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What happened in Antigone
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Character Analysis Of Antigone In The Play Antigone
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Ismene just keeps on hating and is speaking strangely. Antigone wants Ismene to listen but she is not doing that. Creon is not strong enough and Oedipus died. Antigon thinks terrible things will happen. Creon will do nothing about it. Ismene is afraid something will happen to Ismene. Antigone knows what to to dobut will not do that at all. Antigone asked no one come and see her but they did it and see her but they did it anyway. Antigone has a excuse for everything. No one must hear of this you mus promise to keep it a secret from everyone. They bury the brother that she loved and cared for deeply in life. Antigone you need not be you have yourself to consider after all. You are so feiry you should be cold with fear and also do what you must
do. But you shall not. Antigone has strenght and the courage. The long blade of the sun lying east.
In the play Antigone by Sophocles, Ismene and the Chorus can be seen as the well meaning but silent people who don't take action in the story. Ismene is initially afraid of the punishment she could face if she is caught and she claims that she cannot disobey King Creon because “Women? Defying Creon? It’s not a womans place. We are weak where they are strong (10).” In this conversation Ismene states that women don’t have the right or power to defy the law or men, and women “must do what we [they] are told (10)” which is why she refuses to help Antigone. Ismene does not stand against authority to do what is morally right, which leads Antigone to bury her brother alone and doesn’t allow Ismene to take part in the punishment since Ismene wasn’t brave enough and doesn’t deserve the same fate as Antigone. Like Ismene, the Chorus is fearful of King Creon’s punishment and they do not speak against him because they respect him. The Chorus also sees Antigone as rash and disrespectful towards the king which is why they mostly side with the king. However, it can be seen that the Chorus sides with Antigone in part of the play because they see King Creon’s punish...
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.
The character must decide whether or not to allow the employee’s cousin to work in their restaurant. The cousin must provide for his family through the cold winter or they will become homeless. The character also knows that the law requires him to check the citizenship of all employees and forbids him to hire anyone who is in the country illegally.
At the beginning of the play, Antigone brought Ismene outside the city gates at night for a top secret meeting. Antigone wanted to bury her brother Polyneices' body because even though he died in dishonor he was her brother. Ismene refused to disobey the king which is also their Uncle Creon, and she failed to talk Antigone out of doing the act herself. "Consider, sister, how our father died,/hated and infamous; how he brought to light/his own offenses..Then, mother...did shame/violently on her life, with twisted cords. Third, our two brothers, on a single day...Each killed the other, hand against brother's hand." (Antigone, Lines 59-65) In this quote, Antigone justified her reasons for going against the law describing how her parents went through so much, how their father was banished and due to this their mother had committed suicide because her reputation went down to the drain, even after all that their two brothers went into battle against one another and died in the process. Ismene was sympathetic, but still she was noble and afraid of Creon so she did not offer her help to Antigone.
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.
Although both sisters have lost their brothers, Antigone is the only one who will go against her king to do what she knows is right. When Antigone asks her sister if she will help her bury their brother Polyneices, Ismene responds with, “We are only women; we cannot fight with men, Antigone! The law is strong; we must give into the law…” (Ismene 774). Naturally, Ismene should be afraid for herself, as well for the safety of her sister because what Antigone is asking of her will mostly likely cause them both to be killed. However, she should be braver like Antigone, and realize that she must do what is morally right for their family, and give her brother the proper burial that he deserves. Afterward, when Antigone has already been captured, Ismene then comes forth to try and share the punishment that has been given to Antigone, but Antigone tells King Creon that she has done nothing. In addition, when Creon asks Ismene if she had anything to do with the crime, and Antigone denies it, Ismene then replies, “But now I know what you meant; and I am here to join you, to take my share of punishment” (Ismene 785). Although now Ismene feels like she needs to stand up to the King and do what is right for her
Antigone has defied the king's edict. However, the edict says that her brother, Polynices, cannot be given a proper burial. The reason given for this is that Polynices is a traitor. Antigone's uncle, Creon, the king, makes this edict after many events happen. Antigone says herself that she has experienced "no private shame, no public disgrace, nothing" that cannot be experienced (Antigone, p. 658).
