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How greek mythology influences modern day
Ancient Greek influence on modern mythology
How greek mythology influences modern day
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The Deaths of Antigone and Creon
Antigone and Creon are the main characters of the play Antigone written by Sophocles.
Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus, who was a major figure of ancient Greek myth.
Oedipus accidentally killed his father and married his mother. Because of that act, Oedipus ended up cursing his family and died a horrible death. After his death, his sons inherited his kingdom and in a power struggle ended up killing each other. One of the sons, Polynices attacked the city to try and claim power from his brother. But since both of the brothers died and the city was not taken Polynices was labeled as a traitor whereas the other brother who died defending the city was celebrated as a hero. Creon decreed at the beginning of the play Antigone that no one was to bury the body of traitorous Polynices. Antigone felt that it was here responsibility to bury the body because he was still a member of her family. This led to a huge argument with Creon who felt he shouldn’t be crossed because he was the leader of the state. Eventually both Creon and Antigone are destroyed by the gods (and by each other) through their own actions.
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 Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters' attitudes change from close-minded to open-minded. It is their close-minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultimately to a series of deaths. In the beginning Antigone is a close minded character who later becomes open minded. After the death of her brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. He decides that Eteocles will receive a funeral with military honors because he fought for his country. However, Polyneices, who broke his exile to " spill the blood of his father and sell his own people into slavery", will have no burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon's unjust actions and says, " Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." She vows to bury her brother so that his soul may gain the peace of the underworld. Antigone is torn between the law placed against burying her brother and her own thoughts of doing what she feels should be done for her family. Her intent is simply to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial so that she will follow "the laws of the gods." Antigone knows that she is in danger of being killed for her actions and she says, "I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me." Her own laws, or morals, drive her to break Creon's law placed against Polyneices burial. Even after she realizes that she will have to bury Polyneices without the help of her sister, Ismene, she says: Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of deaths-death without honor. Here Ismene is trying to reason with Antigone by saying that she cannot disobey the law because of the consequences. Antigone is close-minded when she immediately tells her to go away and refuses to listen to her. Later in the play, Antigone is sorrowful for her actions and the consequences yet she is not regretful for her crime. She says her crime is just, yet she does regret being forced to commit it.
Antigone had good reasons for her actions. She did obey the rules of her gods, which were that any dead body must be given a proper burial, with libatations. This would prevent the soul from being lost between worlds forever, along with wine as an offering to the gods (page 518- side note). Nor could Antigone let Creon's edicts go against her morals (lines 392-394). She chooses to share her love, not her hate (line 443). She couldn't bare to see one family member be chosen over the other because of what a king had decided was right, which she contravened. Why condemn somebody who stood up for what they believed in and is now dead for it anyway? Bringing homage to the family was very important to Antigone (line 422-423).
The crux of the play, the causal factor to all the following events is how the new King Creon deals with the dead traitor Polynices, brother of Antigone. The decree not to bury the corpse must be considered from the viewpoint of a 5th Century Athenian, watching this play. The Antigone was written during a time of great strife for the city of Athens and they were in the middle of their conflict with the Spartans. At a time such as this , concern for the city was foremost in a citizen's mind. Creon's decree not to bury him at this stage then is right. Essentially not burying a body, any body, is an offence to the gods, and the persons spirit will not be able to go down to the underworld and cross the River Styx and Archeron. However, the Greeks believed that for some the sentence was deserved. The sentence of non-burial is appropriate in this case, as the Greeks believed that "those convicted of sa...
