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Character of Antigone
Antigone Character Analysis Essay
Character of Antigone
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J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, once said: “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it”. When one believes in oneself anything is possible when one doubts themselves nothing is possible. Antigone’s belief gives her the strength to face Creon and his power. Antigone is the story of Antigone and her belief in the gods. The play starts with Creon making a law saying that no one can bury Polyneices, Antigone’s brother. Antigone believes that goes against the will of the gods and decides to anyway. Creon discovers she is guilty of burying Polyneices. Creon decides to punish her, but not kill her himself, he imprisons her instead. In Antigone by Sophocles, the use of Antigone’s character conveys that …show more content…
In the prologue Antigone tries to convince her sister, Ismene, to help her bury Polyneices. They go back and forth arguing. Antigone calls her sister a traitor to their family, and how the law Creon made was a mortal law and she follows the laws of the gods. This is where the reader first meets Antigone and her belief. In this scene, her belief and rebelliousness are heavily contrasted with Ismene’s lawful and peaceful attitude. In Scene II Antigone is brought before Creon by a sentry. Creon accuses Antigone of defying his law, she responds with a comment about how it was not a proclamation of the gods, but merely a mortal law. And says that she will die for this if she has to and that she would rather die than have let her dead brother suffer. Antigone is willing to be condemned for her actions because she is not ashamed of what she did. Her belief allows her to face Creon and possibly death. Also in Scene II Antigone controls the scene saying that others do agree with her but that Creon has silenced them. In addition, she tells him that he has no right to judge what is wicked and that the gods are the ultimate judges. Antigone stands up for herself and her beliefs. Belief gave her the power to overpower the voices of …show more content…
In Scene IV Creon decides to punish Antigone by locking her up in a stone prison. As she speaks to the citizens in Thebes she blames the curse of her father, while the Chorus blames her own free will. Antigone welcome the idea of her death, saying that then she will see her father, mother, and brother. Antigone may not take full responsibility, but she is willing to face the repercussions of her actions. She believes it is her fate to bury her brother and be punished. Even with this idea, she is still willing to be punished, due to her belief that the gods are behind her. Later in Scene IV, Creon orders the guards to take her away, and they hesitate. Antigone continues to tell them that she only listens to the gods, and if Creon was wrong in his laws then he will be punished. In the end, Antigone commands the guards to take her away. Antigone’s belief allows her to gain control over those who control her. She commands the gods because she believes that she was fated to go through this. That belief allows her to control the guards while still, following through with her punishment. She doesn’t try to command them to help her escape she gives the Thebesian people her last words and leaves or her person. In Éxodos a messenger tells the Choragos about how Antigone killed herself. He says that she hanged herself using her linen veil. Antigone believes she was so right in burying her brother, that she
Although it was against the law, her burying Polyneices proved just how loyal she was towards her brother. Her loyalty was what had justified her reasoning behind her actions. Antigone stated, “But my nature is to love. I cannot hate” (598). This depicts Antigone’s true nature. It shows that she is good at heart and what she had done was purely in her morals and not solely for defiance. When Antigone asked her sister Ismene to accompany her in her plan, Ismene refused with fear of defying the law. When Antigone was caught, Creon was quick to assume that Ismene was an ally to Antigone because of their relation to each other. Ismene was brought in during Antigone and Creon’s interaction and Ismene admitted and supported Antigone; she had no true part in Antigone’s actions. Antigone, being loyal and trustworthy, stated, “No, no - justice will not allow you to say that. You didn’t want to. I didn’t work with you” (616-617). Not only was her loyalty towards her brother, but towards everyone she cared
Antigone is a powerful character, strong-willed, determined and at times self-righteous. She is contrasted by her sister Ismene, who is weak and powerless. Though Antigone is a powerful character, she has no real political power and is dominated by one man, Creon. Creon is both the ruler of the state as well as the patriarch of her family. Antigone was raised by Creon’s house after her own father went in to exile. Antigone is betrothed to Creon’s son, Haemon, further cementing Creon’s power over her. There is one aspect of life that Antigone does have legitimate power in and that is her family, especially her blood line. In ancient-Greek culture the women’s place was in the home, she was responsible for household things and often wasn’t even allowed to leave the house. It is because of this responsibility that Antigone needed to bury her brother Polynices even though it went against the decree of Creon. Antigone also had the gods on her side. It was an unwritten rule of ancient Greek society that the dead must be buried, otherwise bad things may happen. This rule, because it was unwritten and therefore innate, was protected by the gods, specifically Hades, the god of the underworld and family.