She reminds Antigone that they are the only family members left and pleads with her not to commit such a crime, but Antigone refuses to accept the logic in her sister’s argument and will not be swayed, even though the idea of her death clearly upsets her sister. Ismene later has a change of heart and wishes to die alongside her sister in order to honor the dead as well, she even confesses to Creon, but Antigone rejects her idea of being a martyr, saying that her own death “will suffice” (Sophocles 136). Ismene then imagines life without her sister. The idea of losing the only kin she has left on Earth terrifies Ismene. She pleads to Antigone, “what life is dear to me bereft of you?” (Sophocles 136). Ismene would rather die than live without Antigone. In deciding to give her life for her brother, Antigone neglects her sister, and acts selfishly. She therefore should not have signed herself over to death as it has severely negative effects on her only living
"You ought to realize we are only women, not meant in nature to fight against men, and that we are ruled, by those who are stronger, to obedience in this and even more painful matters." In the opening of the play, Antigone and Ismene meet in the night. Antigone laments Creon's decree that whoever tries to bury Polyneices or mourn for him must be stoned to death. Although Ismene declares that the sisters lack any power in the situation, Antigone insists that she will bury Polyneices, and asks for Ismene's help. Ismene states that though she loves Polyneices, she must abide by the king's decree. Ismene, unlike Antigone, fears death. She believes that there is nothing that she can do. She reminds Antigone that they are on...
Thebes was invaded by Oedipus’ son, Polynices, and his followers. As Oedipus predicted in the previous play, Polynices and his brother, Eteocles, killed each other during battle. Creon, the king of Thebes, ruled that Eteocles should have a proper burial with honors and Polynices, the invader, be left unburied to rot.
In Sophocles’ Antigone, Antigone saw her action of burying her brother as a just one. It may not have been just in the eyes of Creon and the people of Thebes, but she was not concerned with the laws that mortals had made. Antigone saw the divine laws of the gods to be much more important than those of mortals. She felt that if she died while upholding the laws of the gods, that her afterlife would be better than if she had not. Our lives on this earth are so short, that to see a good afterlife over the horizon will make people go against the laws of humans.
The Tragedy of Antigone is not called Creon because Antigone is more important than Creon, she is more controversial, and she is more admirable. Antigone played a bigger role than Creon in that she defied the law and started the whole play’s chain of events, eventually leading to nearly everyone’s death.
Antigone was not about to simply obey Creon’s absurd decree. She felt that her personal responsibility was to the gods and her family rather than the king. She then asked Ismene, her sister, to assist her with the burial, but was denied any help. Ismene justified her decision by telling Antigone that they were already punished and that there was no need to make matters worse for the two of them by defying Creon’s law.
When Antigone comes to her sister for assistance in burying their brother’s body, Ismene refuses. While this may be seen as an example of her cowardly, docile nature, such as how the line “You ought to realize we are only women” (61) is often interpreted, it shows that Ismene was aware of where she stood in Theban society. It is common knowledge that Ancient Greece was a patriarchy, with women holding little to no political power. Even beyond the fact that she and Antigone are women living in a male-dominated society, Ismene recognizes how low their family has fallen, with herself and Antigone being the children of a kin-slayer and his wife. A reasonable person in Ismene’s situation would most likely have acted in a similar manner, as it would be far too great of a risk to defy Creon. Ismene was simply aware that no one would come to the aid of Oedipus’s daughters when they faced “the edict of death”
Antigone’s own excessive pride drives her to her defeat. Her arrogance and strive for self-importance blinds her to the consequences of her actions. Ismene, Antigone’s sister, rejects to take part in the crime leaving Antigone all on her own. Ismeme declares “why rush to extremes? Its madness, madness” (Sophocles 80). Ismene fails to comprehend the logic behind her siste...