Antigone Literary Analysis

She follows a majority of the steps laid out in Campbell’s, “Hero’s Journey”. This means the text of Antigone could be considered a heroic tale depending on how one looks at what Antigone did and how they abstract the ideas and meanings of the text. What she did went against the best overall affect she could receive; however, it allowed a proper burial which meant her brother was able to get into the afterlife. Polyneices did not receive proper justice, although he acted wrongly against Eteocles he should not be eternally damned by not receiving an afterlife. Martin Luther King Jr acted in such a way that allowed the people he fought for get equal rights and opportunities as those oppressing them.

Violence is caused by power. This epic theatre deals with politics and social issues in very dark times were every king has their own method to become successful. Although the consequences that comes with it, kings avoid failure by choosing methods that can lead to unethical behavior. A king that is considered to be successful is achieving the title at the expense of somebody else. What causes a king in to considering violence?

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.

For example, in Creon’s opening monologue, Sophocles presents the leader as admiring. Now, Creon is the new king of Thebes and is proving himself through this monologue to give the people a taste of what his rule would be like. Sophocles presents Creon as admiring in the following excerpt of the monologue,“while Oedipus steered the land of Thebes / and even after he died, your loyalty was unshakable,” (Sophocles 186-187). The use of the word “unshakable” shows that he admired the strength of the loyalty between the people and Oedipus.

Creon will be a different type of leader than Oedipus, as they have different morals and ways of thinking and so he will know to avoid the mistakes Oedipus made. Creon is both kind and logical, the perfect mixture for king qualities, something that Oedipus did not have. “I’m ready now, or we might go inside.”(104). Oedipus prefers to be public with all his decisions, letting the citizens know exactly what he is thinking and feeling.

Throughout the play Lady Macbeth has a great influence upon Macbeth’s decisions, including the one which begins all the bloodshed, daring Macbeth, “Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem[?]” (1.7.41). Lady Macbeth invigorates and changes Macbeth’s attitude from unwilling and ambiguous about murdering Duncan to “settled, and bend up...to this terrible feat” by using pathos, demonstrating that Macbeth chooses evil because of the flawed influence of Lady Macbeth who is leading him down to a tragic alley.

As a result of her inability to escape the nightmare of immense guilt in sleeping or in wakefulness, Lady Macbeth crosses into the state of eternal sleep, death. In conclusion, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrates that a guilty conscience is a mind-probing enemy that can strike quietly and become a deadly, overpowering force that can subdue anyone with remorse. Through Lady Macbeth’s character transformation, the effects of a guilty conscience can thoroughly be seen. At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is an ambitious character that can repress her guilt to perform evil to a high extent.

“Now little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law” (Hale) Abigail Williams in the Crucible is a despicable character that is toxic to every person she commerses with. She portrays the evil of the world and the weakness of fear. She longed for love because of her loneliness and guilt that she could feel deep down inside of her soul.

The theme of moral ambiguity is portrayed through Lady Macbeth, throughout the whole play which contributes to each individual betrayal and evil plot in the play. Lady Macbeth, changes the dynamic of the play by constantly setting a tone for the struggle between good vs. evil which leads to her ultimate struggle within herself as her own moral ambiguity stares her in the face and becomes the her hardest conflict she must take

Ismene, despite the argument being about her brother’s burial, didn’t bring him up in the conversation; instead, she only talked of the hopelessness of breaking the rules. Antigone, on the other hand, called Polynices a lovely treasure, and the unfairness of the conviction was a main point in her argument. They also differed in the way they spoke of the State. Antigone sarcastically speaks of Creon’s leadership and decisions, whereas Ismene says they’re ruled by much stronger hands when referring to him. Their persuasive techniques are similar, however, in that they use a very strong Pathos argument as a base, even if the content is different.

Now some may say that Antigone’s simply should not have buried Polynices, but as stated before; the laws of the gods’ and goddesses’ are above all others. In addition to this, there are

In the play, Antigone, by Sophocles, Polyneices and Eteocles, have killed each other and Creon orders Eteocles to have an honored burial while Polyneices is to be left without a burial. Antigone tells Ismene, who are both sisters of Polyneices and Eteocles, that they must bury Polyneices, Ismene tells her she can not so Antigone buries Polyneices alone in defiance to the state laws. Creon and Antigone have conflicting values. Creon holds the laws of the city higher even when other beliefs state otherwise.

In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Antigone, a woman’s individual conscience trumps state law when Antigone displays time and again that she values her divine motives higher than those of the state throughout the tragedy. Her continued defiance of the state’s authority marks the importance of her individuality through various scenes in Antigone. Knowing full well her role as a woman in a patriarchal society, Antigone goes beyond the powers of the common man to carry on morals of herself and family exceeding beyond immortality and death. Engulfed in the menacing misogyny King Creon set forth in the state, Antigone is determined to thrive and keep the sacred deeds of herself and family in tact despite the fate it bears. The character of Antigone exhibits

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. Antigone is a tragic hero because of her headstrong loyalty to her brother and the morals of the gods, which leads to Creon’s retaliation and her downfall.

The play, Antigone, is a tragedy written by the Greek poet Sophocles. A common theme among tragedies is that they have a tragic hero, and Antigone is no different. The tragic hero of this poem is Creon, the King of Thebes. Creon is faced with the difficult task of punishing his niece, Antigone. She has broken one of his laws stating that no one is to give proper burial rites to Polyneices, Antigone’s brother, because he tried to overthrow Creon.