Theme Of Conflict In Antigone

Creon is a prime example of the conventional Greek man. Antigone begins with Creon’s decree stating that any man who tries to bury the dead Polyneices will be deemed a traitor, and will be punished. (1.43-46) Creon makes this demand in the hopes of asserting himself as the new leader of Thebes. He says to Haimon, “Do you want me to show myself weak before the people? (3.28) He believes he must prove himself, and his manliness, which was a common sentiment among the men of Ancient Greece. Creon is also a firm believer that women have a place in society and should stay in that place; therefore, when he hears that Antigone is the one to defy him and bury Polyneices, he is astonished. Creon exclaims, “But this is Antigone! Why have you brought her here? (2.20) He doesn’t believe that a woman could be bold to break the law. In the act of decreeing his law, Creon inadvertently gives Antigone the opportunity to break it since she does not conform to the customary roles of women; this provides the main conflict in the plot of

A tragic hero is defined to be a hero who, despite being virtuous and great, also possesses qualities that lead to their downfall. This downfall is often predestined and is a common theme in Greek literature. Antigone is the tragic hero in Antigone because of her bravery, but also because of the dangerous loyalty and stubbornness that lead to her downfall.

Creon gave his speech to the chorus and stated that whoever buries Polyneices, will be sentenced to death. Then Antigone was captured by the sentry and came to Creon’s palace. Creon was insulted by Antigone's boasting of her doing, and stated that, “This girl is guilty of a double insolence; breaking the law and boasting of it. Who is the man here, she or I, if this crime goes unpunished?” (Sophocles 784). In the Greek times, women did not usually stood up for what they believed in, especially to a man. So when Antigone burried Polyneices, Creon did not expect a woman to do anything of this type of situation. Creon is too uncompromising to change his decision of the burial of Polyneices, and he was not going to allow a woman to owing to the fact violate a rule he made and not discipline her. When Creon was arguing with Haimon, he would not budge and says, “You consider right for a man of my years and experience to go to school to a boy?” (Sophocles 794). Creon would not tolerate Haimon’s arguments and its justification to them. Creon displays his flaw throughout the play, stubbornness. Creon display the flaw when he does not insist to reason with anybody until it was too late. Teiresias tries to reason with Creon and he would not budge. In spite of that, Creon did eventually listen to Teiresias idea. The Choragus and the chorus attempted to convince him to free Antigone and Creon spoke to them about the situation, “I will go… Come with me to the tomb. I buried her, I will set her free” (Sophocles 802). The blind prophet's words seem to have an affect on Creon and he finally realized that he made a horrible decision. Creon wants to reverse his decision and set Antigone free owing to the fact that she make the smart decision. Creon tried to save Antigone, yet he was to late to free

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.

In the play “Antigone” by Sophocles, the question of whether loyalties to family or loyalties to authority are more significant is brought up when personal matters are intertwined with legal affairs. Antigone is persecuted and punished severely by King Creon because she buried her brother, Polyneices, whom the king believes to be a traitor to the city and outlawed any burials or honor for the fallen man. In this situation, Antigone is right in going against the king’s law because in burying her dear brother, she honors the promise she made to him before he died, she pays respect to the laws of God and not the laws of mere mortals, and she shows her commitment to family by displaying her unwavering loyalty towards them, even in death. Antigone is right in crusading against Creon because in essence, he is unjustly punishing her in trying to punish her brother, Polyneices.

A tragic character is one whose errors and misfortunes lead to one’s own downfall. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Creon and Antigone are two characters whose adherence to their principles causes extreme conflict. Antigone believes in what is morally just, while Creon believes in what is civilly just. They both are passionate about fighting to prove that their principles are justifiable. Antigone and Creon, both expressing loyalty and pride toward opposing forces, are unable to come to a consensus, which ultimately leads to the destruction of both characters.

Pride can be one of man's strongest qualities. In Sophocles' play, Antigone, the Theme of pride becomes the cause for destruction for both Creon and Antigone in the play.. Creon's Pride blinds him to the injustice he commits against Antigone and the gods. Antigone's pride leaves her no choice but to be killed because of her beliefs. They Both automatically surrender to their own hubris and demonstrate how uncontrolled pride leads to personal downfalls and destruction in Antigone. The excessive pride of Creon and Antigone lead to their downfalls in Antigone.

Greek tragedies are known for their predictable endings and characters, whose character traits almost always stereotypically reflect those of the archetype they have been assigned. Sophocles’ play, Antigone, is no exception to this. Despite having been written around 441 B.C., his play does present newer controversial topics such as feminism in his play, along with more common themes such as integrity and loyalty. By establishing and associating Antigone’s character with heroic archetypes as the martyr and the tragic heroine, Sophocles could utilize her actions and characteristics as such roles to better demonstrate and convey his messages throughout his work.

Antigone is determined to provide proper burial for dead brother, Polynices, against the orders of the king, and goes to her sister Ismene for help. However, Ismene is distraught at the idea of defying the king (104). Ismene tells her sister that they are only women and not fit to challenge men (105). Ismene says this to convince her sister not to bury their brother as it not only against the law, but wrong for a woman to challenge the orders of any man, let alone the king. She warns Antigone that acting above one’s place would not be a wise decision (105). Ismene knows that if Antigone is caught burying their brother, her gender will surely affect the harshness of her

Creon throughout the whole play shows a discrimination toward women, in the end he ends up undergoing a terrible downfall. In the play, Antigone is the protagonist who most of the sexism is appointed toward. Creon shows a lot of feminism toward Antigone not only because of her criminal action but also that the fact that she is a female. Creon goes on to send Antigone to a cell deep in the middle of the woods because she went against his law. The fact that she was a female and went against a man’s power makes it seem worse than it actually has to be, all she did was pay her respect to her brother because no one would. Him putting Antigone to death because she went against his power clearly shows his feminism towards women. This also shows that all males had full power over society, economy, and women, which isn’t fair. Antigone displays her feminist qualities when she goes against the most powerful male, the king Creon. Her going against him shows her disrespect for Creon, her doing this and speaking like a male figure shows her push for equality between the sexes. Antigone throughout the whole play pushed for equality but she never seemed to get what she wants. In the end her push for equality’s of gender, causes her to be sent to death by the male figure she

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.

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

When Creon is confronted by Antigone about his edict he says’’ go down and love

Creon has a rational, important reason to deny Polyneices a burial and to punish Antigone for her actions: doing only what is best for Thebes. As King, he announces to the populace of Thebes that he plans to “follow the course that he knows is best for the State” (1.197). By giving a speech to garner the trust and respect of his citizens, and making the promise to do what is “best for the state”, Creon demonstrates his commitment to governing wholeheartedly. His directive on the burial of Polyneices directly reflects Creon’s ethics of putting the cohesion of the city before anything else. He wants social order and stability, so Antigone breaking a direct order from the throne makes Creon seem fallible. Creon is obsessed with his reputation,

The play, Antigone is an Ancient Greek play mostly about myth written by Sophocles. There are two main characters in this play which are Antigone and Creon. Antigone is a girl who tries to bury her brother, Polyneices who died during the war and she chooses family instead of the government. Creon, is Antigone’s uncle, and also a King of Thebes who didn’t allow the people to bury Polyneices. He doesn’t like people who disobeys the rules of the government.They both are tragic characters because Antigone kills herself and Creon asks for his death to the gods.It can be argued that the tragic hero is Creon because of his excessive pride and his intense suffering at the end of the play.