Antigone Fear Of Creon

Throughout the course of our lives, there are many people we meet and befriend, and many loyalties and obligations we come to possess. We have religious obligations, governmental obligations, familial obligations, and many more. One of the hardest things to do in life is to prioritize our loyalties and determine who or what is most important to us. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, Ismene’s internal conflict between her loyalty to the government and her loyalty to the gods and her family illustrates the importance of following intuition over the rules of man.
When Antigone asks Ismene to help her bury their brother Polyneices, Ismene refuses out of her fear of Creon. She states, “We are women,” and that, as a consequence, they do not “participate

in the affairs of men.” In reality, Ismene did want to help Antigone, but also did not want to break Creon’s law for fear of dying herself.

The two conflicting fears that plagued Ismene were the desire to help Antigone and follow the laws of the gods and the fear of Creon and her obligation to follow the government’s laws. On one hand, Antigone was following the ancient ways out of respect for the gods and her brother. Ismene did want to help Antigone because this was obviously the righteous path. On the other hand, Creon threatened that anyone who attempted to bury Polyneices would be stoned to death. The excuses that Ismene uses to justify her actions clearly depict her internal conflict. The internal conflict that Ismene faces outlines the basic theme and conflict of the work as a whole. Should one trust one’s own intuition or follow the rules of society? In Greek culture, this conflict is depicted as the will of the gods versus the will of man. In a Greek sense, Creon is the tragic hero because he realized too late that he should have respected the laws of the gods over any mortal feud. In Ismene’s internal conflict, she chose the wrong course of action because just

like Creon, she followed the will of man over the will of the gods. The unhappy ending given to Creon, whom Ismene sided with, shows the error of their ways and depicts Sophocles’ warning and message of this work; do not defy the gods or bypass their rules. Another way Ismene’s internal conflict embodies a theme and meaning of the play is through the struggle between intuition versus society. Sophocles is not only positing that religion that religion trumps government, but also that instinct and intuition will more often than not lead you in the right direction.
The consequences of Ismene’s actions and her emotional state at the end of the play also highlight how Ismene’s internal conflict depicts the meaning of the play.

When Creon threatens to execute Antigone, Ismene tells Creon that she wants to die with her sister. This shows that Ismene felt genuinely remorseful about her previous cowardice and refusal to help Antigone bury their brother. However, Antigone refuses her sister’s company and when Antigone dies, Ismene is left alone with her guilt. Sophocles is using the result of Ismene’s internal conflict to illustrate what happens when one does not do what they believe is right. Ismene did not follow her intuition or adhere to the will of the gods, so she was punished by a lifetime of

guilt.
Sometimes conflicting loyalties and desires can make it hard for people to determine what the right path is. However, as seen with Ismene’s internal conflict, it is better to trust one’s instinct and intuition more than the laws of society to make sure one is following the right course of action. Ismene’s wrong choice of following Creon over helping Antigone embodies the idea that it is better to trust one’s gut rather than to blindly follow the rules.