Antigone

837 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Character development in antigone

Today the United States is controlled by three branches, but the executive branch is the branch that is commonly referred to when mentioning the United States; the President. Who was once just a loyal friend of Oedipus, now the ruler of Thebes, Creon can be considered Thebes’s president. A ruler who believes and insists that his word is final when it deals with anything under his jurisdiction, meets a match in Antigone, the daughter of the former ruler of Thebes before he parted unto the other side. “When the unstoppable object collides with an unmovable object,” can be used to describe the two opposing views of Antigone and Creon.

Every hero or heroine must go through a three part journey: the departure and separation, the decent/ initiation/ struggle/ achievement, and finally the return. Things are a little different in this case. I personally feel that Oedipus was a hero and passed his “hero ness” to Antigone; as if Antigone inherited it as a trait. So its more of a six part journey; the original three, followed by the reincarnation, and the last two parts of the journey repeated. Before Oedipus was cast out of Thebes, Antigone was not known to be as bold as she shown with her objection to Creon’s orders of refusing her brother a proper burial, after her father‘s death. As she guided her father through life, his “hero ness” was slowly infiltrating Antigone and was fully installed into her with her father’s death.

After Antigone heard of the orders of Creon, regarding her brother Polynices, she knew that something had to be done for the proper burial of Polynices. Antigone’s sudden rise in spirit and bravery to fight for the honor of her family name is what places her under the category of being an archetypal heroin...

... middle of paper ...

...ok some time before Antigone actually gained individualism, she gained it. Every heroine must cross the threshold of dependency and arrive on the opposite side, which is individualism. Not meaning she cant accept the help of others, but more along the lines of not having to rely on others for assistance.

Antigone has changed dramatically compared from the character she was when she was first introduced. Inheriting the “hero ness” from her father, she took steps towards individualism and achieved the status of an archetypal heroine. Embarking on a physical and mental journey to and though Thebes, she was forced to answer her call and become a heroine. Completing the second to last step in a heroine’s quest, Antigone enters the final phase of the journey, the return. Being released from her tomb, her quest is complete and the family name is purified once more.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing the Family in Antigone and A Rose for Emily

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Antigone is a young woman whose moral background leads her to go against the wishes of the king to bury her brother, Polyneices.  Sophocles uses Antigone as a character who undergoes an irreversible change in judgment and as a result, ends up dying.  Antigone is hero, and she stands for honor, and divinity.   Because Antigone's parents were Oedipus and Iacaste, she was born into a family of power; something that she could not change.  At times, Sophocles leads the reader into thinking Antigone wishes she was not who she was.  Ismene, Antigone's sister, refuses to help Antigone because (as she states) "I have no strength to break laws that wer...

    Read More

  • Sophocles' Antigone

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    After her mother committed suicide, her father died and her brothers fought until they killed each other, Antigone projects her strong character with interesting ways of showing it. As the main character with strong values and a stubborn way, she follows the laws of god, without minding the consequences. Antigone is a strong willed woman who wins the respect of the audience by the inner strength and resistance of manipulation she has, showing the potential of human kind. She becomes a heroine with noble qualities of mind, heart and soul because she is willing to sacrifice her life, doing what she believes it is right. With a sense of family ties, she is an ideal for humanity, the issue is that she must burry her brother Polynices with an appropriate ceremony since she believes it is the last right for every human being.

    Read More

  • Compare Antigone And The Bible

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    Antigone, as a character, is extremely strong-willed and loyal to her faith. Creon is similarly loyal, but rather to his homeland, the city of Thebes, instead of the gods. Both characters are dedicated to a fault, a certain stubbornness that effectively blinds them from the repercussions of their actions. Preceding the story, Antigone has been left to deal with the burden of her parents’ and both her brothers’ deaths. Merely a young child, intense grief is to be expected; however, Antigone’s emotional state is portrayed as frivolous when it leads her to directly disobey Creon’s orders. She buries her brother Polynices because of her obedience to family and to the gods, claiming to follow “the gods’ unfailing, unwritten laws” (Sophocles 456-457). CONTINUE

