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What conflicts do we see in the interactions of antigone and creon
Character comparison essay antigone and creon
Character comparison essay antigone and creon
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Choosing to follow authority and the law is admirable and important in order to have a stable society; however, prioritizing family over all is imbedded in humanity. Family is part of one’s identity and greatly affects one's morals and opinions. If a person solely lives a rigid life, following authority over family, then compassion and the ability to be flexible is lost. Sophocles poses if authority or family is superior through the characters Antigone and Creon as their actions and opinions drastically contrast. Creon puts more importance on his rule and the law, while Antigone emphasizes the devotion to her bloodline and the gods. Antigone, although depicting that authority and the king’s rule is important, puts more importance …show more content…
Sophocles depicts that family is superior to authority by showing how bloodline is a sole part of one's identity, that listening to one's heart over one's mind in making a decision is preferable—especially when it comes to family—and how relationship are more important than rules. In Greek society following the king's rule and laws put forth was commenced and even expected however adhering to one's family and most importantly the gods is a compulsory act. By contrasting the notions of the two sisters- Antigone and Ismene- as both give importance to family- Antigone follows her dedication to her bloodline, while Ismene favors obeying authority. Antigone does not falter with her actions even when Ismene firmly argues against her stating: “Bury him! You have just said the new law forbids it.” Antigone: “He is my brother. And he is your brother, too.” (PAGE NUMBER) Antigone is determined to honor her family member although he was considered a traitor to Thebes- overlooking the King and the laws set forth. She outshines her sister, as she remains unyielding even …show more content…
Family is a symbol of heart and in life, as seen by Creon, deciding to value one's authoritative power over family ties and morals leads to devastation and ultimate loss of what matters the most. In daily life choosing to follow intellect versus compassion in one's judgement is often preferred- especially when it comes to remaining powerful and respected as a king. Creon is approached by his son, Haimon- who is one to follow his heart- and in response to his pleads to not kill Antigone Creon answers: “if I permit my own family to rebel, how shall I earn the world’s obedience?” (PAGE NUMBER) Acting with no sympathy and compassion towards his son and niece- Antigone- he ends up losing both. When power is valued over the heart then usually loss follows because no longer does the person with authority make decisions based on morals and becomes rigid- even heartless. In the case of Creon, and many other people, being rational and he believes that if he listens to his heart than he will be looked at as a weak ruler. As Creon’s fate is revealed and there is a threat for how his actions will impact Thebes in the future, out of selfish doubt he chooses to change his mind and “deny the heart!” in order to “not fight with destiny” (PG NUMBER). Creon appears to have changed his stubborn mind out of sympathy to his family, but truly, it is for his reputation and the
In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the differences in Creon’s and Antigone’s passions and responsibilities helped illustrate both characters central flaws. By doing so, the play was also able to imply that in order to achieve a sense of inner peace and political stability; one has to be able to balance the two powers equally. Antigone and Creon are both very determined, zealous characters who were unable to achieve the stability because they were both unwilling to compromise. Often times, personal events or emotions can cause people to overlook moral or civil laws.
Antigone is the niece of a king and goes against her uncle’s command when he says that Polyneices isn’t allowed to have a soldier’s burial and his body must be left in the desert to rot. Antigone decides to bury him anyway because she values god’s law of burial over her uncle’s rule. Antigone tells her sister “Ismene, I am going to bury him. Will you come?... He is my brother. And he is your brother, too… Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way” (Sophocles 694). Antigone values her brother over her uncle & she believes in god’s law over Creon’s decision. King values equality and common law. He dictates “It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the
Creon's insecurity blinds his ability to direct order in his country properly. After Antigone buried Polyneices Creon felt he needed to take a strong stand or people would think he would always be lenient toward criminals. However, to achieve this Creon felt he needed to take drastic action against Antigone. He once even said to his son, Haimon, who was about to marry Antigone, "The woman dies. I suppose she'll plead family ties. Well, let her. If I permit my own family to rebel, how shall I earn the world's obedience?" (19) This quote shows that Creon feels that to prove himself to the country he needs to earn the "world's obedience".
Sophocles play titled Antigone, embellishes the opposing conflicts between Antigone who stands for the values of family, and Creon who stands for the values of state. Sophocles explores the depths of Antigone’s morality and the duty based on consequence throughout the play, as well as the practical consequences of Creon who is passionate and close-minded. Although Antigone’s moral decisions appear to be more logical and favorable than Creon’s, a personal argument would be that both characters’ decisions in society can be equally justified.
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 the awe-inspiring play of Antigone, Sophocles introduces two remarkable characters, Antigone and Creon. A conflict between these two obstinate characters leads to fatal consequences for themselves and their kindred. The firm stances of Creon and Antigone stem from two great imperatives: his loyalty to the state and her dedication to her family, her religion but most of all her conscience. The identity of the tragic hero of this play is still heavily debated. This tragedy could have been prevented if it had not been for Creon's pitiful mistakes.
“Being sister and brother means being there for each other” (thefreshquotes.com). Siblings are one’s most important relative because they’re basically an irreplaceable friend that will love and care for one another forever. People’s relationship with their siblings is emotionally powerful and critically important for their everyday life. Antigone believes that her siblings are her most significant relatives because they can’t be replaced, unlike a husband or children, because her parents are deceased; she will do anything for them, even go against the rules and put her own life in danger. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the character Antigone can be seen as immoral because of her defying Creon’s laws, however, she receives sympathy for the injustices that were done to her brother, Polyneices, of him not being provided with a proper burial.
