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The Tragedy of Sophocles
Antigone character analysis
Antigone character analysis essay
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In the Greek Tragedy, Antigone by Sophocles, the character Antigone chooses to be loyal loyal to her family than to be loyal to the law. In the story, Antigone broke the law of buying her brother, Polyneices, with ritual rites. She was then arrested and locked in a cave. Even though this story ended with a tragedy, Sophocles shows a strong theme throughout which is being loyal to your family is important. Antigone chooses loyalty to family all above obedience to the city. She has loyalty for both her family and to the Gods. The setting of the mood, the characters, and resolution all shows the importance of family in this Greek Tragedy. The characters in the story, Antigone, emphasize the meaning of family. For example, Antigone broke Creon's law by giving a proper burial and ritual rites to her brother, Polyneices. Antigone and Ismene talk outside the gate saying, " Antigone: …show more content…
The character Antigone develops Pathos by talking about family. After coming back and finding that her brother was yet again unburied, she let out a "distressing painful cry, just like a bird who's seen an empty nest" as the guard described it. At this moment, the mood of the setting is very sad or melancholy. The audience of play feels pity for her as she cries because of her brother. When she was arrested and bought to King Creon, she made a powerful statement about her brother saying, " But if I'm allowed my own mother's dead son to just lie there, an unburied corpse, then I'd feel distress. What is going on here does not hurt me at all. If you think what I'm doing now is stupid, perhaps I'm being charged with foolishness by someone who's a fool." In this quote, she tells the reason why she committed the crime she did and stand up to Creon and his pride by calling him a fool. This shows that Antigone is courageous and will go at any length to defend her
“Being sister and brother means being there for each other” (thefreshquotes.com). Siblings are one’s most important relative because they’re basically an irreplaceable friend that will love and care for one another forever. People’s relationship with their siblings is emotionally powerful and critically important for their everyday life. Antigone believes that her siblings are her most significant relatives because they can’t be replaced, unlike a husband or children, because her parents are deceased; she will do anything for them, even go against the rules and put her own life in danger. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the character Antigone can be seen as immoral because of her defying Creon’s laws, however, she receives sympathy for the injustices that were done to her brother, Polyneices, of him not being provided with a proper burial.
Antigone, as a character, is extremely strong-willed and loyal to her faith. Creon is similarly loyal, but rather to his homeland, the city of Thebes, instead of the gods. Both characters are dedicated to a fault, a certain stubbornness that effectively blinds them from the repercussions of their actions. Preceding the story, Antigone has been left to deal with the burden of her parents’ and both her brothers’ deaths. Merely a young child, intense grief is to be expected; however, Antigone’s emotional state is portrayed as frivolous when it leads her to directly disobey Creon’s orders. She buries her brother Polynices because of her obedience to family and to the gods, claiming to follow “the gods’ unfailing, unwritten laws” (Sophocles 456-457). CONTINUE
Family loyalty means a great deal to Antigone and she makes it clear that her own life does not matter in comparison, “But I will bury him; and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy” (Sophocles 189). Antigone begins the prologue of the play attempting to convince her sister, Ismene, to join her loyalties and bury their brother together, as a family. She goes further to insult Ismene for her lack of devotion to her brother, “And now you can prove what you are: A true sister, or a traitor to your family,” and to the gods, “since apparently the laws of the gods mean nothing to you” (Sophocles 187, 188). Ismene lacks loyalty all together; she begins seemingly loyal to the government and Creon’s laws then, when she hears of Antigone’s punishment, attempts to take part of the credit for her sister’s actions. By the end of the play, Ismene disappears from the storyline. She does not have strong allegiances to anything or anyone, ultimately causing her to become irrelevant. Antigone, on the other hand, comes across as the heroine of the story; she rose above all else in order to follow her beliefs and stay true to her personal
Antigone's pride, in the very beginning of the play, was portrayed when she said to her sister, Ismene, "What, haven't you heard? Don't you see? The doom reserved for enemies marches on the ones we love the most." Her language displayed high love for family, loyalty, and anger at the same time. Antigone was angry because of Creon's decree. Additionally, Antigone was sound grim and dark, and when she was asked for the reason by Ismene, she replied: "Why not? Our own brothers' burial!" Her chosen words typified the strong love she
The play “Antigone,” by Sophocles, is a Greek Tragedy about a young and loyal woman named Antigone. In the play, Antigone goes to the city of Thebes where she learns that her brothers Polyneices and Eteocles have died. Furthermore, she discovers that under the leadership of King Creon, her brother Polyneices may not be given a proper burial. Throughout the rest of the play, the audience discovers the aftermath of the new law as dictated by Creon. Although several main characters such as Antigone, Polyneices, and Eteocles, demonstrate the tragic flaw of hubris, the true tragic hero is King Creon.