    Read More

  • Antigone

    1416 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the tragedy concludes, the chorus issues its final words: "Pray for no more at all. For what is destined for us, men mortal, there is no escape," demonstrating how justice remains impartial to the prejudice of men; those who make imprudent judgments will ultimately suffer from the consequences of their actions. In Sophocles' Antigone, these prejudices notably surface in the form of paternalism as demonstrated through Creon's government, highlighting the importance of gender roles throughout the play. Therefore, analyzing the motif of gender roles and its effect on the definition of justice through the perspectives of Ismene, Antigone, and Creon enables the audience to understand how Sophocles' macroscopic analogy to humanity's prejudiced judgments as well (and ambiguity of justice)

    Read More

  • Antigone

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    Antigone is almost hailed to a god like status, as Oedipus was before her. She is extremely strong and unbelievably willing to sacrifice everything in the name of honor and pride. She so easily makes her decisions and chooses to die willingly without a second thought. The minute Creon questions her on breaking the law, she states: “Die I must, -I knew that well (how should I not?)-even without thy edicts.” What is even more is that Antigone was a woman, a woman in a time of extreme male domination. This makes her even stronger of a person in the play and shows the growing strength of the gender that we know of today.

    Read More

  • Antigone, the Real Tragic Hero in Sophocles' Antigone

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    Antigone is a great Greek tragedy by Sophocles. The story is about a young woman who has buried her brother by breaking king’s decree, and now she is punished for obeying God’s law. There are many arguments about who is the tragic hero in Sophocles’ Antigone. Some believe that it is Creon because he also has the characteristics of a tragic hero. Others believe that it is Antigone because the play bears her name. Antigone is the perfect hero, to exemplify the meaning of a tragic hero. In order to determine whether Antigone is the tragic hero, one will have to answer the question, what is a tragic hero? According to Aristotle, “The tragic hero is a character of noble stature and has greatness, he/she is not perfect, the hero's downfall and it is partially his/her own fault, and the hero's misfortunate is not wholly deserved.” (Aristotle) Antigone is a tragic hero because she has a high social standing in Thebes, she neither good nor bad, and her suffering appears to be unjust and unfair to the audience.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In The Odyssey

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the end, Antigone is punished because of her wrongdoing within her gender norms, since she independently made herself the role of hero and stepped over the gender ideal boundaries in doing what was right, instead of expecting Haemon to do so, which advances the view of how brave and loyal she

    Read More

  • Creon's Tragic Hero In Sophocles Antigone

    513 Words  | 2 Pages

    The characters in the play Antigone all suffer a downfall of some sort. The major characters suffer the most, though. In this short essay, I will document on how the two main characters, Creon and Antigone, both inevitably become tragic heroes.

    Read More

  • Sophocles' Antigone - Creon's Mistakes

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    Antigone, a resolute and heroic female protagonist, pits her individual free will against the intractable forces of fate and against the irrational and unjust laws of tyrannical man like Creon.

    Read More

  • Antigone Deserves More Sympathy than Creon

    2545 Words  | 6 Pages

    In the Antigone, unlike the Oedipus Tyrannus, paradoxically, the hero who is left in agony at the end of the play is not the title role. Instead King Creon, the newly appointed and tyrannical ruler, is left all alone in his empty palace with his wife's corpse in his hands, having just seen the suicide of his son. However, despite this pitiable fate for the character, his actions and behavior earlier in the play leave the final scene evoking more satisfaction than pity at his torment. The way the martyr Antigone went against the King and the city of Thebes was not entirely honorable or without ulterior motives of fulfilling pious concerns but it is difficult to lose sight of the fact that this passionate and pious young woman was condemned to living imprisonment.

