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Literary analysis of antigone
Antigone character analysis
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Antigone refusal of civil disobedience is show throughout history with numerous examples across various cultures. This story is certainly one of the earliest portrayals of civil disobedience in Greek culture which is show in the story of Antigone.
To relate to Antigone actions towards civil disobedience you need to know what civil disobedience mean. Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as political protest. An example of this was the Civil rights movement in 1960. This was a friendly protest against the war. This is one of the many acts of Civil disobedience we have. Another example is a strike which is an act of civil disobedience which has major consequence today such as jail time and
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She committed an act of civil disobedience by directly disobeys an law put forth by Creon, which ordered that her brother Polyneices is not be given a proper burial. Antigone sister Ismene said “lie in the fields, a sweet treasure for carrion birds to find as they search for food.” is what she thinks Antigone brother body shall be put. In Creon law he states that if anyone is to bury him it is punishable by death. Antigone believes strongly in family loyalty and believes that it’s her duty as a sister to bury Polynieces, She believes in this loyalty so much she boldly breaks the law knowing she will face the ultimate consequence for her actions. When caught in the act and is confronted by Creon, she tells him “This death of mine is of no importance; but if I had left my brother lying in death unburied, I should have suffered. Now I do not.” Saying that her life is not important, and she will not die fulfilled unless her brother’s body is not buried properly. Though Antigone struggled with the internal fight of following the law, she remained strong and kept her resistance against Creon. In doing so, she gave us the first example in history of civil disobedience, and an example of a woman facing political authority.
In the story of Antigone she is faced with the struggle between law and family allegiance. Her civil disobedience is not like any of the struggles that we face today, as an example, those who protested
Reading about Antigone, we perceive that liberty can only exist in the delicate galaxy where the willpower of an individual and the civilization they inhabit are in synchronization. In the centre of the inconsistencies that tangled Antigone, no such galaxy existed for her. Instead, the liberty of the good inhabitant becomes an non feasibility, and her disaster thus an unavoidable inescapability.
In Antigone, Antigone goes through Martin Luther King Jr.’s steps for a nonviolent campaign and it becomes violent and deadly. Antigone successfully goes through each step of the nonviolent campaign proving that Creon’s edict was unjust and unlawful. In the end, Creon truly finds out how senseless his edict was, when he was left alone as the King of Thebes without a wife, a son, or a daughter-in-law to be.
Civil disobedience is the purposeful violation of a law to show that it is unconstitutional or morally defective. In the plays, Antigone and Trifles, the female main characters commit an act of civil disobedience. The plays are respectively written by Sophocles and Susan Glaspell. Antigone, the main character of Antigone, protects her dead brother's honor as she disobeys the laws of King Creon. Mrs. Hale, the main character of Trifles prevents a neighbor from being charged with homicide as she breaks the law in front of two lawmen-The Sheriff and the County Attorney. Both characters' crimes are similar; however, their differences lie in how they handle their violations. Antigone boldly and proudly breaks the law, does not care if she is caught, and loudly admits to the crime in front of her fellow Theban citizens. On the other hand, Mrs. Hale performs her crime artfully and quietly, does not want to be caught, and has no intentions of exposing her crime. Both characters accomplish their tasks, but Mrs. Hale's actions are carried out more effectively. She saves her neighbor and herself from imprisonment.
King, being calm and using negotiation and logic, and Antigone being demanding and defiant. Antigone has some flaws about her, but she also has some good traits about her. One is being willing to do anything for her family. She represents a strong woman in a male dominant society as King represented a determined man in a society full of racists. She was willing to risk her life to give her brother a proper burial because that is what she believed in. In the same, King was willing to go to jail to stand up for what he believed in. However, if Antigone had followed King's steps of civil disobedience, there might not have been so much
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.
One might say Antigone’s principles against the cruel and powerful King Creon are similar to the principles of Martin Luther King, Jr., against the unjust laws of prejudice in America. Antigone is fighting the biased ruling of the corrupt and arrogant king Creon. MLK(Martin Luther King Jr.) is fighting for racial equality against generations of Americans. Antigone and MLK both defend their principles and actions against the battle of injustice. However, Antigone takes a more audacious approach , while Mr. King uses a more cogent path. Nevertheless, some might say Antigone’s actions were unruly and superfluous.