Antigone, as a character, is extremely strong-willed and loyal to her faith. Creon is similarly loyal, but rather to his homeland, the city of Thebes, instead of the gods. Both characters are dedicated to a fault, a certain stubbornness that effectively blinds them from the repercussions of their actions. Preceding the story, Antigone has been left to deal with the burden of her parents’ and both her brothers’ deaths. Merely a young child, intense grief is to be expected; however, Antigone’s emotional state is portrayed as frivolous when it leads her to directly disobey Creon’s orders. She buries her brother Polynices because of her obedience to family and to the gods, claiming to follow “the gods’ unfailing, unwritten laws” (Sophocles 456-457). CONTINUE
Antigone’s firm belief that her brother Polyneices should have a proper burial is established by her conviction in that the law of the gods is above all else. This law proclaims that all men be mourned and honored by family and friends through means of a suitable burial. Antigone’s need to put honor upon Polyneices’ soul is so grand that she ignores the advice of everyone around her, including her sister Ismene, who tries to pull her away from performing this criminal act because it will disobey the law set by King Creon, and lead to her demise. However, Antigone does not care about the repercussions because even though “[s...
Antigone is determined to bury her brother because of her loyalty to her family and to the gods. She believes that no mortal, such as Creon, has the right to keep her from her own. Even if Antigone must die during the burial, she will not disgrace the laws of the gods. She believes that she has to please the dead much longer than she has to please the living.
Having already been through public disgrace, when her own father, Oedipus found out that he was to fulfill a prophecy; he would kill his father and marry his mother, and this caused Antigone to be full of resentment toward her city. Both of her brothers die in a battle and, Creon, the king of Thebes forbids the burial of one of her brothers, Polynices. This must have driven Antigone to follow her moral law. Considering the love she had for her family as well as her God, she felt that you react upon morals not upon the laws of man. That morale law was to honor her brother and give him the respectful and proper burial that he deserved just as her other brother was given. The love she had for her family was the only thing she had left to honor. Ismene, Antigone’s sister was more fearful of the king’s law then the way her heart was leading her. Her values were slightly distorted.
In the play Creon goes against the Gods by making it illegal to bury Polyneices, Antigone’s brother because he is deemed a traitor. The burying of a dead body is seen as a necessity by all of Greece as it is an unspoken law of the Gods. Antigone goes to bury her brother so his afterlife will be better. She does it in spite of the law that Creon has made. “It is the dead, not the living, who make the longest demands” (192) She tries to explain to her sister, Ismene, that they must bury Polyneices, but even that close relationship has trouble because of the law. Ismene is unwilling to suffer the consequences of the law, to save her brother’s soul “Forgive me but I am helpless: I must yield to those in authority” (192) Even the two sisters who have just lost both of their brothers have different views on the matter. One will not stray from the law and what is deemed right by their king, while the other will accept any punishment, even death just to do what she believes is right.
Unlike the king that dies with his image and fame, a self sacrificing individual dies with the start of their legacy. After the death of King Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynices fought each other for the crown. Unfortunately, they both were killed by each other leaving Creon the king of Thebes. Creon’s law states that no one shall bury a traitor. Because Antigone, sister of Polyneices, broke Creon's law of a traitor, she was punished. In the play, "Antigone" by Sophobles, Creon's decisions are the reason for his destruction. Creon is the tragic hero of this play because he passes from happiness to misery, recognizes clearly, but too late the error of his ways, and responds with dignity and nobility once he has recognize his error.
In doing In ancient Greece, “Remembrance of the dead was a very important civic and religious duty” (Burial) and considered to “elevate[d] to the concept of housia (holiness) to one 's relationship with the gods” (Burial). The Greeks insisted that “the dead must continually be remembered and respected in order for their souls to continue to exist in the afterlife” (Burial). In Antigone’s eyes the gods make the law when it comes to death, not a mortal king. She fights with all her might for what she believes in, even going as far as committing suicide and this ultimately makes her a martyr. In Kathryn Walker’s article, she states, “…that human behavior is not thoroughly governed by the pursuit of what is beneficial, [it] requires a revision of ethics” (Walker 204) which can be found to be true in Antigone when she risks her life for her brother, her beliefs, and how Antigone chooses to die.
