Creon's Loyalty In Antigone

Within Antigone, many of the characters’ stubbornness contributing to the major conflict could have easily been handled differently. Because of this, one ended up dead and another lost everyone he loved. Ismene, Antigone’s sister, remained alive but only because of fear of being punished. It is sometimes unnecessary qualities like being head strong that lead to no one gaining triumph in the end. Because two willful people were both standing up for what they believed in, neither won the battle. Most conflict happens between family members and in this story, Creon and Antigone are ending it.

Everyone faces difficult choices throughout their life, and many of these choices are due to the pressures of society. Society is cruel and everyone, at some point in their lives, has been at the receiving end of that cruelty and felt the sorrow it brings. In Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone finds herself faced with the choice of doing what her heart says is right, and burying her dead sibling or following what society has decreed as the right thing to do and leave him “to be devoured by dogs and fowls of the air.” (Sophocles, page 12) Antigone’s sister, Ismene, faces the same choice though she is less willing to defy society in favor of family obligations. The sisters are not the only ones that must face such choices, Creon’s son, Haemon, is in a dangerous position by fighting for Antigone and betraying his father's wishes.

Then comes Antigone, the girl who thinks she has the right to act against the law. This poses a moral dilemma for Creon, as Antigone is his niece, the last of the descendants of Oedipus. However, Antigone makes the decision easier by explicitly taking pride in her actions and slighting his uncle. Her justification is merely that Creon’s law is not the mandate of her God, and that the burial of a family is more imperative than all else (500-523). When confronted by Creon with Polynices’ treacherous crime, she cannot put up any defense. Instead, she dodges the question by saying Eteocles is dead and cannot testify (581). I would like everyone here to consider one question, since I believe your wisdom and reason match your seniority: what would

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

Sophocle’s play Antigone suggests that a good leader should provide loyalty and trust, and through actions Creon, shows many reasons to be a loyal character in the play, Creon has good rational reasons for his laws and punishments that he believes that will help him as a king. Even though Creon has a hard time listening to anyone, which makes him stubborn and his pride to increase he is actually doing something that can help his people, Creon and the citizens of Thebes respect the law, which shows loyalty to the state. In the play Creon states “ For me, a man who rules the entire state and does not take the best advise there is, but through fear keeps his mouth forever shut, such man is the worst of men- and always

Antigone is loyal to the gods and not to Creon. Antigone states, “Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way.’’(P.32). What she means is that nobody can block her or stand in her way from doing what she has to do for her brother. Some may say that Polyneices was a traitor well he is, that 's the reason why Creon wants Polyneices not buried. She was trying to look out for her family but, her uncle did care about this. Most people would have done the same thing.

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.

Sophocles’ Antigone, is a classic Athenian Greek play that discusses questions about the importance of following the law when one does not agree with it, and whether divine laws or man-made laws have more importance in society. While these themes are worth exploring, another interesting aspect of the play is the cruel treatment and punishment of the title character, Antigone, by her uncle and future father-in-law Creon, the king of Thebes. Creon’s harsh punishment, a parallel to the treatment of women in Greek society, can be seen in many of the dialogues of the play.

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” said historian Lord Acton. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Oedipus the King of Thebes newly departs after disgracing his people, and his successors to the throne, Polynices and Eteocles die in battle, thus leaving his brother Creon to inherit his throne. From the beginning, Creon uses his newfound power to impose excessive punishments against not only the people of Thebes, but also his family. As a result, the Thebans recognize his abuse of power, and express their fears through not only the chorus, but also his son. To finalize his play, Sophocles exposes how Creon uses his power to manipulate the hierarchy in Greek society; consequently offending the gods. Therefore, through King Creon’s

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

Antigone felt that Creon’s laws were prejudiced against her belief in God's proclamation and her personal morals or core values. She put her family first the whole time,

Antigone was wronged and Antigone is tragic hero because she wanted to get a proper grave site, Creon was her uncle, Antigone was the good one.

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

Being very stubborn is something that I try often not to do. When somebody tells me something trying to change my attitude toward something I try to listen to what their saying and not allow myself to have quick judgment about it. I don’t want to stick to what I believe even if I strongly believe in it, I would rather like to hear different aspects to a situation. I have been in situations before where someone did not want to listen to what I was saying even though I had good arguements on the topic. Many people who are very stubborn get defensive if a person argues what they believe. Being very stubborn can be seen in Antigone when Creon speaks to Teiresias and Teiresias says what Creon is doing to Antigone is wrong, Creon believes Teiresias

Courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. In the Greek tragedy Antigone, continues to fight for her for her family’s name although it has been slandered because of mistakes her ancestors made in the past. When Creon creates a law that forbids anyone to her brother, Polynices, Antigone heroically attempts to save her brother’s honor her brother even though she knows the harsh consequences that may follow. Although Creon is always loyal to the state based on what he believes, Antigone’s courage to her family can't be matched by any other character. Antigone is the courageous character of this play because she would accept any consequences for her brother, she would die for him, and let her dream of being a mother and wife vanish.