In Sophocles’s piece Antigone, this passage “Of course I did. It wasn't Zeus....I've been accused of folly by a fool." (499-524) brings about several themes which include death, laws and justice. Antigone’s belief in law is different from that of Creon’s and therefore goes against him by accepting any punishment that should come. She even goes as far as insulting him in order to undermine his authority. Throughout the whole passage and immediately on the first line, Antigone makes it very clear that her intention was to bury her brother Polyneices in order to please the gods and follow her duty. She is clearly wanting to follow the laws of the gods which override any other type of law including that of the polis. She brings this up in both …show more content…
She is not afraid of dying and even considers it a “gain” (516) because her purpose and duty would have been fulfilled, making her afterlife promising with the gods. She does not change her mind when she is confronted by the king even until the last moment when she is finally sentenced to her death. She seems to be very comfortable with dying for this cause when she said “Die I must, I’ve known it all my life- / how could I keep from knowing?- even without / your death-sentence ringing in my ears (512-514). On the other hand she ridicules Creon and his laws since they will not every make her change her mind and threatens his authority due to “some man’s wounded pride” (510). Creon is scared of death because his power and ruling comes from being alive and once that is gone he loses everything. Therefore death to Antigone is considered a “precious little pain” (520) to her and a “doom” (519) to Creon. She is only doing what is being expected of her and thus is content with making the gods happy by fulfilling her duty. Her piety to the gods was considered “foolish” to Creon but Antigone ends up calling him a fool in the end with the lines “And if my present actions strike you as foolish, / let’s just say I’ve been accused of folly / by a fool
Antigone, Character or Theme? During the creation of a character, the author must decide how this character will be used to effectively convey an idea or how they will contribute to the story. In Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone, he uses the character Antigone, who is courageous enough to defy the law of a king for what is morally right. During the period of ancient Thebes, many Thebans were not willing to defy their leader or civil law. Nevertheless, Antigone chose to go against the civil law without
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
with full intent, however Love in Antigone, a tragic play, written by Sophocles reciprocates this idea in a completely new way. A theme that Sophocles writes throughout Antigone could possibly be the idea of loyalty to the city versus family, and he often grazes upon the origin on many of the themes, providing sufficient amount of details that could be used to support them. However, a possible main occuring theme of Antigone is that Love is unconquerable. This theme surfaces in many ways throughout
The idea of loss and regret is still a theme that can be seen today in the modern world. Greek Tragedy shows us that regret is an important theme in the play Antigone by Sophocles, and that in the modern world people can feel remorse for their actions. In Antigone, Creon is considered the tragic character, because he was too stubborn and prideful, as kings tend to be with all the money and control they possess. These characteristics of his led to him feeling a sense of regret towards the end of
Themes of Antigone Standing up against an authoritative figure that is bigger than you are in society takes pride. Pride can be a good thing to have, but only a certain amount of it. Too much pride could make someone cocky and blind them of the honorable thing to do. In the story Antigone by Sophocles women do not have pride for them self because of the dominant rule of men. The role of women takes a turn when Antigone shows her pride when going against Creon’s law. Pride is considered one of the
Pride and Power Written by the Greek writer Sophocles, the play Antigone continues to touch audiences around the world with themes that are relevant to this day. In the play, Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, and his wife Jocasta, is confronted with conflict as both of her brothers had slain each other after Polynices was exiled from Thebes, then marched back to regain his throne. Creon, the now ruler of Thebes, put forth a declaration stating that only Eteocles was to be buried, while Polynices had
What is loyalty and betrayal? In the play Antigone a lot of loyalty and betrayal was seen. The play Antigone is about one of Antigone’s brothers not having a proper burial; while the other brother was given the burial that they had both deserved. So Antigone goes on a mission to bury her brother, after she does this she is arrested for her crime of burying him after Creon, the king, says that no one is allowed to bury her. Antigone is then sentenced to death for not following the law Creon had made
The theme of loyalty continued to develop towards the end of the story because Antigone was again loyal to the law and state by accepting the consequences that resulted from her actions. Creon had announced that Antigone would be sent to a tomb where she would die. This was her punishment for burying her brother, Polyneices, when Creon had specifically told the citizens of Thebes that is was against the law. Antigone announces, “‘See me, Thebes, I am going, now going!/ See me, divine ancestral Thebes
in the play Antigone by Sophocles which comes up many times. The abuse by king Creon make rules that goes against the gods rule and the horrible punishments his family and the people of his village. This throughout the play lead to the theme ¨When you abuse your family and people their emotion will take its effect and make them turn on you.¨ This theme is shown through two different ways through the character emotion and how they reacted and the conflict that happens. One way this theme was developed
play Antigone, Sophocles shows many situations where the characters are forced to choose between law or family. Throughout Antigone, Sophocles proves his strong devotion to family, even more. Sophocles shows this through the actions of Antigone, Creon and Haimon and the choices that they make throughout the play. For instance, Antigone had many chances to obey the law or her own familial bonds. Antigone chooses to obey family, and bury Polynices even though burying breaks Creon's law. Antigone pleads
Topic 9: Analysis of the Stereotypical Masculinity of Antigone and Ismene Compared to the Males in Antigone In Antigone, a play by Sophocles, the sisters Ismene and Antigone make bold and unwavering decisions. Contrary to most male characters in Greek plays, their male counterparts do not exhibit many masculine traits. Despite the fact that Ismene and Antigone are Greek women, they show more traits that are stereotypically masculine than their male counterparts such as decisiveness, fearlessness
Sophocles’ play Antigone suggest that loyalty is the center of the decisions that the people make. There are two types of loyalty in the play: loyalty to the state and loyalty to religion. The conflict arises when loyalty to the state law interferes with the spiritual law. The king of Thebes, Creon, has decided that a man by the name of Polyneices shall not be given a proper burial due to the fact that he betrayed the state. His sister, Antigone, strongly disagrees with this logic and believes that
as the greeks refer to it; they put themselves on the same pedestal as the gods, they do reckless things like challenging them which undoubtedly never turns out good, as gods are immortal beings and are considered above us mortals in all terms. In Antigone, Creon's main reason for his ill-fate is his hubris; it blinded him to such an extent that he became oblivious to all the warnings given to him as he believed he could never do wrong and thus wouldn't give much thought to others with opposing views
Throughout the play Antigone nearly all the family ties are broken. In the play the value of loyalty and obligation are tested in numerous cases. Loyalty can be shown through either oikos or polis. Oikos is loyalty to family and ancestors, while polis is loyalty to the law. Loyality is important to each of the characters in many different ways. The concept of loyalty was one of the most significant aspects in Greek history. Loyalty and obligation is tested through the characters perspective on life
consider an exceptional reason to do it? Everyone has their own opinion on that topic but in Antigone, Antigone believes it is moral. She feels that her reasoning to bury her brother is strong enough to go against the law set which will kill her if she is discovered. Creon though which is her uncle, believes it is immoral to be killed or to die just with the belief that we have a good enough reason to do it. Antigone believes it is moral to die if we have a favorable reason to do it. As she says “But I