At the beginning of the play, Antigone is upset about a decree Creon, the king, made (190). The decree states that her brother, Polyneices, was not allowed to be buried, because Creon believes that Polyneices was a “traitor who made war on his country” (211). Antigone has a very strong love for her brother and the gods, therefore she believes Polyneices deserves a proper burial according to the laws of the gods (192). Antigone says to Ismene that she [Antigone] will go against Creon’s decree-which states that if anyone buries Polyneices they will be killed (190). Antigone is extremely angry with Creon for creating the decree, to the point where she decides to make a big deal about the burial, instead of lying low and doing it in secret (192). Antigone even tells Ismene to “Tell everyone!” that she [Antigone] buried Polyneices when everyone finds out, and not keep it a secret-although Ismene doesn’t listen (193). Antigone’s decision not to do the bur...
This is further emphasized when he explains that the Native Taino people “were very firmly convinced that [he], with [his] ships and men, came from the heavens” and that “[t]his belief [was] not the result of ignorance, for [the Native Taino people], on the contrary, [are] of a very acute intelligence…” (Columbus). In comparison to Columbus’ manner of speaking, the native Americans accentuate respect and reach out for equality rather than superiority. While Columbus only believed in appealing to his own people, the native Americans in the Alcatraz Proclamation attempt to appease every single party involved. This is shown when they state that “[they would] give the inhabitants… a portion of [the] land…” (Alcatraz Proclamation), pay money that is of greater value in comparison to other purchases of islands, and even “guide the inhabitants in the proper way of living” (Alcatraz Proclamation). The stark difference in how each convey the other comes from the notion of superiority and inferiority. Columbus believed he was of greater status than the Native Taino people, therefore his behavior towards them and his manner of speaking about them was inherently crude and unfiltered since he had no reason to believe that he had to tread on his
In Antigone, her brother Polynices, turned against his own city by attacking his own brother just so he could become king. On this day, both brothers died. One, Eteocles, was given funeral honors, but the other, Polynices, was not. This decision was made by Creon, Antigone’s uncle and the current King of Thebes. Creon said “He is to have no grave, no burial, no mourning from anyone; it is forbidden.'; (Pg. 432; l. 165) He also announced that anyone who should attempt to bury him would be put to death. After hearing this decision, Antigone said that Creon couldn’t do that and that the Gods would want Polynices to have a proper burial, therefore Antigone promised to her sister Ismene that she would be the one to defy Creon and bury her brother; and she didn’t care if the whole city knew of her plans. After being caught in the act, she was taken to the palace and when asked by Creon why she did it. Knowing the punishment that would come from it, she replied by saying that she didn’t think Creon had the power to overrule the u...
For example, when his brother died, she did her bests to inter her brother with the same equality –honor- as her other brother. According to Creon, Polynices, Antigone’s brother, did not deserve to be buried because he fought against the Creon. Burying body is the traditional event in Greek. If the death is not buried traditionally, it is believed that the soul cannot find the peace forever. In this part of the book, I think, there is one more question which is important than the event: why Ismene, Antigone’s sister, did not help her sister? It is important because Antigone tried to convince his sister about the death position. It is hard to agree defying the King Creon’s rules and the laws. On the other hand, if you are a woman in this case is more difficult. “… Remember we are women, we are not born to contend with men. Then too, we are underlying, ruled by much stronger hands, so we must submit in this… (62)”. It is clearly seen that Ismene accepted defeat. It is a disappointing event for Antigone because she is alone. In this situation, actually, Antigone is not alone. The society’s thoughts are the same but no one spoke because of the King’s power. Every citizen afraid of him, including Ismene, except
I do agree. As a context, let's consider both the author and Greek society at the time of the play. Sophocles was a deeply religious man who held firm to the belief that the "modern" thinking of many philosophers, one in which man was slowly become a course of study, rather than a belief in the Gods as the center of the universe, was wrong. Antigone, in this sense, is more the voice of the author. She argues that man can never usurp the Gods in importance, whereas Creon represents the view that the "polis," or society was of premiere importance. Creon argues that there must be law and order, despite what we think the Gods are telling us about morality and common decency. In essence, he believes that we honor the Gods more by keeping peace