Antigone

In Sophocles play, Antigone, the reader explores many aspects of a Greek tragedy. In this play, a complex family follows a series of mishaps after hearing from a “seer.” After the family thinks they have overcome the worst, they then endure two brothers fighting over both of their rightful places on the throne. In the end, both of them die, but one, Eteocles, was buried a king, and the other, Polynices was left to be untouched a “traitor.” Their sister, Antigone, feels it is her rightful to disobey her uncle, Creon, who sets a decree that declares Policies was to be left unburied. She called this “the doom reserved for enemies marches on the ones we love the most” (Fagles 1984, 59).
From the very beginning of the play, the audience can see that Antigone is loyal to her family. “He’s to be left unwept, unburied, a lovely treasure for birds that scan the field and feast to their heart’s content” (Fagles 1984, 60). Polynices was to be left untouched, which could have resulted in a “divine punishment” by the gods in which he would have been sent to hell dimension. Because of her devotion to her brother, Antigone risked her life in order to save him from this eternal damnation. Her sister, Ismene, even notes that she is “truly dear to the ones who love you” (Fagles 1984, 64). Throughout the entire play, Antigone identifies strongly as being apart of a family and because she is a member, she felt as though it was her family duty to take care of them in the after life. When talking about her own mother’s death by hand, she said, “But if I had allowed my own mother’s son to rot, an unburied corpse – that would have been an agony!” (Fagle 1984, 82). Even when Antigone was accepting her punishment from Creon, she still had...

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...n order to bury her brother, however, this act got out to the rest of the country because Polynices’ body was left out in the open. So, to the reader, it seemed as though the family drama of Creon was left for the citizen’s to see and judge. In order to rule a successful country, there needs to not be a focus on the inner happenings of the family, but there does need to be a concentration on the country as a whole.
So, in conclusion, both sides clearly have valid points whether they be for the right reasons or not, it is all up to the interpretation of the reader. Antigone was right because it is her brother, and he died her brother. Because of this, he deserves a proper burial. On the other hand, Creon was also right because he was the new king of Thebes, and he needed to assert his authority with the people or else he would have been seen as a weak king.