Antigone

2995 Words6 Pages

I. SUBJECT

Antigone is a play about a woman who disobeyed the King's order to not bury her brother. The play was written by the famous Greek tragedian, Sophocles, in 441 B.C. The story took place in the city of Thebes and the time period is not mentioned. The main characters introduced in the play are of Antigone, Ismene, Creon, and Haemon. The primary focus was centered on Antigone and the consequences she faces after breaking the King's orders.

In the beginning, the author introduced Antigone and her sister, Ismene, and their argument about their recently deceased brother. The argument involved Antigone wanting to bury her brother and Ismene encouraging her to obey the King's orders. Antigone ignored her sister's advice and chose to disobey the King by burying her brother. The King learned of Antigone's actions and sentenced her to death. After listening to his people he lessened her sentence to spend the rest of her life in an isolated cave. With the advice of a trusted prophet, he once again changes his perspective and decides to set Antigone free. However, he arrived at the cave and was shocked to see that Antigone had hanged herself. The situation caused chaos among the people in Thebes.

Antigone's death greatly affected the lives of many other people. The King's son kills himself after seeing Antigone, his soon-to-be bride. In addition to his son‘s suicide, the King's wife learned the news about her son and ended her own life. The King is directly responsible for all the lost lives and heartbroken people, when he put his royal word above the word of the gods.

II. THEME

The theme of Antigone is that when the law of the state is put above the religious law, it can corrupt and disfigure the minds of mankind. Th...

... middle of paper ...

...tigone is between the two mindsets of the two conflicting characters. Sophocles bases Antigone on his standpoint about the argument of the man-made law against the religious law. The conflict between the two opposing characters creates drama throughout the story.

Antigone could also be referred to as a tragedy sub-genre. Tragedy "recounts casually related series of events in the life of a person of significance, culminating in an unhappy catastrophe, the whole treated with dignity and seriousness" (554). Antigone is one of Sophocles' many famous tragedies. It is centered around the tragic outcome that may take place in the occurrence of being prideful. Sophocles portrays that pride can result in tragedy and in disaster. In the story, Creon is prideful as his position of King and he ultimately brings his city to ruins. "Tragedy" played a major role in the story.

Show More
Related

  • Creon's Role in Antigone

    435 Words  | 1 Pages

    Creon in the play Antigone by Sophocles plays a major role within the play. Antigone also plays an important role, as these two character’s conflicting views led to utter disaster, which highlights Creon as a tragic figure. Within the play Creon attempted to establish decisions for the common good; however, his decisions resulted in tragedy. Creon highlighted as the tragic figure, initially created decisions he thought were for the welfare and well-being of Thebes. However, Antigone, who rebelled against Creon’s decisions, caused Creon’s rage to cloud his rational way of thinking.

    Read More

  • 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

  • Antigone Foil To Creon

    752 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the play Antigone, created by Sophocles Antigone is a foil to Creon because their personalities contrast. This makes Creon a Tragic Hero because he thinks that he is a god but in reality he is a mortal upsetting the god's and he will eventually meet his demise. At the start of the play the reader is introduced to a character named Creon, who is the king of Thebes, the previous king, Eteocles, was killed by his brother Polyneices. There is a law arranged by Creon, so nobody could bury the body of Polyneices but Antigone, the sister of both Eteocles and Polyneices, wants to bury her brother and is willing to risk her life to bury him. She eventually gets caught and is sentenced to death by Creon.

    Read More

  • The Burial at Thebes

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    This play is ultimately concerned with one person defying another person and paying the price. Antigone went against the law of the land, set by the newly crowned King Creon. Antigone was passionate about doing right by her brother and burying him according to her religious beliefs even though Creon deemed him a traitor and ordered him to be left for the animals to devour. Creon was passionate about being king and making his mark from his new throne. Although they differed in their views, the passion Creon and Antigone shared for those opinions was the same, they were equally passionate about their opposing views. Creon would have found it very difficult to see that he had anything in common with Antigone however as he appears to be in conflict with everyone, in his mind he has to stand alone in his views in order to set himself apart as king. Before he took to the throne Creon took advice from the prophet Tiresias who had so often had been his spiritual and moral compass, and yet in this matter concerning Antigone he will take advice from no one, not from the elders of Thebes, or even his own son Haemon.

    Read More

  • Antigone

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    Antigone, a story of broken family ties and conflicting motivations, can be twisted to tell two entirely different stories, and this is what happed when Anouilh rewrote Sophocles' classic. While both Sophocles and Anouilh told the story of Antigone, through subtle changes in the style of the drama, each author was able to produce a product that told a significantly different and intimate tale conducive to their personal or political situation at that time.

