Creon's Decisions In Antigone

Is Antigone ignorant or wise about her choices and reactions to Creon? Some people say she maybe be wise for burying Polygonises out of God's law instead of Creon’s law. Antigone is indeed a wise and faithful woman for burying Polygonises because of her beliefs; she is also bold about her beliefs because of her bold statements about Creon’s law (with him being the king).

In Sophocles’ Antigone, there is a myriad of tragic characters, but Antigone’s fatal flaws and weaknesses clearly lead to her doom and downfall. Antigone is headstrong, stubborn, prideful, and determined which isn’t always unacceptable. She is also very loyal to the gods, but disloyal to King Creon and might want to defy him. She is unyielding, wouldn’t leave matters alone and is also unwilling to take the simple approach of asking first before trying something so rash. Antigone’s failing to realize the ripple effect of her suicide which then causes two more deaths, Haimon and Eurydice. Antigone’s vices lead her to her own destruction when she defies Creon, argues with Creon, and commits suicide by hanging herself.

One way this theme was developed was through character emotion. When Creon made the law that no one could give polynices a proper burial and that if someone was caught in the act they were to be killed. Creon create this law because Polynices fought for the other side Argos and killed a lot of thebes soldier. This made Antigone mad because he is her brother by blood. She tell Ismene her sister ¨He is my brother and deny it as you will your brother too. No one will convict me for a traitor.¨ She is annoyed that the law will convicted her for burying her brother but then she is more annoyed that her sister is not willing to give in and help bury a brother by blood because he fought for the Argos. Antigone goes to the point when she yells at her

One has the capability to determine from right and wrong and having the determination to stand up for what one believes in, no matter what the price is. In Sophocles’ Antigone, a written dramatic play, Sophocles portrays the theme that at times of one’s life, it is necessary to follow moral law and ignore political law. In the play, a determined and courageous woman named Antigone is loyal to her beloved brother by granting him a proper burial and having to suffer the consequences for revolting. Throughout Antigone, several incidents occurred where the political law was of no importance to the individual. Conflicts between Antigone and Ismene and then with Creon and Antigone are examples of the theme. The theme also ties with the

Moreover, Antigone’s ability to follow her own beliefs results into the heroicness and tragic death of Antigone. Antigone is from a royal family and has the power to do what she believes in. She believes in following traditions and exercises that power when she says, “I will bury him, and if I must die, I say that the crime is holy: I shall lie down With him in death, and I shall be as dear To him as he to me” (694). Antigone follows her beliefs in following tradition and by doing what she feels is best. Antigone does this because she knows she is doing the right thing and knows that she will be repaid in some way. Furthermore, Antigone justifies her actions by telling the reasons that motivated her to do it to King Creon. She refuses to give in to the beliefs of King Creon and continues to think her own separate way. Antigone takes a stand to Creon when she says, “ Think Death less than a friend? This death of mine Is of no importance, but if I had left my brother Lying in death unburied, I should have suffered. Now I do not. You smile at me. Ah Creon , Think me a fool, if you like, but it may well be That a fool convicts me of folly” (709). Antigone believes what she is doing is correct and proves that to Creon , but he is still not convinced. It is important for Antigone to do what she believes is so that she will be pleased and satisfied with the outcome. Antigone’s ability to pursue her goals and to what she wants

To the readers, they are shown Antigone’s pride in the prologue. “Creon is not enough to stand in my way”. (Page 752) Antigone is so sure that her actions are right, she is not even slightly worried that she will be caught. This example tells us that Antigone is so sure that the gods want her to bury her brother she does not care what Creon does. Her pride ends up causing her capture and punishment. On page 762, Antigone’s pride caused her own punishment. By not denying she buried her brother, she will be killed. “I do. I deny nothing.” This scene is also a great example of Creon’s pride which also leads to Antigone's

Tiresias, the blind profit, stated to Creon that “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil: The only crime is pride.” This quote is valid to the assertion that Antigone has about burying her brother. She strongly believes that she can bury her brother and she should be able to because he was a righteous man besides the fact that he did one bad thing in his life and all of the good things he did in his life repairs his wrongdoings. This is true to today, many kids are mean to their parents and try to betray them without even knowing it, just like Antigone did when she tried to bury her brother Polynices. Antigone knows that Polynices is not a bad person, so she tries to do this great thing for him, even though it would make her break the law of the king Creon. She knows it is a big risk and she would probably be executed for it, but when you believe in something so strongly you have to go with your gut, and that is exactly what Antigone did. She went and buried her brother and of course she gets caught and is brought to Creon.

There's a common saying of, “what goes up must come down”. Likewise, in many of Aristotle's most successful tragedies, a key character is often put into place with a fatal flaw that completely turns his or her world upside down; furthermore, the story of Antigone is no exception. Although many characters seem to show some of the characteristics of a tragic hero, Creon is most notably the tragic hero of this story due to his high role in the Theban society, his fatal flaw or hamartia of hubris, as well as the anagnorisis and catastrophe he faces.

