Antigone and Hobson's Choice

The conditionality of burying the dead shows that gods’ law is less sacred for Antigone than she claims to be. Neither does she care about her living families. She humiliates Ismene publicly, causing Creon’s death indirectly and set her uncle Creon in a dilemma where he needs to punish his daughter-in-law. Her real incentive is individual reputation, for she excludes Ismene from standing by her and asks Ismene to spread the news about her defiant act. She seems to use religion and family as elegant reasons to achieve honor. On the contrary, Creon, as a king, weights the interest of the overall state more than his own family. After experiencing the civil war caused by Polyneices, he understands the great need of the polis for order and thus enacts harsh laws to punish people causing riots. Unanimous obedience to law would also encourage his people to fight bravely in the war by being “loyal and dauntless at his comrades’s side”. Creon has to retain the validity and effectiveness of the law, because if every citizen can pursue any personal interest without fear for grave consequences, the entire social operation mechanism would break down. Punishing Antigone is necessary to retain the order of the polis.

In Antigone written by Sophocles and translated by David R. Slavitt, Antigone decides to risk her own life to be able to bury her brother in a respectful way in which she thinks is right. Antigone had an enthusiastic determination about it, approached it without regret, and also choose her destiny and her sisters. Her father’s fate was a big affect on if she was going to precede with burying her brother or to no give him the respect like the rest of the surrounding community. Even though Antigone risked her whole life and her entire future she made the right decision by burying her brother and sticking to her own judgment.

Antigone was not going to let Creon’s law affect what she thought was right. She went against her cities law to bury her brother, who was in fact a traitor. Her brother Polyneices invaded his town of Thebes and did not treat his city in the way he should have. After burying a traitor you become a traitor said Creon. Antigone should not walk around Thebes with the satisfaction because she went against the laws and legally

     Creon and Antigone also demonstrated a similarity in their loyalty to their own views. They both had different views, but they both remained loyal to them throughout the entire play. Creon and Antigone did not give in to others’ views, but relied on their own for survival. Creon was extremely loyal to his laws that he had made, and Antigone was loyal to her beliefs. Nothing was going to change either of them. When Antigone was brought in by the sentry, Creon was disturbed to find out Antigone was the person burying Polynices. He was extremely upset

This quote explains the main conflict of the play. Creon has ordered that Polynices, Antigone’s brother, cannot receive a proper burial because in Creon’s eyes he is a traitor. Polynices fought against his brother to claim the throne of Thebes, the pair ended up killing each other. Tiresias tries to tell Creon that he is wrong to do this because it is angering the gods that he is denying them a body. Tiresias even warns Creon not to be stubborn, “Stubborness/ brands you for stupidity-pride is a crime.” (1137-1138). Pride in Greek tragedies is most often the cause of a characters downfall and Creon is no exception.

Creon fits Aristotle’s tragic hero traits as a significant person who is faced with difficult decisions. Creon is significant because he is king. This makes him both renowned and prosperous. Creon is not completely good nor completely bad; he is somewhere in-between, as humans are. The audience can relate to this and they admire his qualities of intelligence in political affairs. They can also relate to his ability to make hard decisions with apparent ease. These hard decisions are

Tragic heroes have identifiable flaws which cause their destruction. In this situation Creon’s major flaw was that he was self-centered, and never listened he thought he was always right. Haemon points out that Creon needs to stop being narrow-minded and stubborn, "...Not far off when you shall pay back corpse for corpse..." (Scene 5, 72-73). Teiresias the fortune teller warns Creon that his inflexible ways

All of this lead to Creon’s wife and son committing suicide and Creon left with nothing. In the play, Creon’s character development starts to degenerate from loyal king to a tyrant, leading to his downfall due to his hamartia, position as king, and his reluctance to see from anyone else’s POV but himself.

