The Tragic Play Antigone by Sophocles has a Conflict between religious morals and loyalty to the state and its laws. This struggle is displayed through the characters Antigone and Creon. Antigone’s life meets a tragic end in the play, but her death makes her a martyr leading to the citizens to follow her view of religion. Creon issued an edict forbidding anyone from burying Polyneices for he had attacked the country. Antigone must choose whether to obey the law of the state or obey her religious obligations. Antigone is the supporter of religion and follows the Gods laws. Antigone cannot follow Creon’s edict and decides to bury Polyneices and follow her religious obligations. Antigone says to Ismene “But Polynecies’ body must lie, unlamented and unburied, a rich store of meat for hungry birds” (Antigone, Sophocles). Antigone tells Ismene that she is determined to break Creon’s edict, and asks Ismene to help her. Ismene does not dare help her sister Antigone and Antigone casts her aside saying “Since apparently the laws of the Gods mean nothing to you”. Antigone suggests the importance of manmade laws, but the laws of the Gods take priority when human and divine laws …show more content…
Antigone knew that no law was more important than being respectful to her dead brother. To Antigone this meant that not even death will stop her from burying Polyneices. In spite of Creon’s edict, Antigone buries her brother Polyneices. Antigone believes the actions she took are right because it is what the Gods want; she disobeys the laws of the state and follows the laws that make life possible that Antigone proclaims “Isn’t a man’s right to burial decreed by divine justice?” (Antigone, Sophocles). Antigone’s actions are driven by her moral values, her respect for the Gods laws over mans, and her Hubris. Antigone’s Morals were very important to her that she was willing to give up her life in order to uphold
Antigone is the niece of a king and goes against her uncle’s command when he says that Polyneices isn’t allowed to have a soldier’s burial and his body must be left in the desert to rot. Antigone decides to bury him anyway because she values god’s law of burial over her uncle’s rule. Antigone tells her sister “Ismene, I am going to bury him. Will you come?... He is my brother. And he is your brother, too… Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way” (Sophocles 694). Antigone values her brother over her uncle & she believes in god’s law over Creon’s decision. King values equality and common law. He dictates “It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the
Yet, Antigone not only breaks the edict once but twice for the burial of her brother. The first attempt Antigone takes towards her intention is when she asks her sister Ismene to bury their brother's body. Ismene becomes perplexed by this accusation Antigone has come up with that she will help bury their brother, whom the king is forbidden all citizens to bury. Ismene shows no support for her sisters intention. Ismene cares far too much about her own life and protection to ever put herself in harms way. However, Antigone is the opposite. She cares for nothing but justice for her brother. No obstacle can change her mind from the path her heart has chosen for herself. The second attempt of burying Polynices Antigone is caught and brought into the palace, by the guards, to see King Creon. Antigone arrives and Creon asks her if she is the one who is disobeying and if she is aware of the edict. Not once does Antigone deny her actions of the burial. “I did. Why would I not know? It was clear”(Ant. 458). This statement shows how she is in full knowledge of the law and does not care who set it. Antigone takes great pride of what she did because she believes it was her fate. The citizens of Thebes believe once they find out or realize their fate, something they are
Antigone is not a tragic play. Rather it is a theological debate spawned by Sophocles, a debate that is still raging today, the debate of who holds the higher law, the Gods or the State. While this debate has slowly twisted into Church versus State, which is a very different argument, the highest questions still remain the same: Which one is held higher in men’s (and women’s) hearts? Antigone answers this question with shocking clarity in her admission of guilt to Creon, “ I should have praise and honor for what I have
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.
Family should come first and always stay loyal to them. Starting off with scene I, Creon finds out that someone has buried Polyneices when his law strictly forbids it. “Someone has given it burial that way, and gone…” (199). The readers know Antigone decided to yield to the law of the land and do what is right by her. Antigone tells Ismene, “I will bury him; and if I must die, I say the crime is holy” (192). She will do whatever it takes for her brother to rest in peace, even if that means death because Polyneices deserves as much honor as Eteocles, no matter the law.
We know this because antigone tells the king creon “No, you can’t do this! She didn’t have anything to do with the burial. She didn’t even want to help me. You can’t punish her for doing nothing!” She was begging him to spare her sisters life when antigone was caught burying her brothers body. This is important because Even though antigone is about to face death, she begs creon to spare her sisters life, this shows how much she cares for her family. So you could see why she cares so dearly for her brother. This shows antigone was right to break the law because her brothers memory is worth more than creon's laws. This is important because she cares so dearing for her family that she is willing to risk her own life for her family's. She's willing to put her own life before her family's life or memory.
