Religion vs. State in “Antigone"

This leads Creon to get enraged at his son and his mind is still set on executing Antigone. Haimon responds by saying “Not here, no: She will not die here, King... ... middle of paper ... ...herself from suffering. However, this wasn’t the case with Creon because his entire family perished right before his eyes and he has no way to relief his pain. Thus, Creon is the tragic character of the play due to his everlasting grief caused by his flawed personality. In conclusion, Creon is the tragic character of Antigone because of his pride which caused him never ending agony by the end of this tragedy.

As Tressias told him "no man will know worse suffering than you", and then Jocasta called him the "man of agony." He is does not know if he is the son of his daughters or the brother of them. After he discovers his real parents he blind himself in front of the dead body of his mother as a punishment. Moreover, the blind man will leave Thebes to get rid of the plague and the curse of the city. Neither Tressias nor the shepherd wanted to tell him the truth but his own stubbornness brought his end, they told him "I wish you had never the man you are."

Also, Creon mockingly buries Antigone alive, forcing her to die without honors and her actions to be forgotten. Both of these situations utterly displease the gods. Furthermore, in scene two, Antigone is accused and found guilty of burying her brother Polyneices. Although she knows there will be a heavy consequence, she does not deny burying Polyneices even as she is being led to her conviction. Antigone explains to Creon that God’s law is higher than any law.

summarizes a romantic idealist as an “other-orientated”, person who “lives in the future or past and worries about future consequences or effects of past events.” In the first fifty lines Antigone publicizes her complete disregard of Creon’s order to leave her brother’s body untouched. It becomes apparent (Line 58) that the betrayal of her uncle was only because of her worry. As a romantic idealist, “past events lead to future consequences.” By “the laws of god” (Line 58) Polyneices body had to be buried. Antigone, the “others-orientated” women she was believed her brother deserved an honorable funeral just as her other brother where people could mourn (Line 15-18). According to her idea of a perfect world, without flaws strengthens Antigone’s judgment and solidifies her beliefs.

Creon declares Polyneices not to be buried, punishes and kills Antigone for trying to give her brother a proper burial, lets no one mourn his death (SP4). Although Creon didn’t kill himself he has to live with his knowing that he brought this tragedy on himself. Both characters were challenged together in separate ways with both unfortunate outcomes. In both stories we know that Okonkwo and Creon rule by fear and they both believe that having power is the most important thing; it isn’t (SP1). That trait of fear of weakness may as well of been both Okonkwo and Creon’s tragic flaw which caused the two their devastating downfall.

The gods, particularly Apollo, takes great offence to this and decides to put Oedipus back in his place by punishing him and his state. (Mannani 2005) The punishment of the state is a se... ... middle of paper ... ...his blood cannot be cleansed by anyone but the gods and his religion. In conclusion, Oedipus's fate is his destruction in the chain of being, the ultimate cleansing of the state, the household, and himself. His rejection and persistence to ignore the power of the gods and religion is the cause for his great demise. Oedipus, a character too proud and knowledgeable, is seen as a threat to the gods.

He represents someone that has died and now is faced with his Day of Judgement in which he has to bear the consequences for his actions while he was alive. In this play God becomes saddened that his creation, mankind, has become to absorbed by wealth and riches and they no longer follow him. Because of this he sends Death to visit Everyman and bring him before Him to receive judgement. When Death appears to Everyman and tells him that his death is upon him he becomes very scared and asks if he can have a companion to accompany him on his journey. Death allows this but no one will agree to go with Everyman because the journey will end badly.

Antigone’s crime is one many would not even consider a crime. In the play, Antigone, King Creon decrees that while Antigone’s first brother, Eteocles, can be buried, her other brother, Polyneices is not allowed to be put to rest and anyone who tries to bury him will be put to death themselves. Antigone, however, goes against Creon and buries Polyneices anyway. Antigone reasons that every dead soul deserves the same respect of being put to rest. She feels she is following the bigger laws of the Gods in burying her brother.

When Creon came to know of Antigone’s plan he called for her and when she did not deny of the fact that she buried her dishonorable brother’s body he grew angry and assumed Ismene her younger sister had helped her. Ismene being the good sister that she is lied and said she had helped Antigone, after that Creon ordered for them to be locked up. Haemon, Creon's son and Antigone's fiancé, promised to be loyal to his father and not talk to Antigone but he tried his best to persuade his father to spare her life, but they end... ... middle of paper ... ...ad noble intentions and was completely loyal to the state, but in the end he is only human and his main weakness was his poor judgment. This play makes one reconsider what make people righteous and what make them temporarily lose judgment. I find it very interesting because no matter how old this play is, the concept is real and initially got through to the audience.

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.