Authority In Antigone

When you think about your feelings toward family and toward authority which one holds a higher standard in your life? Sophocles, a famous play writer, writes a play called, Antigone, about a woman named Antigone who shows her own free will and power by defying the government and not staying put to the king’s laws. In this play Antigone represents the idea of family morals by wanting to bury her brother even though the king (Creon, also her and her brothers uncle), referred to her brother (Polyneices), as a traitor and was not to be respected or have a proper burial. Creon represents the idea of authority trying to overpower family morals, by stopping Antigone from burying her beloved brother. Creon is thinking about his place as king above

In this play all Antigone wants to do is give her brother Polyneices a proper burial so his body may lay at rest. Even when the law forbids her from respecting her brother she disregards it and goes on to help her brother lay at rest, because she feels it is the right thing to do. In return Antigone is shown as a hero and Creon, the one defying her right to bury Polyneices, is portrayed as the villain. “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” (Allen, 1083). In addition Antigone is looked upon as the hero when she asks her sister Ismene to help her bury her brother. When Ismene denies she is giving in to the law and not respecting family, in this context it makes her look weak, in return Antigone looks strong and brave. “But think of the Danger! Think what Creon will do!” (Allen, 1070). Furthermore in the end Antigone did die but she was honored by the gods and proven once more that she was the real hero standing by her family and never letting anything or anyone get in the way of her family morals. “Come with me to the tomb. I buried her; I will set her free” (Allen, 1101). Over all Antigone stuck with her beliefs through everything even when it meant death and still came out being the hero, this is how Sophocles voiced his

Creon is a ruler that gets his power from fear, ruling on fear he is accustomed to the idea that people will listen to him and he will always get his way. When Creon made it clear that Polyneices was not to be buried under any circumstance he did not anticipate that any person would defy this law. “Polyneices, I say, is to have no burial: no man is to touch him or say the least prayer for him; he shall lie on the plain, unburied; and the bird and the scavenging dogs can do with him whatever they like” (Allen, 1074). From Creon’s first words he has defied family and sworn to never let personal relationships come before his duties as shown here, “but we must remember that friends made at the risk of wrecking our ship are not real friend at all” (Allen, 1074). After Antigone is locked away to rot for eternity Creon seems to have life moving on as usually but then fate comes his way. Teiresias, the prophet, come bearing horrible news, she tells Creon that the gods are angry for what he has done to Antigone and Polyneices. Teiresias tells Creon the gods are angered by his choice to deny Polyneices a proper burial and lock Antigone away for wanting to praise her brother. In favor of Creon’s good fortune it seems there is a way to repair what he has done “Think: all men make mistakes, But a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, And repairs the evil. The