    Read More

  • Antigone Character Analysis Essay

    627 Words  | 2 Pages

    Antigone, a story written by Sophocles, is about a young woman, Antigone, choosing whether she will not bury her brother, Polyneices, to not break the law or disobey Creon’s law and bury him; however choosing to bury her brother does not derail her moral development.

    Read More

  • Pathetic vs Ethical

    2004 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sophocles was able to incorporate Poetics in his tragedy of Antigone. We see two different characters, moved with two different purposes: one ethical and one pathetic. Through the complication and unraveling we see how Antigone embodies the fundamentals of what a Greek tragedy is.

    Read More

  • Antigone Character Analysis Essay

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Antigone” is a great Greek tragedy by Sophocles. The story is about a young woman who has brother by breaking king’s decree, and now she is punished for obeying God’s law. In the classic model of dramatic structure, two characters move the action of the play from introduction to climax to resolution with their conflict. One of these characters is the protagonist, and the other is the antagonist. The protagonist is a “good guy” and the antagonist is the “bad guy”. In Sophocles’ play Antigone , the lines between protagonist and antagonist are blurred. In the Greek tradition , the title character is the protagonist, but in this play the supposed antagonist, Creon also displays characteristics of protagonist.

    Read More

  • Sophocles' Antigone - Creon's Mistakes

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the awe-inspiring play of Antigone, Sophocles introduces two remarkable characters, Antigone and Creon. A conflict between these two obstinate characters leads to fatal consequences for themselves and their kindred.  The firm stances of Creon and Antigone stem from two great imperatives: his loyalty to the state and her dedication to her family, her religion but most of all her conscience. The identity of the tragic hero of this play is still heavily debated.  This tragedy could have been prevented if it had not been for Creon's pitiful mistakes.

    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

  • Antigone

    561 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Antigone is widely thought of as the tragic heroine of the play bearing her name. She would seem to fit the part in light of the fact that she dies doing what is right. Antigone buries her brother Polynices, but Creon does not like her doing that one bit. Creon says to Antigone, "Why did you try to bury your brother? I had forbidden it. You heard my edict. It was proclaimed throughout Thebes. You read my edict. It was posted up on the city walls." (Pg. 44) Antigone buries her brother without worrying about what might happen to her. By doing this, she takes into consideration death and other consequences for burying her brother. Antigone follows what she thinks is right according to the gods. She is the supporter of her actions in the burial of Polynices.

    Read More

  • Moral Justice In Antigone

    316 Words  | 1 Pages

    Antigone, is a play written in 441 B.C. Set in the town of Thebes, two opposing sides fight for what they believe is right. The play illustrates a battle between brothers that results in death. The brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles kill each other, with their own bare hands while battling over who will be the next King of Thebes. This leads to the main conflict of the play which centers around the distinction between law and moral justice. In this prominent interpretation of Greek tragedy, the reigning King of Thebes, King Creon makes it known that Polyneices is a traitor and will be not be buried, he will be left in the field for the vultures. Whereas the brother Eteocles will receive a proper burial. Their sister Antigone is not okay with

    Read More

  • Religion vs. State in “Antigone"

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    The play “Antigone” is a tragedy by Sophocles. One main theme of the play is Religion vs. the state. This theme is seen throughout the play. Antigone is the supporter of religion and following the laws of the gods and the king of Thebes, Creon, is the state. In the play Creon has made it against the law to bury Antigone’s brother, something that goes against the laws of the gods, this is the cause of most conflict in the story. This struggle helps to develop the tragic form by giving the reader parts of the form through different characters.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Antigone

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    Antigone causes the death of three people, whether directly or indirectly. First of all, she directly causes her own death because she hangs herself, rather than starving to death inside the sealed up tomb the Creon had her put into. Second, she directly causes the death of Haemon because he loved her and truly cared for her and her did not want to live without her. Lastly, Antigone indirectly causes Eurydice, Haemon’s mother and Creon’s wife, to kill herself when Eurydice learns that Haemon killed himself. “Thy wife, [Creon,] the mother—mother of the dead—is, by a blow just fallen, haplessly slain.” This shows that Eurydice was mad enough to kill her, because many thing have happened to her, the death of her son, her husband’s excessive pride, etc. She also knew he and his pride was the cause of this mess.

    Read More

  • Sophocles' Antigone - The Real Tragedy

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    Antigone if she is caught.  As the play moves on there is a building of this fear and pity that is felt for many of the characters that finally is resolved at the catastrophe. At that point the reader learns that Creon, the king, has lost his wife, his son, and his niece Antigone, all because he was too stubborn to give in as well as to afraid that if he did give in that he would be judged as an easy king. In a way this ending brings the two emotions together. The reader feels pity for Creon because of his great loss, but at the same time he feels a bit of fear because he wouldn’t want this type of tragedy to ever occur in his life.

    Read More

More about Antigone

Open Document