Like Creon, Antigone also never falters in standing up for what she believes in. Although Creon fights for stubborn pride, Antigone is trying to promote what is right and shows her higher reverence for God’s law rather than for Creon’s laws. In the eyes of the townspeople, Chorus, Choragos, and Haimon, Antigone is sacrificing herself to give her brother Polyneices the rightful honors due to the dead. Many side with this brave, honorable girl because she would rather suffer persecution and even death rather than give into Creon’s illogical demands. In the play, the chorus says about her, “You have made your choice, Your death is the doing of your conscious hand”. Antigone knew of the consequences before she acted and in doing so she chose her fate. At the time, she pleaded her sister Ismene to help her bury Polyneices but was rejected. Despite being alone in trying to rebel and perhaps she may have been afraid, Antigone goes out of her way and puts her life on the line to bring her brother respect.

Antigone proves that she is a tragic hero because she is flawed in the fact that she has too much pride. One moment that displays that Antigone possesses too much pride, is when Ismene reminds her about the severe punishments that could result from giving Polynices a proper burial, “He has no right to keep me from my own”(128). This quote shows that Antigone is willing to disobey the king, Creon in order to please herself by giving Polynices a proper burial. Consisting of too much pride is eventually the cause of her death. A second instant where Antigone is shown to have an exceeding amount of pride is when she is determined to give Polynices a proper burial is when Ismene has been consistently telling her that she will not succeed, “Go your own way; I will bury my brother!”(128). Antigone is telling her sister, Ismene, that she will bury her brother no matter what, and there is nothing that will stop her from doing it. A third example of Antigone having too much pride is when she tells Ismene why she wants to persevere in giving her brother a proper burial, “convicted of reverence – I shall be content/ to live beside a brother whom I love”(128). Antigone loves Polynices so much that she wants to die for him, so that she can be buried next to him. This will give her pride if she accomplishes it. Antigone thinks that the only way this will happen is if she buries him herself, and then gets killed for burying him. In addition to having a flaw, another that proves

If I shall die before my time, I count that a profit.”(pg 198) Her reaction to all that has occurred shows how strong of a person she is. Antigone never forgets who she and what matters most to her. Ismene would never be as strong and persevere as her sister does. There are two quotes in the tragedy that exhibit what type of a person Antigone is and why she upholds and acts with her morals. “There is nothing shameful in honoring my brother.”(pg 200) Anyone put in Antigone’s situation- facing life and death- must battle with what is moral. Is her life worth more than being faithful to her brother or should she just let her brother’s body be desecrated? Antigone has already lost her mother and in a sense lost her father with all that fate has served them. Antigone has seen what life has done and accepts all of it. Her whole purpose is for everything to be fair, just, and accept what life hands her. Her trust remains in the gods and the gods will protect her. “The god of death demands these rites for both.” (pg 201) Antigone refers to her brothers. As said before, everyone deserves the right to have the proper burial. The gods never deny someone of that right. There is love for everyone, not hate- which is what Creon does not believe in.

Throughout the entire play, Antigone battles with the fact that sometimes you have to make a difficult decision in order to obtain the good life. She struggles with the fact of whether or not to go against her Uncle Creon’s proclamation and bury her brother Polynices, the traitor. Antigone sees no validity in law if it disregards family. She’s willing to die for her family because it’s her own kin. That’s why as Antigone was being lead to her death, she states she wouldn’t defy Creon if it were her child or husband because those are replaceable. But seeing as both of her parents are dead, the option of having another brother was not possible. When Creon found out that she tries to bury her brother, she states: “I did not intend to pay the penalty to the gods for violating these laws in fear of some man’s opinion, for I know I will die” (Sophocles line 470). Antigone believes that she’s not breaking the law of the gods nor justice, just the law of an unjust man. So in her eyes, it’s leading her to the good life

Creon has more balance with public law as he the one who enforces the law. Not to be brutal but to set example for his people. He seems to show that he have a feeling of sympathy but he could not go back on his orders knowing the positon he carry. Firm and focus was his personally way of handling thing in the book. Antigone has a more balance view of private morality as she feel like regardless of the law stating she cannot bury her brother she will , being that burying him is the right thing to do. Antigone and Creon beliefs made them had difference and did not understand each other. Tragedy soon unraveled silently.

Antigone buried her brother because she believed it was simply the right thing to do. This is why she accepted the consequences to her actions; she knew the consequences and was willing to die for doing the right thing. Antigone accepted her punishment, died with pride and she was confident with her choice without looking back once. But some could say she was selfish and never thought of the consequences of other people, but those people decided to join her because of Creon not Antigone. Over all, Antigone was right for what she did because she knew what was going to happen and accepted it with open arms.

Being that Antigone is the protagonist, her character is important in the play. She made the decision to bury her brother knowing that it was against Creon’s law. Ismene refused to help Antigone, which left her angry, yet still determined to bury her brother. She knew that burying her brother could lead to her own death, but she continued to show courage, strength, and determination throughout her role. In the beginning, Antigone says, “Dear god, shout it from the rooftops. I’ll hate you all the more for silence/ tell the world!”(17,100-101). This was said to Ismene, when they were discussing burial plans and Ismene was telling Antigone that she was against the plan. Antigone’s dialogue shows that she is not worried about being punished or worried about who knows what she has done. It is clear that Antigone is sincere about honoring the gods, her actions show that she feels that she is pleasing the gods and that is all that matters to her. “These laws/ I was not about to break them, not out of fear of some man’s wounded pride, and face the retribution of the gods.”(30, 509-511). This demonstrates how she feels about man’s law vs. divine law. In the plot, there was not one time where Antigone denied