Examples Of Figurative Language In Antigone

When reading fiction, one expects to be drawn in, to be able to create this fantasy world and the entirety of its operations within one’s own imagination. To take this figurative journey, authors must use figurative language, specifically metaphors and similes. When authors relate confusing messages to something the readers can comprehend, it guides the readers to make better sense of the work. In Antigone, Sophocles leaned on figurative language to assist in the creation of the drama. Specifically in Ode 1, he used similes and metaphors to both help the reader understand what is being said in the ode, and also relate it to other themes throughout the play.

The first example of figurative language is in the second stanza. In this stanza, Sophocles

talks about the superiority of man, especially over nature. To explain this, he used the metaphor, “the net of his mind” (Ode 1, line 9). This metaphor relates man trapping an animal to triumphing with superior intelligence. Sophocles touches a similar theme in the play with Creon having superiority over his citizens. He tried to control his people by demanding them not to bury Polyneices, attempting to take authority from the gods by controlling the fate of the deceased. (Scene 1, lines 39 - 42).
In stanza three, Sophocles introduces the reader to the ingenuity of man with the simile, “thought as rapid as air” (Ode 1, line 13). Comparing man’s thought to the wind describes how fast man’s mind processes thoughts, makes sense of things, and solves problems. In the play, Sophocles uses Antigone as another metaphor for this same theme. Since Creon is having Polyneices’s body guarded, Antigone had to find a discreet way to give rest to her brother’s ghost rest. She covered his body in dust to accomplish this (Scene 1, lines 84 - 87), reinforcing the intelligence of man, or in this case, woman.
Again in stanza three, Sophocles pointed out man’s intellect by writing, “He has made himself secure-from [every wind] but one” (Ode 1, line 17). He then proceeded to state the mortality of man by using the metaphor, “In the late wind of death, he cannot stand” (Ode 1, line 18). In this metaphor, Sophocles is relating the inevitability of death to the metaphor of being secure against the winds. While man can have power, great power at that, man will not live forever and cannot escape death. Sophocles approaches this theme in the play by having Creon obtain power when he became king; then he exerts that power by trying to control Polyneices’s fate (Scene 1, lines 39-42). However, Creon can never have enough power to escape death, because he is, and forever will be, mortal.
As seen throughout this drama, metaphors and similes are very important to both the author and reader. They can help summarize previous themes and introduce new ones. They can also relate and compare ideas that are difficult to explain. Through figurative language, Sophocles was able to express how he believed man to be superior and intelligent, but how even the greatest must come to an end, as man is mortal.