Sophocles Use Of Dramatic Irony In Antigone

Sophocles' Way of Communication

“Old age and the passage of time teach all things” (Sophocles). Sophocles wrote things in his time that had a different meaning than what he actually said. All of his old ways of saying certain things with different meanings, teach people in our time irony. Throughout Sophocles’ Antigone, he writes using irony, which is a literary technique. Sophocles expresses irony through Antigone and Creon. Antigone is a very headstrong, sarcastic, bitter and careless character. Antigone believes in certain things and won’t do the opposite. Creon is also a very headstrong character. Along with being headstrong, Creon is very oblivious to things happening throughout the play. Sarcastically, Antigone tells Ismene “Go

As Creon is so oblivious to who the person could be, he is missing that it could be someone as close to him as Antigone. Also, Creon doesn’t think anyone but a man would go against him. Creon realizes his oblivious thinking when he is told that Antigone is the one that messed with Polyneices body. This is dramatic irony, because the audience knows that Antigone is the one that went against Creon’s ways, even when Creon, along with many others, refer to the person as “the man”. Disregarding the outcome of what may come from her actions, Antigone avoids Creon’s rules and demands for not burying Polyneices. Antigone affectionately chooses to give her brother a burial instead of him being left to rot where he died. Antigone realizes by disregarding Creon’s rules, her actions will result in her death. Carelessly, Antigone decides she will risk her life to be able to give her brother a burial, which is situational irony. This is situational irony, because her small act of love to her brother, is leading her to her