A socially uncomfortable topic brought up in the play due to Kreon’s decree of sentencing Antigone to death and forbidding the burial of Polyneices is the confounding concept of whether the polis should follow and accept Kreon’s edict and follow man’s law, or whether they should attest to the Gods law. It isn’t only Kreon who feels the pressure and indecisiveness of which path to choose, whether to remain respected or retract his decree in hopes of preventing a tragedy. The Polis, as Teiresias states is afraid that the Gods will punish all for Kreon’s ignorant decree. “And it’s from your bad thinking that the city is so sick. […] And this is why the gods accept our sacrificial prayers no more […]” (Blondell 62, 1015-1020).
Kreon states throughout that his decision to not give Polyneices a proper burial stems from the politically contentious uprising Polyneices begun once he initiated a civil war in Thebes against the king, his brother. Therefore, this could be regarded as an event that was particularly scandalous. Eteokles, breaking his pact with his brother, was unwilling in giving up the throne of Thebes. The civil war that sparked up as a response to this incident caused great havoc not only in the kingdom, but also in the
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He sees this as a sign of disrespect upon his power as king and as an unwillingness to abide to his authority. He violates the basic law of the people and becomes so egocentric and full of himself that he even refuses the advice his son, Haimon offers him. “The one appointed by the city should be listened to, in small things and in just things the opposite. There is no greater evil than unruliness. It ruins cities and makes households desolate, it breaks and turns to flight the ranks of allied spears. But when the lives of mortals go aright, it is obedience to rule that keeps most bodies safe” (Blondell 48,
In Sophocles' Antigone, the dilemma between nomos of the city and nomos of the home divides blood relatives and causes an inevitable conflict. Kreon, Thebes’ ruler, supports nomos of the states and honors polis before oikos. In contrast, Antigone promotes blood ties of oikos and divine laws that govern the dead. Kreon punishes Antigone for carrying out her duty to Polyneikes, and in doing so, he presents a different perspective and reversed order of priorities. In Antigone, polis and oikos depend on one another and share a symbiotic relationship. Since both are unstable, they cannot exist by themselves without problems. This, in turn with Kreon's stubbornness, leads to an untenable encounter.
After the two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, kill themselves in battle, Creon becomes the King of Thebes. Creon quickly establishes his authority over the City of Thebes. He states, “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 birds and the scavenging dogs can do with him whatever they like” (Sophocles 1808). As for the brother Eteocles, Creon demands that he has a proper burial because he was fighting for his country. In addition, Creon explains to his senators that they are not to support anyone who breaks the law. Without hesitation, Creon expects everyone in Thebes to follow his decree. He does not care that the tradition has always been to give everyone a proper burial. In this case, Creon defies the laws of the Gods further demonstrating his stubborn ways. Within his establishment as King, Creon automatically has various demands and expectations from the senators and the people of Thebes.
Antigone decides to betray Kreon’s law in order to honor the gods and their greater law. She says “you [Kreon], who are human/to violate the lawful traditions/the gods have not written merely, but made infallible,” defending her decision to bury the out-casted Polyneices because the law that prohibits it was not proclaimed by Zeus. When Kreon asks Antigone why she honors Eteokles (her other brother who also dies in the battle in Thebes) and Polyneices equally, she responds “Death is a god/who wants his laws obeyed,” corroborating the motive of why she upheld divine law over Kreon’s law (Sophocles 41). Even Haimon, Kreon’s own son and Antigone’s betrothed, supports Antigone by saying “the gods implant intelligence in humans/…that is the supreme one” (Sophocles 48). However, Antigone’s superior motive in giving Polyneices an honorable death is love. While conferring her plan with her sister, Ismene, Antigone tells her “He’s my brother an yours too/ and whether you will or not, I’ll stand by him,” indicating her love to her brother (Sophocles 22). In addition, Antigone is most direct with her intentions when she says “I am different. I love my brother/and I’m going to go bury him, now” (Sophocles 24). After Kreon asks Antigone why she dared to break his law, knowing the repercussions, she expresses that “if I had left my own brother stay unburied/I would have suffered all the pain I do not feel now,” further denoting her unwavering devotion to Polyneices even during her own conviction. Richard Emil Braun, an highly praised writer, also believes Antigone’s primary motive to bury her brother was love, as he says “The second burial of Polyneices shows that Antigone…did the deed, and not for money, but for love…Antigone was prompted by her love to fulfill a religious duty.” Civil disobedience to Antigone is
Creon has become King of Thebes by default, as a result of Oedipus' fate as previously predicted by the Oracle at Delphi: Oedipus murders his father and unknowingly marries his mother. Jocaste, his mother and wife and Creon's sister, commits suicide upon learning the truth. Between Oedipus' two sons, Creon sides with Etocles in his claim for Oedipus' throne and exiles Polyneices. Polyneices, in exile, raises an army against Thebes, attempting to seize the throne for himself. The two brothers fight and slay one another. Etocles is awarded an honorable burial by Creon for bravely defending the city, but Polyneices is denied any burial because of his act of treason. Denial of a ritual burial was damming and nearly sacrilegious to the ancient Greeks.
