Convictions Of The Main Characters In SophoclesAntigone

After analyzing the whole story of Antigone and Creon, I decided to choose the side of Antigone. I understand that Polyneices was a traitor to Thebes and I also understand the frustration of Creon, but when I put myself in the shoes of Antigone, I think I will feel the same thing she felt. I do not think that I will be happy if one of my family members was treated like that no matter what he/she did. Polyneices already got his punishment, he is death from his wrongdoing. So the least thing that Creon can do is to allow his family to bury him. Creon’s proposition is very disrespectful for Antigone’s family. I think Antigone did the right thing by fighting for what is wright.

Although everyone knows in private that what he is doing is immoral, Creon has the authority to punish those who disobey his laws, which makes others afraid to criticize him. Creon is warned by the prophet Teiresias to bury Polyneices as he has “kept the gods from below the child that is theirs.” (Antigone, p. 299), and his son Haemon advises his father that he has “no right to trample on the gods right” (Antigone, p. 293). Creon remains adamant in his decision against the funeral of Polyneices and the release of Antigone, as he believes his laws are sovereign over divine law. His refusal to consider the counsel of those around him reflects his newfound arrogance and unwillingness to admit fault in this play.

Throughout history, it has been known to choose family over duties. In this Creon chooses to put aside family and fulfill his responsibility as well as obligation as a king. The Antigone story is about the conflict between Antigone and King Creon. This conflict is over the burial of Antigone's brother Polyneices, whom Creon's belvies should not be buried. Creon is driven due to his duty as a ruler and refuses to bend his order because of familial ties.

You step into a society where you examine two dimensions: one is filled with freedom, passion and moral principles, however the other is covered with corrupt power, useless authority and a “blind” leader. Which side would you choose? In “Antigone” written by Sophocles, it begins with Antigone learning that Polynieces was not given a proper burial. With this knowledge, she is about to change the traditional gender roles in society. The conflict in Sophocles “Antigone” acknowledge both the perspective of Antigone and the perspective of Creon shows morals do not always coincide with law.

In the end, Creon found out that the law of the gods was the only true absolute, and he had to give in at the end. Although Antigone’s arguments had some flaws, such as abandoning her sister for the sake of a dead brother while proclaiming family loyalty is important, her obedience to the gods showed the only true path for a moral in ancient Greek.

This Sophocles tragedy seemed to touch many readers. This tragedy has made many people in present and antiquity rethink their purpose in life. This story also intended to raise many questions. One question that I will discus is what means more to you, social acceptance or staying true to your beliefs? This classic tragedy that I am referring to is called Antigone. This fascinating story touches many subject of social and religious matter. I will discuss the tragic turmoil of Antigone, her surrounding family, and the social and religious dilemma that Antigone faces that will ultimately decide her fate.

Unfortunately, Creon does not always make the correct decision because of personality traits that he possesses. When Creon sentences Antigone to death, he is wrong. This decision is based on Creon’s downfalls. He has hamartia and he judges wrong, and he also suffers from hubris. He is excessively prideful and believes that his choice is the only correct one. Creon also has an inaccurate view of his place in relation to the Gods. He believes he is in a position to know what They want and know what They feel is best. No mortal truly knows what the Gods want, but Creon believes he does because he cannot imagine that what he believes is wrong, even to the Gods. Antigone’s death is a bad decision that Creon makes based on his beliefs that the Gods view Polyneices as a traitor and would not want him honored in death.

In the story of Antigone,Creon starts all the drama by proclaiming that he is not going to let his nephew Polyneices be buried.While his niece, Antigone, went against it because she believed it went against the basic rights given by the gods.Creon’s view on this was clearly stated when he said Polyneices, I say, is to have no burial:no man is to touch him or say the least prayer for him.” This quote shows that Creon strongly believed that no one should touch Polyneices and that he should not receive an honorable burial because of his betrayal.Antigone tried all that she could from reasoning with him to get her brother buried by using family ties. Even though Antigone gave him valid reasons Creon was too stubborn to even open up his heart and give it some thought, so he still declared that he shall not be buried.

It is important to discuss Antigone’s point of view on the situation when considering the rhetorical strength of her argument. She stands by the belief that her decision to bury her brother was the right one. Her morals and past experiences have shaped this point of view. Antigone has a strong foundation of family loyalty. This is evident in almost all of her actions, the most obvious being the illegal burial of her brother. Antigone also has lingering discontent towards Creon due to the fact that he took the thrown after her father’s death. These past experience may have shaped attitudes towards Creon beyond the simple unjustness of his law.

In the play Creon rejects the burial of Polyneices but still seems to value family heavily. When Creon speaks with Haemon he expresses that he should listen to his father’s choice over anything else “Stand by your father’s ideas in all things.” (Page 37), showing that Creon values family honor. Sophocles shows moments of family love throughout the play, Creon knows letting Antigone go after burying her brother is the right thing to do so he makes the decision to let her go free for the action she performed “I myself, since my judgement has turned and seen better ways, I bound her up and I will go and release her.” (Page 54), this shows that Creon truly loves Antigone and chose family over authority by freeing her. As Haemon finds out Antigone has hanged herself, in

On the surface of Sophocles' Antigone, readers may assume the conflict between King Creon and Antigone, related to Polynices’ burial, is trivial. However, upon closer examination, the dispute between the characters delve deeper into the conflict between the laws of heaven and the laws of men. Despite standing on opposing sides of the argument, the conflict highlights similar characteristics between the two. Sophocles explores this type of human behavior in Antigone, through the use of indirect characterization, to show that when individuals with differing beliefs face one another, conflict emerges as a result of similar minds.

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

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.

Often unaware to the reader, a story is routinely viewed through a particular lens. Our society has shaded minds to read tales through a black and white spectrum, but frequently the big picture of a story can be missed because it lies hidden within the gray area. Fairytales have influenced their apprentices to always look for a hero and a villain; however, similar to the real world, theses lines between “right” and “wrong” become indistinguishably skewed. Sophocles’ Antigone is not to be viewed through the eyes of morality because together hero and villain lie within the motives of both the play’s main characters. Simon Goldhill asserts that “it is difficult, in other words to read Antigone without making not only moral judgments, but the sort of one-sided moral judgments that the play itself seems to want to mark as leading to tragedy”, but this frame of mind must be actively fought against. The “gray area” type of mindset through which this play must be filtered is established in the assertion that conformity brings peace, but conflict brings progress. The complexity of Sophocles’ writing pleads with its readers to carefully analyze the text a second, third, or even fourth time in order to grasp the ideologies of the author in their fullest extent. This paper serves to promote such an analysis through the careful examination of the actions of Creon and Antigone, as well as the means by which Sophocles develops his “gray area”

Sophocles' famous play, Antigone, can be perceived as a conflict between individual conscience and state policy. Yet the issue of the play goes beyond that conflict and touches the universal conditions of suffering, religion, and loyalty. Through Antigone's character--which represents the spheres of family loyalty, divine law, and human suffering, Sophocles conveys the idea that a law of man that violates religious law is not a law at all. He expresses this idea by having Antigone dutifully bury her brother's body although it is against King Kreon's ruling. Antigone's action is not only an act of family loyalty but is an act of piety demanded by the gods.