Archetypes In Antigone

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

She has a heroic and courageous personality. Throughout her quest to bury Polyneices, Antigone encounters many hindrances along the way. The death of her father Oedipus led to her greatest disputant being given power, her Uncle Creon. He would show her no mercy for breaking his laws, until it is too late. Even when her sister Ismene states “Our own death would be if we should go against Creon And do what he has forbidden! We are only women, We cannot fight with men Antigone!” (Prologue Lines 45-47). While Ismene would gladly obey the laws set forth by her Uncle, Antigone would rather die than let her brother’s body be desecrated. She refused to give up no matter the obstacle in her way. At the end of her crusade, Antigone is condemned to be buried alive in a tomb by Creon. Death was the only outcome of her transgressions. As one might expect from a character like her, Antigone accepted her death and appeared ready for

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.

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.

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.

Within this Narrative, Antigone frequently uses the emotional values of others to convince them of what she believes to be right.The first illustration of this phenomenon is when Antigone compares her willingness to face death as the result of giving her brother an honorable burial, to her sister Ismene 's unwillingness in doing the same.The main character feels as though it is her personal and moral obligation to retrieve the afterlife that’s been taken from her brother.Therefore, she does not agree in abiding by Creon 's man-made legislation and makes it her mission to concede to the laws of the gods. Asking for her sister 's help, she hopes to obtain reliability, only to find her too intimidated by Creon, Their uncle, and king. Accordingly, she says to Ismene “You may do as you like since apparently the laws of the gods mean nothing to you” (Page 192 Sophocles Antigone).This sentence uses two rhetorical appeals. First, Antigone 's most manipulated appeal, pathos is demonstrated specifically when she says “ you may do as you like..” (Page 192 Sophocles Antigone).These words make it seem like Ismene is selfish in preserving herself, unlike Antigone 's decision to do the opposite. Antigone uses comparison to herself to make Ismene appear weak and self-serving in return. This technique is persuasive because it appeals to the human need for respect and convinces Ismene along with the audience, by cause of her choices, she lacks in it.Another rhetorical appeal used in the

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.”

What is worth mentioning in Sophocles’ play is that he not only showed the weak side of women but also the strong ones. For example, Ismene is the traditional role of women in ancient Greek—coward, fear of men power and feeble. For Ismene, "we must remember we were born women, not meant to strive with men" (Antigone). She even chose to die with Antigone while hearing her sentence, for she was afraid that she would be alone, she could not be able to fight against Creon, this men-dominant society. In contrast, her sister Antigone presents the “women power”. She dares to challenge the arrogant tyrant Creon by expressing her points bravely and furiously, trying to warn him that women do not always have the obligation to do what men command; she dares to protest the balance between duty and law, “…for it was not Zeus made such a law; such is not the Justice of the gods.” (Antigone), making her decisions in an equitable way and promise to find the real justice so as to give respect to her brother, Polyneices’ burial. Even though in the end Creon tries to give Antigone a lesson by putting her to prison, Antigone did not escape, for she understood that her action and pride would bring about these consequences, and she did not regret for doing this. In addition, we can also observe women power by seeing Creon’s words and behaviors. Creon’s hubris as a men affects how he thinks about women, he considered women as secondary creature. Yet, not until his arrogant led to great mistakes did he realized that men and women had the same position—they should be

Dearest citizens of Thebes, I stand before you today in the trial of Antigone, an innocent Princess who followed her heart in protecting the future of the morals and beliefs of your own city. Antigone clearly is a woman of great integrity, strength and intelligence, just like her royal ancestors that have led our city in the past. Antigone’s so-called “crime” was nothing but a selfless and moral act of compassion for her brother, and something that we as citizens must do, according to the Gods. Therefore, Antigone, a Princess of Thebes, should not be tried for these unjust charges because her act was indeed out of great love for her family, obedience to the law sent from the gods, and an act against the unjust rulings of the city’s hierarchy.

In Sophocles’ Antigone, Antigone and Creon both have qualities of a tragic hero according to Aristotle’s definition. Aristotle believes a tragic hero is a decent human, but falls due to a weakness in one’s character. In the plot, Antigone decides to bury her brother, which defies the laws of Creon, the dictator of Thebes. Antigone believes she must hold her family values and the gods’ beliefs with utmost respect. Antigone refuses to deny her crime, so she is sentenced to be death by Creon. Antigone is the tragic hero because she inspires pity and fear when her devotion to the gods and her morals lead to her downfall.

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.

The play Antigone written by Sophocles is a Greek tragedy which incorporates themes of divine law vs. man made law ,conventional role of a woman vs. a defiant role portrayed by a woman, but the very essence of the play and other major themes are created with the defiance of the conventional role of women shown by Antigone. This is the primary aim of the essay. A little insight into the Greek society gives us a brief idea about the status of women and help do a comparative study with the unique character of Antigone and her role in the development of the plot.

The play “Antigone” by Sophocles displays many qualities that make it a great tragedy. A tragedy is a dramatic work in which the principle character engages in a significant struggle ending in ruin and destruction. In creating his tragedy, Sophocles uses many techniques to create the feelings of fear and pity in his readers. This in turn creates an excellent tragedy. In Antigone, Sophocles does a great job at bringing out