Antigone’s belief is on that supports the Gods and the laws of heaven. Her reasoning is set by her belief that if someone is not given a proper burial, that in turn they would not be accepted into heaven. Antigone is a very religious person and acceptance of her brother by the Gods was very significant to her. She felt that, “It is the martial law our good Creon lays down for you and me—yes me, I tell you.“(lines 37-38) Creon’s order was personal to Antigone; his edict invaded her family life as well as the principles of the Gods. In her eyes, Creon betrayed the Gods by not allowing her to properly bury her brother Polynices. She believed that the burial was a religious ceremony, and Creon did not have the authority to deny Polynices that right.
Although it is against the law to bury Polynecious, Antigone feels like it is the right thing to do since they are “equal blood’ and the laws of the God’s mean a lot to her unlike Ismene. “ANTIGONE:The dead man would not say that I insult it. CREON:He would: for you honor a traitor as much as him. ANTIGONE: His own brother, traitor or not, and equal in blood. CREON: He made war on his country. Eteocles defended it. ANTIGONE: Nevertheless, there are honors due all the dead (lines 409-413;Sophocles).” Antigone and Creon say these harsh remarks while Creon first confronts Antigone about burying her brother. Antigone will defend her brother no matter what but the more she does this, the more she makes Creon mad. Her disobeying Creon’s laws is what leads her into getting executed and
Antigone risks her own life to bury her brother, therefore, she goes against Kreon’s edict that Polyneices should be left unburied; she believes Polyneices deserves to reach the afterlife. Antigone tells Ismene, “I will bury him myself. If I die for doing that, good: I will stay with him, my brother; and my crime will be devotion” (Sophocles 23). Antigone is willing to risk her own life by disobeying the king’s authority; She stands up for her religious belief that Polyneices should be buried. Kreon tells Antigone before she takes her own life, “I won’t encourage you. You’ve been condemned” (Sophocles 57). 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...
Antigone did the right thing by defileing Creon's strict orders on burying Polynices because the unalterable laws of the gods and our morals are higher than the blasphemous laws of man. Creon gave strict orders not to bury Polynices because he lead a rebellion, which turned to rout, in Thebes against Creon, their omnipotent king. Antigone could not bare to watch her brother become consumed by vultures' talons and dogs. Creon finds out that somebody buried Polynices' body and sent people out to get the person who preformed the burial. Antigone is guilty and although she is to be wed to Creon's son, Haemon. He sentences her to be put in a cave with food and water and let the gods decide what to do with her. He was warned by a blind profit not to do this, but he chooses to anyway, leaving him with a dead son, a dead wife, and self-imposed exile.
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...
In Sophocles’ Antigone, Antigone saw her action of burying her brother as a just one. It may not have been just in the eyes of Creon and the people of Thebes, but she was not concerned with the laws that mortals had made. Antigone saw the divine laws of the gods to be much more important than those of mortals. She felt that if she died while upholding the laws of the gods, that her afterlife would be better than if she had not. Our lives on this earth are so short, that to see a good afterlife over the horizon will make people go against the laws of humans.
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.
Antigone firmly believed that Divine law was far more superior to Civil Law in all respects. To her, the gods determined her fate completely. Obeying the gods was more crucial to obeying the government. "I know I am pleasing those I should please most." (Line 103) She chose to bury her brother Polynieces, though she knew that in doing so she would face her own certain death because King Creon forbid it. According to the Divine law, the dead need to have a proper burial in order to make the journey to the underworld. Antigone would not let her brother go without it. Antigone said of Creon, "It is not for him to keep me from my own." (Line 54) Antigone is proud of her acti...
Another role this conflict plays in tragedy is one that creates tension in the oikos, as Creon is Antigone’s uncle he is the ruler of the household so he has control over Antigone. Antigone is a very extreme believer of her oikos which was a role given to women in the Athenian age as she gives loyalty to her family and nothing else. She will do anything for her family, which makes her ignore laws of state, values of the city; she is not simply rebellious to Thebes but she is also a member of the family. “These laws-i was not about to break them, not out of fear of some man’s wounded pride, and face the retribution of gods. Die I must, I’ve known it all my life-…But if I had allowed my own mother’s son to rot, an unburied corpse-that would have