From the beginning of the story, Antigone expresses her desire to avenge her brother, Polynices’, death. Unlike her sister, Ismene, Antigone displays bravery in the face of consequences she could be subject to if she dared to bury her brother. Ismene repeats the law that she has been taught despite the disrespect her brother faces after his death, proclaiming “[…] we must obey this order […]” (64) and “[…] it’s the highest wrong to chase what’s impossible” (92). In contrast, Antigone is inspired to stand up for what is right. When she is caught by Creon for violating the law, she states her reasoning for her actions. When Creon says “[…] you are the only one, in all Thebes, who thinks that way” (508) she replies “No. They all see it the same. You’ve silenced them” (509), bringing to light his dictatorship over his people and suppression of their voices. When Ismene tries to take the blame for Antigone’s actions, Antigone also displays courage by denying her sister’s claims. Antigone does not take the opportunity to use her sister as a scapegoat and avoid punishment, but instead she takes it all on herself and puts her love for her sister above her own life, saying “I will not permit this penalty to fall on you. No. I never wanted to give you a share” (538-539). Bravery is an important and common quality for a hero, as it takes boldness and emotional strength to conquer enemies and face challenges, and because Antigone possesses bravery she is a
To begin with, Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development is a way of “how individuals would justify their actions if placed in moral dilemmas” (Wikipedia contributors. “Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development”). It has three stages and two categories in each of those. There is Pre-conventional which has the two categories of Obedience/Punishment and Self-interest. Then there is Conventional which has Conformity/Interpersonal Accords and Authority/Social Order. Finally, there is the Post-Conventional stage which has Social Contract and Universal Ethics Principles. People cannot go to a stage without passing all of the stages before it. Antigone is in the Social Contract stage, which means that “Morally right and legally
In the play Antigone, you can understand how Creon is a tragic hero from interacting with Antigone and this interaction advances the story through persistence, ignorance, and arrogance. We have all been very closed minded on topics previously, and some of us are closed minded on many things and don’t want any change they aren’t use to or don’t believe in, and this is the same case between Antigone and Creon in the play Antigone. This describes the play, Antigone by sophocle,s in how Creon, the king of Thebes, does not want the brother of Antigone, Polyneices, to be buried because Polyneices was fighting against him in war. This is the opposite for Antigone who wants Polyneices to be buried because she can’t have another brother and her other brother was buried. I believe that the theme of Antigone is determination as both Creon and Antigone are really determined to have their way and not compromise. In the play Antigone, Creon and Antigone’s interaction develops a theme by showing persistence, ignorance, and arrogance.
Throughout one’s lifetime, conflicts between justice and reputation often arise. Due to this, one must be able to realize the consequences when standing up against an oppressive power. In the play Antigone, Antigone is motivated and acts upon justice as seen in her defiance to the law, love for Polyneices, and her persistent moral compass. Antigone’s fight for justice shows just how powerful she can be with her words and actions.
Antigone’s actions are motivated by her allegiance to her family, moral conscience, and religion amid Creon’s political injustice and tyranny. Antigone’s actions motivate her to demand Ismene to prove whether she is “a true sister or a traitor to your family” (26-27). Antigone maintains loyalty to her brother despite his actions which threatened Thebes. Her inability to bear the thought of her brother’s corpse being picked apart by animals and not being honored with proper funeral rites forces her to act. Antigone’s fierce allegiance to her family is laid bare as she is willing to sacrifice her life to honor her brother and defy the law in an act that she believes is morally just. Antigone’s beliefs proclaim that “Hades longs to see these laws fulfilled” to honor the burial of Polyneices corpse (Sophocles 519). She emphasizes her conviction that “it was not Zeus who made this proclamation” (Sophocles 450). Antigone has profound respect for the gods and the traditions of her people. Her actions are accomplished to pay homage to the Greek gods. She maintains that her actions are
In the classic play by Sophocles, Antigone is a tragic story of the bold Antigone who defied her uncle, King Creonʻs, edict by burying her brother, Polyneices, who died attacking the city of Thebes, trying to take the power away from their brother, Eteocles, who refused to share the throne with Polyneices. Even though Antigone knew that going against Creon and burying her brother would not end well for her, she still choose to risk her life to do what is right. After being caught breaking the law, Antigone is appointed to be locked away, isolated in a cave until she dies, but she hangs herself at the end. At the same time, things for Creon are not looking good, as everyone around him seems to be against him in his decision for punishing Antigone. Everyone Creon cares about kills themselves from a curse that is put on Creon for not following the Godsʻ laws. Creonʻs punishment for Antigone did not only affect her, but also everyone who was involved in the situation, including Creon. Creonʻs punishment for Antigone was not justified for three reasons: Antigoneʻs love for her family being put first, Creon is trying to prove himself, and Antigoneʻs beliefs.
