Antigone Research Paper

She reminds Antigone that they are on... ... middle of paper ... ...assistance, resolves to give their brother a proper burial. Ismene feared helping Antigone bury Polyneices but offers to die beside Antigone when Creon sends her to die. Antigone, however, refuses to allow her sister to be killed for something she did not have the courage to stand up for. The position of women is an important theme in this play. Gender has an impact on Antigone and her actions.

Creon denied Polyneices proper burial because he was an enemy and that where this play begins.Fate is what had gotten the family of Oedipus where we begin this play. Fate is why Oedipus had killed his father, marry his mother, and then find out all about it. Fate then tortured Oedipus and he cut out his eyes. Fate had made Creon new king of Thebes and then have Oedipus' sons kill each other. Antigone's fate was to die trying to honor her dead brother and be loyal her family.

Antigone is the protagonist in the story Antigone. She is a young girl who rises up against her uncle, King Creon to defend what she believes in. King Creon is seen amongst the society as a dictator and feels no one should go against his orders. One of King Creon’s orders is to not give Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, a proper burial because he thought Polyneices was a traitor. Antigone, however, chooses to bury her brother because in her heart she feels it is the right thing to do, knowing full well that Creon disapproves and has made it clear that if anyone attempts to touch Polyneices, they will be stoned in public.

Her actions affect many of her other countrymen negatively because they cause problems within the royal family, disagreement among the people and directly relate to the death of three people including her own. By burying her brother, Antigone knowingly and willingly went against royal orders and in doing so chooses her own death. She knows as well as anyone in the town that death would come to all that disobeyed Creon's order. Antigone says to this "no one will ever convict me for a traitor,"(Act I: Scene II: Line 361) and decides to bury the body, this is quite ironic because by burying her brother a traitor is exactly what she is convicted of being. Antigone's actions went against her homeland.

Antigone’s strength allows her to defend her brother’s honor against Creon, who wants to make a statement about traitors. However, both Antigone and King Creon commit faults while trying to protect the things they love. Antigone should not have died for her beliefs as it puts her loved ones and community in danger, and Creon should not have forbidden the burial of Polyneices as it angers the Gods and causes him great suffering in the end. Antigone is a strong willed character who is not afraid to defend her beliefs. After learning that Creon has denied Polyneices of a proper burial she uses her free will to decide that she must lay her brother to rest, as she strongly believes he should be honored like the other fallen soldiers.

Then again, he is still punished when he slaughters his father and marries his mother since it is such an unethical, incomprehensible act. Oedipus realized that he would execute a man and marry a lady and it was those actions which prompt to his divine

Creon’s bad decisions made him pay for his actions, as the prophet says, “The time is not far off when you shall pay back corpse for corpse, flesh of your own flesh” (234). Little does Creon know, he will pay flesh for flesh because Creon didn’t have family loyalty. He knew Antigone was haimon’s love, and he was ready to kill her, which lead to Haimon and the queen killing themselves. “And for Haimon dead, her sons; and her last breath was a curse for their father, murderer of her sons” (243). This goes back to Antigone’s statement about her family curse, and now Creon is the curse for his family.

She pretends to care about Juliet’s feelings and desires, but it is soon revealed that Lady Capulet would rather have her daughter killed than be disobeyed. When given the choice between death or a terrible life, many would choose the easy way out, and this is exactly what the vulnerable Juliet is forced to do. To make matters worse, Juliet will not open up and tell her parents about her true love since the families are enemies. When she finds out that her true love is a Montague, she cries, “My only love sprung from my only hate.” (1.5.138). This quote shows that even Juliet knows that she cannot be with Romeo because of the feud and because she knows her parents will not allow it.

Ismene opposes the idea, but Antigone is not swayed, or even thinks twice of reconsidering. She is a martyr, willing to die for her dead brother's sake, "A death martyrdom can render blest". When Creon leaves her in the tomb to die she feels self-pity. Nonetheless, she is a tragic heroine. Ismene- She believes in listening to Creon even though his actions are wrong.

I will either kill them, or myself, or both.” This can explain Antigone’s excessive desire to bury her brother and even further be supported in lines 25-28 when Antigone challenges her sister’s loyalty. Aristotle himself said that a tragic hero should be neither better nor worse normally than a normal person. With that being said Antigone’s sister, Ismene, was in the same position as her. Originally invoking a sense of naturalism this changes with Ismene’s refusal to help bury their brother. The lack of support for Antigone’s plan leaves her no choice, but distances herself from her sister who obviously doesn’t share the same family loyalty beliefs as her (Lines 77-81).