Antigones uncle inherits power and the throne of Thebes, and declares proper burial for Eteocles, but demands that Polynices remains unburied who he thought was a traitor for fighting against Thebes. Since back in ancient Greece it was the womens’ role to give a proper burial so that there is a respect paid to the dead, Creon is pretty much making it impossible for Antigone to fulfil her role. Antigone neglects to listen to the rules of Creon and buries her brother, and is eventually captured by Creon’s guards. Antigone demonstrates no remorse when facing Creon over her crime “Because it wasn’t Zeus who pronounced these things to me, nor did Justice, companion of the gods below, establish saw laws for humanity” (Sophocles 29) although she knows that she’s most likely facing death for being caught disobeying the rules of the leader she feels that she has made the right decision by honoring the Gods because she will...
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...In the play Antigone written by Sophocles, Creon is the tragic hero. Creon was a king. His tragic flaw was that he has too much pride and this causes a downfall for him. Creon will not listen to anyone. He is very stubborn and he doesn’t notice that he might be doing the wrong thing. Creon said, “Let him do, or dream to do, more than a man can. He shall not save these girls from death” (i.628-629). Creon said this because he is making sure no one will help the girls because they did a bad thing in Creon’s eyes. Creon had a free choice. His free choice was to either listen or ignore the Sentry. The Sentry came to Creon to tell him that Polyneices was getting buried by his sister Antigone. Creon didn’t believe it. He said harshly, “You’re figure of speech may entertain you now; but unless you bring me the man, you will get very little profit from them in the end” (i.271-273)....
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...Rachel Arber Professor Herron Literature 201 November 16, 2013 Antigone: A Rose Amongst Thorns In his fifth century play, Antigone, Sophocles invites the reader on a journey of power, heroism, and feminism. Oedipus’s sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, have killed each other in a battle over who will take over their father’s throne. Creon, the current King of Thebes, has now declared that Polyneices betrayed him and forbids him to have a proper burial. Antigone, sister of Polyneices, feels that her brother’s body needs to have full respect and decides she is going to bury her brother. She discusses this plan with her sister Ismene who sends her off with her disapproval to bury their beloved Polyneices. Antigone is caught red handed by Creon’s guards and they bring her in to the king. Antigone admits to the fact that she has gone against the law and has given her brother a proper burial, but defends her actions saying that the gods would have wanted this. As a consequence for her actions, Creon sentences Antigone to her death and banishes her to a cave. After much deliberation he regrets his decision. However, it is too late as Creon finds Antigone has taken her own life. Through her actions of bravery and defiance Antigone exemplifies true feminist ideals. She is a shining example of a woman who stands for what she believes. Antigone proves to be a hero in every generation, but especially in her time. In fifth century Greece women were seen as having no influence...
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...to Sophia earlier this week, the setting of the mob came to mind for my new interpretation of Antigone. Let your mind imagine that it is the year of 1925, and the mob is in full swing on the streets of New York City. This setting works in the fact that it is a family business, and death and scandals are common. Creon is a huge name for the mafia, notoriously known around many cities in the US. Order is mainly kept under control by Creon’s demands, however on one rainy night, Eteocles and Polynices get into a fatal argument over advancement in the family business. Being the new king of the mafia with may men below him, Creon is respected, but mainly feared. The fear of Creon would add another layer of emotion the audience could feel watching the play, as they witness his crazy amount of power in which he exerts. Family is a centralized concept for Italians and this is shown in Antigone’s determined fight to bury her brother, Polynices. In this show, the audience would more then likely have a strong sense of support for Antigone, being that she is simply a girl that is willing to stand up against something as strong as the mafia, out of the love she has for her brother. Costumes would be sophisticated, dark colored suits to match the New York City mafia feel. Pinstripe suits and vest shirts would be worn by the high ranked mafia men with fedora hats on at all times. Antigone and Ismene would be wearing very expensive clothing and there would be a main use of reds, blacks...
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