Antigone was written during the classical period of Greece, and during the classical period, Greece was transitioning, there was only two things that really seemed to be important to the Greeks, and that was family and power. During the play, the relationships between the characters and what they believed in, revealed what Sophocles believed in and that family and authority. Sophocles seemed to believe that family is more important than authority but he also thinks that both played an important role in the tragedy, because both led to consequences.
How she reacts to events and the ensuing consequences that occur, forms the plot of the play. At the very beginning Antigone chooses to bury polyneices even though it was against Creon's wishes. She had a choice to leave his body buried but she chose to unbury him which shows her stubbornness, and this is a common trait amongst protagonists. Creon also has this trait and shows it when he discovers her body. Antigone does not give up under any circumstances, which is both admirable 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 is about rights of family and the control of the polis, or the government. Antigone is a strong female character whose two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, were killed by each other in a battle for the throne and power of the city. Polyneices’ body was left unburied and no one was allowed to bury it. Antigone wanted to respect her brother so she tried to go and bury him. Creon, the new king, was her uncle and she was engaged to marry his son. Creon told her that her brother’s body must remain above ground because of the dishonor that he brought upon himself when he murdered his own brother in a battle for power and for the blood that he spilled of his own countrymen. He was a traitor. He turned on the city he once ruled and fought and killed the very brother that he shared blood with. By law his body was to remain above ground for the birds and the beasts to pluck apart. Creon commanded: “I here proclaim to the city that this man/ shall no one honor with a grave and none shall mourn”. Polyneices wasn’t going to be given honor when his life didn’t merit any.
Loyalty, like most everything, is relative. This means most words can be defined differently depending on the other person and the situation. Antigone is a case and point scenario of this. Ismene believes that one’s loyalties should lie with those with higher authority and the law (or the state). Antigone believes one’s first loyalty should be to loved ones (including one’s self).
In Sophocles’ Antigone, the death of a woman, Antigone, due to civil disobedience is used to explore the tensions between societal expectations and internal values. When Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, is ruled a traitor after challenging his home state in battle, Creon, king of Thebes, demonstrates the general opinion of the expected compliance of women and forbids any person from burying Polyneices, and, therefore, prevents him from entry into the underworld. Antigone is met with the moral dilemma to which there is no answer that she could live with: bury her brother and be sentenced to death, or abandon her brother and disobey the laws of the Gods. Antigone’s death represents the challenge of following internal values, especially when they
In Greek society following the king's rule and laws put forth was commenced and even expected however adhering to one's family and most importantly the gods is a compulsory act. By contrasting the notions of the two sisters- Antigone and Ismene- as both give importance to family- Antigone follows her dedication to her bloodline, while Ismene favors obeying authority. Antigone does not falter with her actions even when Ismene firmly argues against her stating: “Bury him! You have just said the new law forbids it.” Antigone: “He is my brother. And he is your brother, too.” (PAGE NUMBER) Antigone is determined to honor her family member although he was considered a traitor to Thebes- overlooking the King and the laws set forth. She outshines her sister, as she remains unyielding even
..., this sense of arrogance angers Creon to a point beyond belief. Antigone’s refusal to cooperate causes Creon to go mad with irritation and frustration. Wanting to show his sense of power, he refuses to back down in fear of losing his position. His stubbornness grows stronger as Antigone continues to disobey his commands. Antigone’s strong and steady foundation helps her show defiance. She is able to overcome the opinions of the people and commit to helping her brother regardless of the after effects. She ignores what everyone says and does only as she wants. She is powerful, both physically and mentally, and is successful in her tasks. Antigone matures into a commendable and respectable character in which she depicts her rebelliousness and bravery, pride and tolerance, and sense of moral righteousness to demonstrate fundamental character development in the play.
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.
Loyalty causes suffering in the characters of Antigone. Within Antigone, the characters battle against one another for what they believe is right. In other words, the characters are loyal to beliefs and figures, which have a certain definition of what is perceived as truly 'right' to them. This leads to conflict, and in turn, suffering for all parties involved, save the gods. The divisions of loyalty among the characters, despite there being a universal loyalty to the gods, causes them to hurt one another. They do not truly know what it is that will appease the gods and assume things based on what they feel is right.