Although Antigone has a bad reputation with Creon, and possibly Ismene, for being insubordinate, she stays true to her values throughout the entire play by following the law of gods, not so that she could appease them, but because she admired its value of honor and respect to loved ones that have passed away. This devotion and determination to give her brother a proper burial shows the true essence of her being: that loyalty to family is in fact hold above all else.
It is Antigone's morals, which drive her to betray the laws of man, in order to honor the laws of God. Knowing and comprehending the consequences of defying Creon's ruling do not restrain the intensity of Antigone's self will, yet it feeds her hunger to achieve her principles. Losing sight of her future, Antigone allows her stubbornness to consume her life, taking with it, the prospect of marriage, motherhood and friendship. As the story continues, we find that Antigone focuses more on the need to establish her human ethics in spite of Creon, rather than proving the incorrectness of man defying god's laws.
By taking this bold step, Antigone shows the strength that an individual’s actions hold in a democracy. Creon, with his stubborn attitude, shows how a democracy where peoples’ voices are not heard can be dysfunctional, and that laws should be made by taking other people into confidence and not on an individual basis.
... by vultures because she had a strong belief in family honor and the will of the gods, one which as long as no harm is done should be upheld above other laws. There are two competing forms of justice throughout “Antigone” which inform the argument of whether or not Antigone should have followed Creon’s laws through the tension of the city state and the will of the people as well as the gods. Creon’s argument was flawed in his disregard for public opinion and that he overlooked Antigone’s valid argument because of her gender and his pride. Antigone argues that a mortal man cannot override the will of the gods, a valid argument of the times. It is and was crucially important to fully consider the best interest of the citizens that is being voiced at the time of decision making, if it is not taken into consideration the city, as seen in Thebes will fall into shambles.
Antigone was a selfless person with pride as a strong characteristic of her personality. She possibly had feelings of loneliness and anger from the way society has looked upon her family from their past. It took a strong willed person who has no fear of the repercussions to stand up to a king as she did. To make everything all the worst she stood up to a king who was her Uncle and she being a female back in those time, standing up and speaking out for herself was not heard of.
Humanity is often faced with ambivalence towards law; at once, we find it a necessity in attempting to deal with a world which is constantly in some type of chaotic turmoil, and also as a glaring flaw in our society, which can at times result in more chaos than was originally had. This conflict is no more obvious than in Sophocles’ Antigone. Antigone, the character, represents half of the struggle between what the law says is just and what we inherently deem to be morally upstanding – Creon represents the opposing side which views law and power as the ultimate dictator of life’s unraveling. Though Antigone is ultimately thwarted, she is on the side of justice rather than blindly following the law. Antigone’s empathy while breaking the law represents a pattern of sympathy for the civilly disobedient when they act in realm that seems to be reasonably just.
Antigone shows throughout the play that she is always thinking that she must do what is best for other’s and not just herself. She is willing to do what is needed to follow the law of the gods, even if it is breaking the state law.... ... middle of paper ... ...
In Antigone and Things Fall Apart, the readers are left with glaring lessons of injustice that, if left unchecked and unquestioned, would never change. Achebe and Sophocles offer characters who go against society’s norms and traditions for the good of humankind. Throughout history, leaders, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Susan B. Anthony, have helped to bring equitable balance to mankind. Individuals who represent opposing views mold and change the course of history; without such risk takers, life may never progress for the good of humanity.
In the drama, "Antigone", the story revolves around, a young, strong-willed and defiant female, Antigone. She disobeys the order imposed by a male, the King of Thebes, which stated that Polynices should be left, unburied and unmourned, and anyone who broke this decree would suffer death as a punishment. She reacted unselfishly, opposing all that represented power in her world, in order that her brother gain peace and harmony in his after life. She justifies her actions by stating that she was bound to comply with the undying laws of right and wrong in spite of any human laws. It is her belief that Creon's law is inferior to that of the Gods. Therefore by breaking the law she felt it was her obligation to bury her own flesh and blood, and to perform the necessary ceremonial burial rituals. She was accomplishing the doctrine her God Zeus had instilled in her. When Antigone was confronted with her "crime", she denied nothing. As a result she m...