In Antigone, translated by Elizabeth Wyckoff, the struggle between Creon and Antigone’s wills lead to their eventual downfalls. Croen believes that his decision to not have a proper burial for Polyneices is defended by the Gods, among other things. However, Antigone believes that her decision to bury Polyneices is also justified. A compromise is unable to be reached because of their inelastic viewpoints, not necessarily the views themselves. These extreme views are shaped by Antigone and Creon’s personalities, families, and social statuses. The rigidity of their viewpoints leads us to wonder about the principles that these characters hold, and why they hold them.
Due to the actions she took based on her emotions, Antigone suffered a far worse fate than Ismene. During her conversation with Ismene, Antigone says: “Ismene, I am going to bury him” (Sophocles, 3). To this Ismene replies with: “Bury him! You have just said the new law forbids it” (Sophocles, 3). This is the first time we experience the difference in the sisters’ behavior. Antigone has decided to bury Polyneices, although Creon’s new law forbids it. She believed that the God’s proclamation means more than Creon’s, and tells Ismene: “I will bury the brother I love” (Sophocles, 4). Ismene, on the other hand, knows that this action is forbidden by Creon’s law and isn’t willing to break it. She says: “But think of the danger! Think what Creon will do! [...] Think how much more terrible than these our own death would be if we should go against Creon and do what he has forbidden![...]The law is strong, we must give into the law in this thing, and in worse. I beg the Dead to forgive me, but I am helpless: I must yield to those in authority. And I think it is dangerous business to be always meddling” (Sophocles, 3-4). Ismene clearly respects the law and knows the repercussions of breaking it, something that Antigone chooses to ignore.
Antigone’s views of divine justice conflict with Creon’s will as head of the state. Two brothers fighting against one another in Thebes’ civil war died while fighting one another for the throne. Creon, who had become the new ruler of Thebes, decided that one brother Eteocles would be honored, while Polyneices would be put through public shame. The body of Polyneices was to not be sanctified by holy rites, but was planned to be left unburied on the battlefield for animals to prey on it. Antigone, the sister of the two brothers wants to properly bury Polyneices’ body, but in doing so she would by defying king Creon’s edict. When Creon’s orders the Sentry to find out who had buried the body of Polyneices, Antigone is found to have buried the body of her dead brother. Since she disobeyed authority, her and her sister are temporarily imprisoned. He then wishes to spare Antigone’s sister Ismene and bury Antigone alive in a cave. To some up the foregoing, in honoring her brother she is performing the role of woman and warrior...
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
Antigone believes what she is doing is the right thing, that her actions of deciding to bury her brother’s body are worth it even though it means she is going against Creon’s law. Antigone’s pride also led to her death because it caused her to be stubborn. When Antigone speaks with Creon and the chorus she says “What things I suffer, and at what men’s hands, because I would not transgress the laws of heaven,” (228). She is saying that her punishment is due to her actions of not breaking heaven’s laws. She believes that her actions are the right thing to do, that the gods agree with her actions.
Within these lines, Antigone reveals that she holds herself sanctimonious over her king by admitting his punishment is “nothing” compared to the “agony” she will face if she leaves her brother unburied. She also conveys a nonchalant attitude towards the repercussions of her action when she mocks Creon accusing him of being a “fool.” Although Antigone is aware that others such as her sister, Ismene and her fiancée, Haemon—the son of Creon, may suffer because of her act of civil disobedience, she is unwilling to abandon her protest to negotiate in a peaceful manner. This conduct implies that she does not completely comprehend the seriousness of her action or understand the weight of her crime rendering her approach inconsistent with King’s theory.
When Antigone went against Creons decree, she triggered a lot of people, including herself, to become hurt and involved in mayhem. In response to the actions that Antigone had committed, Creon made an attempt to hurt her more by threatening her sister, Ismene; “Arrest Ismene. I accuse her equally. Bring her sniffling in the house there,” (Sophocles, 388). Ismene was almost punished severely due to being involved in the plot to bury Polyneices, their brother. Although Creon forbade this, Antigones religious values made her become disobedient to the new laws that Creon had fabricated. While Ismene was given back her freedom, Creons threat to put her to death shows just how severe the consequences could have been.
