Sophocles, with his intelligence and creativity, presented numerous ethically correct and incorrect circumstances in his play Antigone, also consisting of arguable traits. With every character shadows a dilemma that the reader has to interpret for themselves, and this is one of the reasons that it is as intellectually challenging as it is presented. One of these characters within the controversy is Antigone, the daughter of the former king of Thebes. To understand Antigone’s moral controversy, one must know the reasoning behind her actions. In the plot, Antigone is furious over the disrespect Polynices, her dead brother, is given. Because of Polynices’ actions of betrayal towards the city of Thebes, he is denied a proper burial from Creon, …show more content…
He states, “Exactly when did you last see the gods / celebrating traitors? Inconceivable!” (Sophocles 326-327). This delivers the argument in reference to Antigone’s beliefs of glory that it is merely impossible to imagine the gods giving glory to those who honor traitors, regardless of their relation to one another. He is stating the unimportance of following the laws set by the gods in regards to dealing with citizens who have the incentive to become traitors of their own city. His incentive behind his thought process is born because of his duties set upon him as a king but because of this statement, he produces a questionable response pertaining to Antigone’s actions in the plot. After analyzation of Antigone, it is safe to state that many questions dealing with morality in the culture of Sophocles’ time have ascended. With the diverse quantity of opinions fluctuating around our society about morality so frequently in life, arguing and debating over these questions is inevitable. The question consisting of the laws set upon us and our obligation to them is still present in the culture of our society today, and it will continue to be an issue in the
Chris Iacono 1C70 Jim McCarthy 2 November 2015 Antigone and Martin Luther King: Civil Disobedience In Sophocles’ Antigone and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” both Antigone and Martin Luther King fight and disobey the laws established in order to help others. They show their civil disobedience in different ways, but are defying the laws for similar purposes; to preserve human rights. Both are following the idea that the individual has the duty to defy human laws when they contradict those of higher ideals (“Letter From Birmingham Jail About the History of Civil Disobedience”). They differ in that Antigone tried to reason with Creon, but when that failed she took matters into their own hands, while Martin Luther King used nonviolent campaigns
Having witnessed the demise of her family due to horrible curses and fates, she knows that reverence and adherence to the Gods will comes before any earthly pursuits. The tragedies of her father, mother, and brothers has left her extremely dedicated to family, and to the Gods. When questioned by Creon, Antigone justifies her action “Your edict, King, was strong, but all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now: they were, and shall be…” (2.208) Antigone justifies that there will never be a higher authority than that of the gods, and that the laws of the gods are paramount to anything. She reveals that she finds honoring the gods more important than her life, and accepts her death at the hands of Creon.
Sophocles depicts the contrast and clash between two people with opposing views in his play ‘Antigone’. One of those people is Creon, the highly motivated king of Thebes who takes pride in his own decisions that he believes to be right and sensible for the state and believes in a form of justice that can’t be compromised. The other person is Antigone, the protagonist and the daughter of the earlier king of Thebes, Oedipus. She places her faith and adheres to the irrational laws of religion and goes against the laws of man, thus defying common reason. We see more nuances to their defining attributes throughout Oedipus’s works.
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.
The scene thorough lines 450 to 540 involve Creon and Antigone in a furious argument. With Creon’s ruthless attitudes he condemns her for her actions however, Antigone seems to be indomitable and fights back. They’re arguing due to the fact that Antigone wants to bury her fallen brother, Polynicies, while Creon has prohibited the burial. In Creon’s mind, everyone from Thebes should hail the estate and obey his orders, while many disagrees with him, only Antigone has the courage to follow the gods rules and honor her family. “Because it wasn’t Zeus who pronounced these things to me.”
“You may do as you like, Since apparently the laws of the gods mean nothing to you.” (Sophocles, et al. 192). This argument, though quite passive aggressive, is more ethical. The religion of the people of Ancient Greece was held to the utmost of importance, which is why such epics are written about them when someone dares to defy them. In this case, Antigone calls out Ismene for choosing to obey the rule of Creon rather than the rule of the gods.
In the play Antigone, Sophocles demonstrates the conflict between family and God through the characters of Antigone, Ismene and Creon. Antigone being ambitious and strong willed throughout the play, fights for his brothers honor and proper burial while Ismene on the other hand, is more timid fears the consequences that may occur if the laws are broken. For Creon he is the King and holds most power, until the Gods feel he is incapable. Antigone, Ismene and Creon all use logical and emotional appeals to achieve a compromise to either bury Polynices or not.
In the play, Antigone, daughter of Oedipus learns about the death of her two brothers (Eteocles and Polynices).Creon, the new king of Thebes passed a decree to the city on the burial of the two brothers. In the decree, Creon declares that Eteocles body should be buried with honor and fame for his courage of saving the city from the enemy. Whiles Polynices body is left unburied and rotting for beasts to feed on because he came to destroy the city and enslave the people. Antigone defies Creon 's decree, buries Polynices body and gets caught. Creon imprisons her
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.
Antigone, written by Sophocles, tells of a woman who follows the god’s laws over the edict of her uncle, by performing the forbidden burial of her brother with her own hands. Many of Antigone’s choices lead up to her untimely and tragic death, but she is not the only one. Her uncle Creon believes that he can present an edict that could overrule the gods. The play Antigone is full of pride, betrayal, and most importantly the consequences of choices. This story contains many different choices.
In Sophocles` play, Antigone, he shows a story of a crazed man who lets pride takes over his actions causing the deaths of his loved ones. This essay will discuss Haimon, King Creon`s son, through statements that Sophocles himself wrote and inferences of his perspective. During the story Haimon does major actions such as; plea for his fiancée, commits suicide and even cast death upon King Creon. I believe that Haimon plead for Antigone`s life for more than one reason. He pleads for her because she was his fiancée and also because he heard the rumors the citizens passed around about King Creon.
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
Kreon does not believe Polyneices deserves a proper burial for Polyneices was not noble in Kreons eyes. Polyneices was fighting against Thebes and causing terror. He does not want to give him a proper burial, as shown in the quote “... Polynecius, who died as pitiably - Kreon has proclaimed that his body will stay unburied, no mourners, no tomb, no tears, a tasty meal for the vultures” (Sophocles 22). Antigone is distraught at the thought of her brother being left to be “a tasty meal for the vultures” and soon vows to bury him regardless of the law.
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 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. Women in ancient Greek were considered inferior to men in every sphere ,from the intellect to the physical state. Their freedom was monitored by the dominating male in the family