Antigone believed that the actions she took were done for the right reason, because they adhere to the law of the Gods. In opposition to that, Creon believes that the actions he had taken were in fact the right ones, because he believed that Polyneices was a traitor to the land, and that anyone who should give him a proper burial would suffer the penalty of death. So, the actions that were taken by both of them individually were the right ones, in their own minds at least.<br><br>Antigone, in her plan to give her brother Polyneices a proper burial, kept in mind the consequences that she would suffer for having followed through with the plan. This doesn't necessarily mean that Antigone does not obey the human law that is set up by King Creon, it just means that this particular rule conflicted with the law of the Gods, something that Antigone believes highly in obeying, especially when it deals with her family. Antigone disregards the Olympian Justice that governs the land and also presides over the set laws that make civilized life attainable (Segal "Antigone" 172).<br><br>Antigone goes up against human law, by burying her brother Polyneices, knowing well that she will have to sacrifice her own life. She does this only because it is morally and ethically right, and this is why she stakes her life based upon her strong beliefs (Segal

The only person in the city who is ready to defy Creon’s law is his niece, the sister to Polynices, Antigone. She is overcome with grief by Creon’s order, and sets out to bury her brother. She believed that Creon, “a mere mortal,” did not have the power to “…override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakable traditions…” surrounding the rights of a dead man (Line 503-505). Her loyalty was to her family, not to the new king of Thebes. When Antigone goes to her sister Ismene to plead for her help in burying their brother, even she is too afraid of Creon’s authority to assist her only family. “I must obey the one’s in power,” she says. “...defy the city? I have no strength for that.” (Line 79-80, 93). She is lead to go against what she feels is morally right because she is fearful of the consequences. Even though Antigone is aware of these deadly consequences, she is willing to face them and stand up for what she believes is right. Discovering that Antigone has gone against him, Creon immediately sentences

When a messenger comes to Creon, bringing the news that Antigone has buried her brother, he begins his arguments why Antigone has broken the law. He begins by stating that a man shows what he is made of by his "skill in rule and law." In other words, the law is everything and as a ruler, he must do everything for his country. He considers Polyneices an enemy of the city and a threat to the security of the city as well. Thus Polyneices will be called a traitor in life and in death and dishonored. The scene when Antigone and Creon face each other is the opportunity for both to defend themselves. Creon questions Antigone. She bases her responses on that the city laws proclaiming her as illegal are not the laws of Zeus or laws proclaimed by gods, but rather, laws made by a man that one day will also die. She will honor her brother's death because this is what the gods have proclaimed for all mankind. (lines 460-463)

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;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

Before advancing to the throne, Oedipus had unknowingly killed Laius, his father and the king of Thebes. Shortly after killing the king, he married the dead king’s wife, his mother. He had committed incest by marrying and having children with his own mother. As a result he became father of Polyneices, Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene. Oedipus stabs his eyes out and his sons, Polyneices and Eteocles killed themselves in combat, over the power of the throne. Creon was in the process of reconstructing Thebes from the ruins that his own family created. He also had to make a name for himself, after all the chaos the past rulers had made. If Creon did not set an example for civilians they would simply rebel. Creon was to stand firm by his word because no one is above the law, no matter who committed the act. In other words Creon was not a villain; he was the antagonist of Antigone. Imagine how biased Creon would appear to the Theban population if he did not pursue the punishment that he himself had instituted. In agreement to his law, Creon’s intentions were just. There’s no doubt about it, Creon’s law was harsh but when truly analyzing the situation, Polyneices was a traitor because he allied with other cities and attacked his homeland. Creon’s strong and steadfast attitudes were to support Thebes. But unfortunately, he was a little too late to understand that his fierce dedication to his decree was an error on his part.

Antigone retaliates by saying that his law is not that of the Gods so it does not stand. He wants to have Antigone killed, but his son his her fiancé. He tries to explain to the king that the gods would have wanted Polyneices to be buried and that Antigone did the right thing that she should not be punished for it. Creon’s hubris however comes out yet again. He will not even listen to a word his son has to say; however now he does not want to kill her, but to send her away into a tomb, where the Gods can determine her fate.

He is too proud and arrogant to change his ways like when Teiresias warns him of his fate yet he refuses and says, “Whatever you say, you will not change my will.” Due to Creon’s unchallenged law and sentence, Antigone yearns for justice to be enforced on him. There is a very good example where she states, “But if the guilt lies upon Creon who judged me, then, I pray, may his punishment equal my own.” With all of these themes in the story, it further complicates the role of an individual on society.