Antigone is a strong willed character who is not afraid to defend her beliefs. After learning that Creon has denied Polyneices of a proper burial she uses her free will to decide that she must lay her brother to rest, as she strongly believes he should be honored like the other fallen soldiers. Unable to
After studying the critical excerpts following Antigone, I found two to be beneficial to the understanding Antigone. When first reading this play I found I could relate to Antigone and the way she stood up for what she believes in. Going against any King during this time, and facing death, to act upon what she believed to be right was pure admiration in my eyes. There was one part of the play, however, that I had a little trouble relating to Antigone. Before she is led to the tomb of her death, Creon and Antigone have one final conversation where Antigone is explaining her reasoning for the defiance of her king’s laws. She speaks as if speaking to her dead brother Polyneices saying, “Had I been a mother of children, and my husband been dead and rotten, I would not have taken this weary task upon me against the will of the city” (Sophocles 1587). I believed Antigone to have stood up for the rights of what was right by burying her brother with the sacred ash and water, as any blood relative would in my opinion do for another; however, if this were the case then why would she have not done for her children or her beloved husband what she fought so hard to do for her brother?
Antigone remains a static character at stage five throughout the story. Faced with people who do not agree with her decision, Antigone stands tall with what is morally right to her. Kohlberg’s Theory is not only universal but also helps readers understand a character morally. Choosing whether or not to bury her brother, Polyneices, or to follow the law given by Creon, does not derail her moral
One commentator has argued in "Antigone" that Antigone's "view of what is right is as twisted as that of Creon." Although I do not believe that either Antigone's or Creon's view is "twisted," I do believe that their fate is a direct result of their extreme pride and stubbornness. In "Antigone," Sophocles examines the conflict between the requirements of human and divine law that is centered on the burial of Polynices, Antigone's brother and Creon's nephew. On the issue of the burial, their views are opposed and they each believe that one is right and the other is wrong.
Not only that, but Antigone also tells Ismene to leave her, which demonstrates the distance she places between herself and those opposing her values.Throughout the majority of conflict, rather than erupt into a mess of words, Antigone conducts herself in a reserved fashion. This is prominent when Antigone is confronted by her main opposition, Creon. At several points the king reminds Antigone that death is the consequence of the broken law. Yet all Antigone does is verbally defend her actions, declaring icily that "there is no guilt in reverence for the dead" (Sophocles, 12). Antigone keeps her speech concise, though the words are carefully composed, displaying her collective mindset. This mindset is one of main things that allow her to keep firm in her beliefs. Even as Creon announces that Ismene and Antigone are to be killed for conspiring against his state, Antigone remains cold. In the face of death, she laughs, and when Ismene asks her why she does this, she explains "it's a joyless laughter" (Sophocles,
Even if Creon decided to have Antigone die, she knew she was going to be dying for herself and for what she felt was right to do. In lines 81-85 of Antigone, she says “I myself will bury him. It will be good to die, so doing. I shall lie by his side, loving him as he loved me. I shall be a criminal, but a religious one.” So when she says that, she knows that there will be consequences for her, but she claims she is a religious criminal because of the fact that she has followed her own religious beliefs and while doing so, she knows in the mortal life that she will be considered a criminal but because she followed the gods. In Creon’s perspective, it seems unjust to bury Polyneices because he is the king to the city of Thebes while when Polyneices was alive, he attacked the city so in that aspect I can understand why it seems bad to bury someone who did bad things…but also, he is someone of obvious importance to Antigone so it didn’t matter about how the city or Creon felt. Antigone told her sister Ismene to tell everyone about what she had done. In lines 98-100, Antigone says ““Oh, oh, no! Shout it out. I will hate you still worse for silence, should you not proclaim it to everyone.” Antigone wasn’t going to keep burying her brother silent, she demanded that Ismene told all of Thebes because maybe she wanted people to know that they have their own voice and they can do whatever they felt was right just as Antigone did. Antigone wanted to become someone remembered if she died for her rights. Another famous person that didn’t care about if he died or not was the infamous, Socrates. In Plato’s “Apology”, Socrates lived doing what he believed in and did not care about what others had to say about him or what his thoughts were. Socrates just wanted to do what he thought was right and wanted a change within society. Everyone in Athens believed that Socrates was