In ancient Greece, a common saying that all citizens had in their very core, a traditional Greek principle, was this: love your friends, and hate your enemies. This rule seems pretty straightforward and would appear easy to apply in real life. However, in the timeless play Antigone, Sophocles shows his audience a situation where this maxim does not apply. Sophocles concentrates on a complex story where the values and principles of the ancient Greek culture come into conflict. Religious or moral versus secular, family versus community, and living versus dead: all of these conflicting aspects are explored in Antigone. The drama Antigone places the culture of Greece on display by showcasing the many values that this culture held in reverence, including remaining loyal to family, honoring the dead, and honoring the gods.
Antigone is last book in a play trilogy by Sophocles about the tragic downfall of a family. The play focuses mainly on Antigone’s conflicting motivations developing Creon as the tragic hero in the play, causing him to be greedy and power crazed and unwilling to take others opinions. This leads to Creon’s tragic downfall and the death of Antigone and others important to Creon.
She was outraged when she found out that her brother Polyneices was going to be left to rot and be eaten by animals, because he was a traitor to the city. Antigone believed that her brother deserved a proper burial even though he tried going against the city unlike her other brother Eteocles. She asks Ismene (her sister) to join her in this act of rebellion but Ismene does not want to get in trouble for going against her kings orders so Antigone does it on her own. Creon feels disrespected and punishes Antigone for not following his rules. He seals Antigone while she is alive, inside a tomb. She does not understand why she is being treated so unjustly for trying to do the right thing. The chorus in the play tries convincing Antigone that justice is behaving in accordance to Creon’s laws but Antigone is stubborn and sustains to her convictions. Even though Antigone ends up dying she dies achieving her goal of wanting to bury her brother properly. Mostly everyone in this play goes against what the main character feels is justly because they want to follow the kings laws and they believe she is acting immorally. Antigone is not acting immorally, she is doing the right thing to follow the law of the gods. Therefore, since Antigone ends up hanging herself and causes her fiancé and the fiancé’s mother to commit suicide as well, it gives the
“Tell me briefly- not in some lengthy speech were you aware there was a proclamation forbidding what you did?” Antigone’s words, actions and ideas differ with Creon’s character to the point of these two characters having clashing desires. The clashing desires cause the characteristics of controlling, worry, and bitterness that’s highlighted within Creon’s character. Overall, these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by his stubbornness and his pride is way too high and the conflict with Antigone and the battle between the “Laws of the gods” and the “Laws of man.”
people act and what you are like. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Antigone, the protagonist, Antigone, is influenced a lot by her core values. The play Antigone was the story of the daughter Antigone of Oedipus and Iocaste, which took place after they tragically died. Antigone is influenced by the core values of her belief of family coming first, her following of God, and dying with pride and honor is important. Antigone’s core values and morals are more important than anything and these influence her choices throughout the play.
To begin, Antigone put her own values above society 's rules set by Kreon. When she expresses her plan to bury her brother, Ismene says,
n Sophocles’ play “Antigone”; written in 441 B.C., Antigone is a woman of impact, and her choices as a upstander affect the other characters. She was righteous in her pursuits to restore justice with her choices, that are taken because of Kreon unjust ruling. The first move was his, when she lawed the burial of Polyneices, whom is unhonored for being soldier of the enemy. Her choice to secretly bury him affected not only her life, but also Kreon and his family. She impacted her own life with her choice also to kill herself, and the lives of others.
In the play "Antigone", there are distinct conflicts between Creon and Antigone. Antigone beliefs of the gods in high reverence. She feels that the laws of the gods should be obeyed above all others, especially when it comes to respect to a family. Creon, on the other hand, feels that all should obey the laws set forth by him, even if other beliefs, or religious, stated otherwise. Regarding for the laws of the city this causes Creon to abandon all other beliefs. Socrates has an opposing viewpoint that would have relation to Creon’s actions. Socrates believed that when putting an innocent man to death is worse than dying himself. This is stated when he stated, “I speak because because I am convinced that I never intentionally wronged anyone” (Plato, 37).
The fact that Antigone was stubborn and wanted to bury her brother no matter the cost teaches us this lesson. It can also be seen in Creon’s unwillingness to give in to Antigone no because he didn’t want to be looked at in a certain way. Instead, he lost everything that he had and was left at the end of the play in great pain and alone. The story Antigone was a classic Greek tragedy, a continuation of the immense tragedy that has already befallen the house of Oedipus. “Tragedy has a satisfying, redemptive ending because the events in tragedy are arranged so well that we would not have the play end any other way, we accept the conclusion” Antigone does indeed satisfy that requirement as a tragic play. In the play “Antigone”, Sophocles uses many features that would classify the play as a Greek tragedy. The reason why this tragedy stands above many others is due to the use of various techniques that enable the reader to feel the emotions of fear and