    Read More

  • The Immense Character Development in Antigone by Sophocles

    1542 Words  | 4 Pages

    ..., this sense of arrogance angers Creon to a point beyond belief. Antigone’s refusal to cooperate causes Creon to go mad with irritation and frustration. Wanting to show his sense of power, he refuses to back down in fear of losing his position. His stubbornness grows stronger as Antigone continues to disobey his commands. Antigone’s strong and steady foundation helps her show defiance. She is able to overcome the opinions of the people and commit to helping her brother regardless of the after effects. She ignores what everyone says and does only as she wants. She is powerful, both physically and mentally, and is successful in her tasks. Antigone matures into a commendable and respectable character in which she depicts her rebelliousness and bravery, pride and tolerance, and sense of moral righteousness to demonstrate fundamental character development in the play.

    Read More

  • charant Character Changes in Sophocles' Antigone

    1452 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters' attitudes change from close-minded to open-minded. It is their close-minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultimately to a series of deaths. In the beginning Antigone is a close minded character who later becomes open minded. After the death of her brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. He decides that Eteocles will receive a funeral with military honors because he fought for his country. However, Polyneices, who broke his exile to " spill the blood of his father and sell his own people into slavery", will have no burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon's unjust actions and says, " Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." She vows to bury her brother so that his soul may gain the peace of the underworld. Antigone is torn between the law placed against burying her brother and her own thoughts of doing what she feels should be done for her family. Her intent is simply to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial so that she will follow "the laws of the gods." Antigone knows that she is in danger of being killed for her actions and she says, "I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me." Her own laws, or morals, drive her to break Creon's law placed against Polyneices burial. Even after she realizes that she will have to bury Polyneices without the help of her sister, Ismene, she says: Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of deaths-death without honor. Here Ismene is trying to reason with Antigone by saying that she cannot disobey the law because of the consequences. Antigone is close-minded when she immediately tells her to go away and refuses to listen to her. Later in the play, Antigone is sorrowful for her actions and the consequences yet she is not regretful for her crime. She says her crime is just, yet she does regret being forced to commit it.

    Read More

  • Diversity In Antigone

    461 Words  | 1 Pages

    We can perceive Antigone as a character seeking diversity out of an objective of pity, or all the more usually recognizable an objective of seeking positive change for herself. I arrived at this conclusion from an unbiased examination of Antigone's possibly different method for being diverse. In the more typical conclusion of her actions she is viewed as a tragic legend. One that wishes for a change in society to a more libertarian stability. She is happy with defying established standards of ladies, much like a cutting edge feminist. Or, on the other hand, she can be viewed as one searching for a reason for her life in the midst of losing such a great amount of reason to her siblings and guardians. She looks for an underlying pity in her endeavor to become famous. She realizes this in an end turn of her suicide. As most wish to take a gander at Antigone as a legend, we can see her burial of her sibling is a method for searching for the diversity her family

    Read More

  • Civil Disobedience In Sophocles Antigone

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Antigone, a play written by Sophocles, became a classic due to its timeless subject matter. In this play, the Greek dramatist reflected mainly on civil disobedience. Antigone believes in individual rights over state rights. Creon, however, strongly believes in putting state over religion. The play not only revolves on these two political and religious issues, but it also deals with the battle of the sexes.

    Read More

  • Cultural Influences In Antigone

    2409 Words  | 5 Pages

    The protagonist is convincingly characterized because she is constantly determined to fight for what she believes is right. Antigone’s belief that burying her brother is the right thing to do is distinct in the drama and comes to light when Antigone, as Bobrick puts it, “proudly” admits to going against Creon’s decree when put before him and states as a fact that “religious rituals justify her actions.” Antigone is determined to bury her brother, Polyneices, no matter the consequences. Bobrick suggests that this defiance is Antigone’s “first act of self- isolation” and further explains that self- isolation and her doing what is right go hand in hand (41). Antigone views the burial of her sibling as a duty and must be completed; Lansky illustrates this with the comment that “Creon is the guardian of the honor of the polis and Antigone of that of the family” (49). Besides being convincing because she behaves consistently, the protagonist is a convincing character because the love for her brother motivates her to disobey the decree of her king to do what she believes is right. Kirkpatrick points out that Antigone is aligned with her family over the nation and that it is not an inquiry of whether to bury her brother or not but more along the lines of how (407). In “Polis and Tragedy in the Antigone”, Philip Holt says that because

    Read More

More about Antigone

Open Document