Antigone Character Analysis Essay

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Recommended: Kohlberg's theory of moral development and its criticisms

Antigone, The Brave Antigone, a story written by Sophocles, is about a young woman, Antigone, choosing whether she will not bury her brother, Polyneices, to not break the law or disobey Creon’s law and bury him; however choosing to bury her brother does not derail her moral development. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development is three levels consisting of two stages in each. Kohlberg’s Theory explains how a human’s mind morally develops. Level one is typically common in younger children. The two stages in level one are pre-conventional stages. Stage one is obedience and punishment driven; one will judge an action by the consequences given. Stage two is out of self interest. Level two is mostly common in teenagers. The stages in this level …show more content…

She is stage five since she is “able to see more opinions and values of people” (“Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development” 1). She is able to notice her opinions and opinions of people around her to decide what she believes is right. Antigone is a static character throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, we can tell that Antigone starts off at stage five of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development; as stated in the last paragraph. Throughout the story, Antigone faces people who disagree with her decision. In the story, Antigone is caught by Creon’s workers. Antigone is confronted by Creon about breaking the law he created. Creon states “He would: for you honor a traitor as much as him” Antigone replies “His own brother, traitor or not, and equal in blood” C “He made war on his country. Eteocles defended it” A “Nevertheless, there are honors due to all the dead” ( 1.126-129). At this part, Antigone is at stage five because she defends herself with what she believes is morally right and decides for herself what should and shouldn’t be a law. This makes Antigone a static character since she has not changed morally throughout the story. She remains the same as to what she believes in what is right and doesn’t have any doubt because of other

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