Essay On Antigone Vs Creon

In Sophocles’ Antigone, we are introduced to a plethora of different ideologies and view points regarding character and judgment. The main conflict that is brought to light in the play centers around the treatment of Polyneices’ body after he perishes. The individuals who take up this conflict, Antigone and Creon, are locked into a battle of right and wrong. Antigone uses familial ties and divine justification in her case, while Creon argues that protecting Thebes takes precedence over the family and that those who live against the city, lack any sort of rights. Both perspectives have their own aspects of validity as well as their own faults, and both can be explored and analyzed independently from one another.
We learn in the introduction

During the course of the entire play Antigone makes it apparent that her sole goal is to bury Polyneices. She puts this above the laws made by Creon and even her sister Ismene. While arguing with her sister, Antigone says, “You make these excuses, but I Shall proceed to heap up a tomb for our dearest brother…Make straight your own life’s destiny”(80-82). Also after being captured and entombed herself, Antigone laments, “Behold, high rulers of Thebes:The sole woman remaining of the royal line(940-941)! Antigone shrugs aside one of the only living members of her family, and it seems that because of this, the “text prompts us to question the case for Antigone and her understanding of

Creon using his own form of divine justification explains,”…you are saying what is intolerable, when you say that Divinities have providential concern for this corpse…this fellow who Came to burn the temples girded with columns…(282,286). It becomes evident in these lines that Creon believes that it’s only natural to punish the wicked for their part in harming Thebes. However, Creon’s biggest weakness comes from openly defying both the family bond and set of divine laws that govern the deceased. He “acts pitilessly towards Polyneices’ already grieving relatives by further inflaming their grief”(Ahrensdorf and Pangle 144). Creon goes into conflict with the pious rules set forth by the Gods in response to death. As Antigone’s introduction explains, “Creon apparently knows that this…is at odds with the traditional understanding of divine law…which justice demands that family members are permitted to bury their dead relatives whether or not they were loyal to the