Creon's Fate In Sophocles Antigone

In this quote, Antigone faces a moment of weakness before her imprisonment, but her resolve holds steadfast: “I have not sinned before God. Or if I have, / I shall know the truth in death. But if the guilt / Lies upon Creon who judged me, then, I pray, / May his punishment equal my own” (228). This second quote describes the realization of Antigone’s suicide: “... in the cavern’s farthest corner / We saw her lying: / She had made a noose of her fine linen veil / And hanged herself” (240). These quotes show Antigone’s ultimate commitment. Antigone was willing to die for her brother, and she did so with a clear conscience. The first quote is also important because Antigone curses Creon to a fate as miserable as her own, which solidifies his fate. All of Antigone’s decisions made her fate more bearable. Her first decision solidified her fate, her second decision helped her to cope with her fate, and her third decision showed her ultimate commitment and cursed Creon to a fate as miserable as hers. Antigone made positive decisions that helped her understand her fate and come to grips with it. This shows that one’s positive decisions can affect the nature of one’s

Creon shows an extraordinary amount of stubbornness throughout the story. An example is seen when Antigone wishes to give her brother, Polyneices a proper burial so he can have a pleasant afterlife with the Gods. Creon, as king wishes to have him rot in the fields because he turned his back on the state in which the events occurred.

He finally discovers that his refusal to see past his own opinion is his downfall. He punished Antigone and mocked those who questioned his law, including his trusted prophet, Teiresias. The prophet clearly warned him, “You shall pay back corpse for corpse, flesh of your own flesh.” (scene 5 line 77-80). He would pay for his crime against the laws of the gods. “The one in the grave before her death, the other, dead, denied the grave. This is your crime.” (scene 5 lines 80-83). Tragically, Creon did not change his mind until it was too late. Finally, he realized, “the laws of the gods are mighty, and a man must serve them to the last day of his life!” He intended to free Antigone, but in the vault, Antigone committed suicide and Haimon followed. When Creon’s wife heard her son was dead, she killed herself as well. The prophecy became a reality.

Such as a tragic heroine, Antigone seemingly receives support from the gods, “Throughout the play there are signs in the natural world that the gods are on the side of Antigone… there are no footprints left beside the body when Antigone first puts dust on Polyneices. It's as if the earth itself is attempting to aid Antigone in her "crime”. We also see divine support for Antigone, when the storm rages outside of Thebes” (Shmoop). Antigone also tries to control her own fate, even though she knows that her family is doomed suffer, as exemplified by her father Oedipus. She tries to control what she can, for example, instead of letting her sister join her in the execution, Antigone declines her and sends her off. Antigone’s most important trait is also the fatal flaw that leads to her own demise. Antigone is so loyal ad determined to bury her brother that she would go against the word of the king to do so. It is because of this determination that she antagonizes Creon into sentencing her to death. Sophocles not only portrays Antigone as a tragic hero, but also as a martyr. She believes in something so much that she is willing to go against the law, and in turn die for it. She believes that even though her brothers fought in each of the leading sides of Thebes’ civil war, it should not matter as they are both part of her and Creon’s family. Antigone “sacrifices her own life in the name of it. Her determination is so strong that her character becomes symbolic of family loyalty or blood ties” (Shmoop). Although she is not trying to teach a lesson per se, she does make an impact on those around her. Her fiancé and his mother both follow suit in Antigone’s suicide, leaving Creon alone in the end to reflect on his actions and their consequences. Antigone’s actions are not the only things that link her to her heroic archetypical role, her motivations for

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.

In the play Antigone’s motivations contrast Creon’s due to the difference in beliefs. Antigone’s motivations are that she believes both of her brothers deserve to buried and that the gods would agree with her and get to decide where his soul goes. Such as when she says “ That may be, but Hades still desires equal rights for both.” Trying to prove that the gods are on her side to Creon. Antigone finds Creon’s decree unfair and causes her to take matters into her own hands, against 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

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.

“Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way.” Antigone said this while talking to ismene about her plans to bury her brother. She is saying that Creon, the king of thebes, can not stop her from following her morals and burying her brother. Antigone is the daughter of oedipus who is also her brother. In the story antigone’s suffers the loss of both of her brothers, oedipus and polyneices. The king of thebes declared that oedipus was to have a soldier's burial but polynices was not to be buried and just left on the battlefield. Antigone decided that this decision made by creon was not fair and she was going to bury her brother herself, putting her life on the line in the process. Antigone has all the characteristics of a tragic hero. She is of royal birth, she has good intentions, and she

In the play, “Antigone” involves a young girl named Antigone who, was trying to achieve something that was against all odds. While in the play “She Stoops to Conquer” Miss Castle would try to achieve her goal by trickery and her wits to get what she wants. But the way Antigone did it, she would try everything to prove her point, even by standing up to the authority to risk her life. But Miss Castle would do this by deceiving her crush Young Marlow to fall in love with her.

After the exile of Oedipus, Creon became the king of Thebes, which placed a lot of power in his hands. With this sudden shift in authority, Creon's tragic flaw becomes more noticeable. When in an argument with Haemon, Creon's son, he states his position on the opposite sex, “If we must fall from power, let that come at some man’s hand—at least, we won’t be called inferior to any women” (353). This reveals his excessive pride, hubris, because he worries that his image would be tarnished if ever doing something imposed by a women. With this condescending perspective, he is led to believe that he is above all others, which leads to his free choice. His free choice is represented by a quote from the guard surveying Polyneices body, “We saw this girl giving that dead man's corpse full burial rites—an act you’d made illegal” (337). Although Creon's own niece turns out to be the one that went against his word, he still chooses to follow through with the punishment even though the deed Antigone did was morally right. The punishment that he lays upon Antigone is excessive and unjust considering the crime. While in an argument with her, he calls to his guards proclaiming, “Take her and shut her up, as I have ordered, in her tomb’s embrace [...] Then leave her there alone, all by

Civil Disobedience is an effective method of change that has been used throughout history against unjust laws.

Upon being crowned king, Creon is portrayed as a responsible leader. However, Creon becomes a ruthless leader who did not abide by the laws of the gods and rules by his own will. In the book, Creon decides not to bury Polyneices after being told by Antigone that it is against the gods to not bury someone who fought with valor. After being told numerous times by Antigone to bury Polyneices, he decides to punish her by imprisoning her. This shows that Creon believed that not even the gods can go against his decision. In other words, Creon is concerned only with his

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