In the struggle between Creon and Antigone, Sophocles' audience would have recognized a genuine conflict of duties and values. From the Greek point of view, both Creon's and Antigone's positions are flawed, because both oversimplify ethical life by recognizing only one kind of good or duty. By oversimplifying, each ignores the fact that a conflict exists at all, or that deliberation is necessary. Moreover, both Creon and Antigone display the dangerous flaw of pride in the way they justify and carry out their decisions. Antigone admits right from the beginning that she wants to carry out the burial because the action is glorious. Antigone has a savage spirit; she has spent most of her life burying her family members.
Antigone is loyal to her family readers can see that when she says “ Their it is, and now you can prove what you are: A true sister , or a traitor to your family” ( PR. 26-27). This quote shows that Antigone is loyal to her family because she wants her sister to be a true sister like her because she is going the break the law for her brother. Antigone is also seen as loyal to the gods when she says “ That final justice, that rules the world below makes no such laws” ( 2. 57-58). Antigone is seen as loyal because she says the final justice of her being killed doesn’t matter because she did something good for the gods, so they will be loyal back to her. In the greek tragedy Antigone, Antigone has the tragic flaw of loyalty to her family and to the gods, which leads to her
Both of these two male characters are not title roles. They both fall prey to the actions of a woman, one whom they both originally thought they had complete control over. Antigone's martyrdom and conflict with the State brings Creon's destruction and Medea's double murder and infanticide brings his destruction. However, how much is this brought about through their own weakness and how much can we attribute this to a cruel fate? The issue is essentially whether a stronger person than Jason or Antigone could have avoided the destruction, and were they crushed by their own internal weakness ('hamartia'). An important to clarify is that we are not judging their personality. A despot can be a strong character and a man of high morals can be a weak character. The deciding factor is how rigidly they cling to their ideals and their ability to listen to others sensibly.
In conclusion, the gods and the love of her family rule Antigone’s life. Creon’s life is ruled by what he thinks is good for his country and pride. Creon did not change his mind to free Antigone until a prophet told him he would suffer horribly for his actions. However, because Creon was so stubborn for so long and did not take heed to anyone’s advice sooner, he ultimately suffers in the end, as does everyone else in the play. This was all due to a man’s lack of good judgment, his selfish pride and his stubbornness.
... for his mistakes in the denouement. Devastated by Antigone’s death, Haimon ends up committing suicide. Creon then realizes how wrong he was, however it is too late. This is not the only karma that Creon receives though. Creon’s beloved wife, Eurydice, also met her death when she was told the fate of her son. Creon finally realizes how blinded he was, and how he was continuously making foolish decisions. Two losses in one day- Creon is filled with great remorse and regret. Like the ‘Sun King’, all the sunlight in Creon’s life has faded. The world no longer revolves around Creon, as all his valued things in life have vanished. If you attain power, use it wisely. Otherwise you will end up heartbroken and repentant, just like Creon.
...stem, the conflict between the two has a new expression. The family is the basic units of the state, but both also have a deep-rooted contradictions, this is because in some cases the national interest had to destroy the original family structure. In "Antigone," the text, family ethics is Antigone to bury her brother's moral strength and legitimacy based on this behavior is a natural reason, at the same time according to the sovereign Creon's "sovereign command ", this behavior is illegal. Then we discuss who is right has lost its meaning, because there is no final winner in this tragedy. At the end, Antigone killed herself; Creon preservation of the city-state's authority has had to face the reality of its own disintegration of the family became a loner. How to find a balance in this country and the family system, this is worth that people should be thinking about.
“...never let some woman triumph over us. Better to fall from power, if fall we must, at the hands of a man —never be rated inferior to a woman, never.” This quote spoken by Creon, in Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Antigone, adequately represents the opinion on women during the time in which Antigone would have been alive. Women were viewed as lower than men and were expected to be docile and passive. They were expected to never object to a man’s words, no matter if those words were to be unfair or unjust. Despite this, Antigone refuses to follow one of the most fundamental teachings of her culture by burying her brother even though the king, Creon, explicitly forbids the action, since her brother is a traitor. She rebelliously does what she feels is right, which cannot be said for her sister, Ismene. Ismene represents what a woman of her time was viewed as: weak and submissive to men’s
Antigone respects her blood relations, and she is driven by this to oppose the laws created by Kreon. Even though she recognizes the sin in which Oidipous bequeaths upon his kin, she refuses to abandon her brother is determined to "not be caught betraying him" (Sophocles, 58). Kreon's man made laws cannot "keep [her] from [her] own," and in this she accepts the blood line of her doomed oikos. Furthermore, Antigone justifies herself by honoring her brother above other relationships that she is capable of producing. Antigone states that she "would never have assumed this burden...if it had been [her] children or [her] husband who had died...no more brothers could ever be born- This was the law by which [she] honored [Polyneikes] above all others" (966-77). Using this reasoning, the death of Antigone’s brother means extinction of the blood line and proper burial is still needed, even if it the traitor was Eteokles. Antigone's breach of nomos is a necessary one, for the dead cannot be revived and must be honored, especially those that en...