Antigone Rhetorical Analysis

Which was against the law, as Creon made it. Antigone's words and ideas contrast with Creon’s character to the point of these two characters having major conflicting motivations throughout the play. These conflicting motivations cause the characters to get mad upset or angry at eachother. Causing more conflict, but within these conflicts, shows in the end how Creon end up as the tragic hero. Antigone’s actions towards burying her brother, conflicts with Creon’s laws.

For this reason, Ismene’s opinion on Antigone’s determination to bury their brother illustrates how realistic her thoughts and actions are. When Antigone asks for Ismene’s help to burry their brother Ismene points out the flaw in her plan, “ Burry him! You have just said that the new law forbids it.” Her underlying respect for her brother made Antigone impulsive with her decision to burry her brother. With this in mind, Ismene points out her underestimating the power of authority, which demonstrates her skill of not letting emotions, get in the way of her thinking unlike her sister.

In this growing world, people have learned to challenge rules and test boundaries to get what they want and to stand up for what they believe in. The play Antigone by Sophocles is an example of a story that tells an important moral of always doing what someone believes is right, despite the consequences. In the story, Antigone confidently gives her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial, despite her uncle Creon's wishes not to do so. Creon finds out and takes actions against Antigone and sentences her to death, resulting in turmoil for his family and city.

As the king of Thebes, and the uncle and father-in-law-to-be of Antigone, it would be an understatement to say that he has a conflict of interest. Because of these confusing relationships as a family member, Creon does not truly want to kill his niece, as evident by his hands-off approach to her attempted murder. This presents the argument that Creon’s family obligations muddle his duties as the king. Creon, faced with doing what is best for his family or what is best for himself, contributes to his internal conflict of following the rules that he enacted in contrast with justice. This gives purpose to Antigone by expressing one of Sophocles’s overarching ideas prevalent in his works.

When people defend what they believe in or who they love that is sacrifice. In order to be certain that her two brothers she loved had a proper burial and that their souls could rest, Antigone sacrificed her life. Regardless of the potential outcome; even if that means that she was going to have to challenge her uncle (King Creon), she plans on pursuing her quest. Polynices and Eteocles killed each other in battle for control over Thebes, leaving the city to the new King, Creon Jocasta’s brother and Antigone’s uncle. Because of the actions that Polynices took during the war, Creon labels him a traitor and halts any burial process, leaving his body for the animals (222-234).

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.

This stands true for Antigone and her sister Ismene. While Antigone is fiercely loyal to her brother and willing to risk her life to give him his burial, Ismene is too intimidated by society to participate in the burial. She believes that Antigone is wrong to challenge Creon’s law. “I needs must do, but yield obedience to them that walk in power; to exceed is madness, and not wisdom.” (Sophocles, page 4) After Antigone is caught and she realizes that she will have no family left after she is executed, Ismene starts to sing a different tune.

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.

In Sophocles’ play Antigone, Antigone is punished for burying her dead brother’s body by being buried alive. Antigone gives an emotional speech in which she laments the loss of her youth and her future of marriage and motherhood. In this speech, she employs rhetorical devices like pathos, foreshadowing and extended metaphor. In an attempt to coerce Creon to refrain from burying herself alive, Antigone utilizes the rhetorical device, pathos.

In the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, burial customs of the ancient Greeks play an extensive role. The women of the family perform the burial rites, and believed that if their distinct methods were not followed, the soul is destined to suffer between worlds until the correct rites were performed. Antigone, the sister of Polynices and Eteocles, is aware of this and is not going to stand by and let her brother, Polynices, linger between worlds in pain, after being killed by Eteocles. With her ambition and determination she does the deed, and of doing so she follows the god's laws, but breaks Creon’s laws in the midst of it. Creon is also aware of the burial rites but still decides, through his stubbornness, that Polynices shall not be performed these rites, because of his actions against Thebes.

In Antigone, there was two brothers who shared being the King and one of the brothers, Polynices, wanted to start a war with the kingdom because he wanted to be the main ruler. Polynices and his brother Eteocles fight and they both end up killing each other. Their Uncle Creon, who takes position as King when they are both killed, decides that only Eteocles will have a proper burial and Polynices will be left to rot. Antigone, Polynices and Eteocles sister, thinks that Creon’s decision is unfair and takes upon herself to give Polynices a proper burial. When their other sister Ismene finds out, she is stuck between helping her sister bury their brother and following Creon’s demands.

Antigone wants her brother to receive proper burial rites in the play “Antigone”, written by Sophocles. In the lead up to the play, two brothers fight till death in order to receive the beloved power over Thebes. In the dual between the two brothers, Polyneices met fatality while bringing mischief upon the city of Thebes. Consequently, the King, Creon, declared that Polyneices’s proper burial rites should be revoked. Antigone was driven by tradition and her family values to bury her deceased brother; thus forthe, she was readily willing to suffer her punishment.

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. In Sophocles’ renowned drama entitled Antigone, one of the main values that Antigone chooses to honor is loyalty to family, even when that means that she has to forgo loyalty to her city and community. Even though her uncle the king, Kreon, forbade anyone to bury Polyneikes’ body because he had been on the opposing side in the battle, Antigone felt a duty to her brother to bury him. When speaking with her sister, Antigone says that Kreon’s command “…threatens our loved ones / as if they were our enemies” (Antigone 14-15).

The ritual of burying a family member was important to ancient greek culture. The gods from the greek religion are the ones who said that the burial must happen or else the deceased would be stuck halfway to the underworld. Antigone’s family history had not been the best up until the point of her brothers’ deaths. In the book it was stated that Antigone felt very strongly about burying her brother no matter what Creon said. In the text after the play it is written by senior editor Paul Moliken that “When Creon Forbids the burial of Polyneices, he is denying Antigone the opportunity to perform one of the most significant duties that Greek society allowed for women.

The Importance of Family in Antigone Following one’s heart does not always mean following the law. Civil disobedience is justifiable when dealing with family. Devotion to family is significant, especially in Greek culture. The play Antigone by Sophocles, stresses the importance of family and how the disturbance of traditions may lead to conflict.