Summing up, Antigone decides to express her discontent with what she considers to be the unethical new regime of King Creon by burying her brother's body. 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. In the end, Antigone resolves to sacrifice her own life in the service of a greater justice. It is this kind of formidable resolve that changes the course of history, and that is something that we can respect equally in the 5th century B.C. and the 21st century A.D.
Thebes was invaded by Oedipus’ son, Polynices, and his followers. As Oedipus predicted in the previous play, Polynices and his brother, Eteocles, killed each other during battle. Creon, the king of Thebes, ruled that Eteocles should have a proper burial with honors and Polynices, the invader, be left unburied to rot.
This play is ultimately concerned with one person defying another person and paying the price. Antigone went against the law of the land, set by the newly crowned King Creon. Antigone was passionate about doing right by her brother and burying him according to her religious beliefs even though Creon deemed him a traitor and ordered him to be left for the animals to devour. Creon was passionate about being king and making his mark from his new throne. Although they differed in their views, the passion Creon and Antigone shared for those opinions was the same, they were equally passionate about their opposing views. Creon would have found it very difficult to see that he had anything in common with Antigone however as he appears to be in conflict with everyone, in his mind he has to stand alone in his views in order to set himself apart as king. Before he took to the throne Creon took advice from the prophet Tiresias who had so often had been his spiritual and moral compass, and yet in this matter concerning Antigone he will take advice from no one, not from the elders of Thebes, or even his own son Haemon.
In the play Antigone, Creon, king of Thebes faces a harsh conflict with himself, involving the values of family and religion verse the civic responsibility he must maintain for the city of Thebes that comes with being the new king. In theory no decision Creon makes is going to be the rite one. Although both Antigone and Creon have justified reasons for believing in there own laws only one can be upheld by the play and how Sophocles interoperates the play himself. Creon must decide whether to punish Antigone, a princess, daughter of king Oedipus, or fail at enforcing his own law and look weak in front of the citizens of Thebes as their new leader. The law stated that anybody who touched the corpse of Polyneices, a prince, and son of Oedipus would be stoned in the town square.
When experiencing a conflict between his two obligations, Kreon chose to uphold his obligations as king to his community, which ultimately led to the death of his family and his demise. Despite his best intentions as king, he must live every day knowing he was the cause of his family’s suicide, which is a far more tragic punishment than death. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Kreon, being king, chose his community and people over his family. This approach to his obligations is shown through the punishments his nephew’s corpse and nieces face for disobeying what he deems right. “This girl knew well how to commit an act of outrage when she first transgressed against the published laws; and here’s a second outrage: after doing it to boast of it and laugh,
Kreon believes that Antigone’s crime is severe, and righteousness should be used to justify her crime. At this point of the play, Antigone realizes she will be put to death, but she does not regret her act of loyalty. In Antigone’s last speech before she takes her own life, she exclaims, “Land of Thebes, city of my fathers… see what I suffer at my mother’s brother’s hand for an act of loyalty and devotion” (Sophocles 57). Here, Antigone addresses the nation’s leaders and declares that they should notice th... ... middle of paper ... ...
In the play, Antigone, Antigone’s brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, killed each other over the throne of Thebes. Eteocles took the rightful throne to King after his father ran away in shame because he killed his own father and married his mother. As soon as Eteocles took the throne, he banished his brother, Polynices, so that he did not have to share the throne. Polynices went to create an army with the Argos Kings and mad Thebans. During the battle, Polynices and Eteocles fight to death and both of them die. Polynices is to rot to death and be eaten by the wild dogs and animals, while Eteocles gets the proper burial for he was the rightful king. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s...
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.
In Sophocles’ Antigone, the most prominent theme is the concept of divine law versus human law. The play opens with the debate between the sisters Antigone and Ismene concerning which law comes first- the devout obligations of citizens, or civic duty. Antigone requests for Ismene to assist her in burying their brother Polyneices, though the new king Creon, has prohibited burial on pain of death. It can be argued that Creon’s edict, which deprived Polyneices of his funeral rites, is understandable. The young man had been killed perpetrating the most atrocious crime of which a citizen could be guilty, and Creon, as the responsible head of state, naturally supposed that exemplary punishment was the culprit’s right...
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.
“Do what you believe is right.” This is a phrase common to us all, brought to our attention by parents, reinforced by teachers, and preached by leaders. But how does one define what is right? Is it what we believe in our hearts, or is it what we know is acceptable? This is a predominant dilemma that can be traced throughout society, and is the main focal point of Sophocles’ play Antigone. Written in 441 B.C., Antigone is one of the earliest records of the conflict between Natural law and Positive law. Sophocles deftly exposes these two philosophical standpoints and their respective moral and political aspects by way of the two main characters, Antgone and Kreon. Antigone is a champion of Natural law, while Kreon practices the Positivist approach. Both characters deem their behavior superior towards the other, and both assume religious justification for their actions. Sophocles ultimately proves that with so much support for each philosophical standpoint, a solution to the dilemma is hardly in sight.