Antigone And Creon Essay

Antigone: Writing Prompt In the Greek play Antigone,the character Antigone decided to disobey her uncle’s law about burying her brother Polyneices. The law said that no one was allowed to bury polynices and to leave him to rot. Polyneices was also declared as a traitor,while her other brother Eteocles had a soldier's burial with military honors.

Creon's child, Haemon, begs his father to discharge Antigone, his lady to-be. Creon derides Haemon for his ludicrous musings of freeing Antigone. Haemon then runs off, squashed that his father would treat his so severely. Creon then expresses that Ismene's guiltlessness is clear and that just Antigone ought to be rebuffed, so he takes Antigone to a hole outside the city and covers her alive. Teiresias, the visually impaired prophet then cautions Creon that the gods are despondent for the absence of legitimate internment and that his child's demise might be the discipline.

She knew of the consequences but also defined her weakness when comparing women to men: “Remember we are women, we’re not born to contend with men. Then too, we’re underlings, ruled by much stronger hands, so we must submit in this, and things still worse” (74-77). She clearly believed men had power over women but Antigone thought differently as she went

King Creon was unjust with his actions towards Antigone, not only was he punishing Antigone but, he was also going to punish her sis Ismene by default. I believe the main reasons why he was going to punish Ismene was because she was related to Antigone by blood, and the fact that she was a woman; “Creon: You too Ismene, Snake in my ordered house, sucking my blood stealthily—and all the time I never knew that these two sisters were aiming at my throne!” (Abcarian, Klotz and Cohen 358). Pleading their case, which has no agenda of “aiming at his throne”, Creon is only worried about losing his power but in reality, it’s much more than power, I see it as males losing their authority over women.

Whereas Creon feels that women should have no ruling in the state or power, Antigone thinks otherwise. She has a strong personality and she is proud of breaking the law and standing up to King Creon even if that meant she would be sentenced to die. She puts an emphasis on how being a woman and breaking the rules is something so significant and powerful. Even before Antigone is sent to the cave to die she still is persistent that she did nothing wrong she says, O city that I love, O men that dwell,

In the play "Antigone" by Sophocles, Antigone rightfully decides to bury her brother, Polynices, but when the king, Creon, finds out, she does not repent for her actions. She is a woman that stands for what she thinks is right, which in this case is that Creon is wrong for condemning the burial of her brother. She shows braveness with her actions because not all people have the courage to risk their own lives so that their brother can rest in peace. For instance, Ismene states "What? You 'd bury him – when a law forbids the city?"

Creon talks about after talking to the blind prophet, Teiresias, he realizes the things he has done wrong as a king and father. A king finding the ways of what he has done wrong comes back to him and he regrets everything in life. Showing the family ties between Antigone, Ismene, Creon, and Haemon it all came with bad situations. Antigone loves her brother, so she buries him to die in peace. Ismene wants to die with Antigone because she thinks their guilt is equal, but Antigone stops her from doing so.

Instead she decides to hang her herself inside the tomb which caused her fiance to kill himself then that caused creon's wife to kill herself. Now creon is all by himself and he realized what he has done was not right. “I will suffer nothing as great as death without glory.” Antigone was a tragic hero because she has all the qualities of a tragic hero.

The burial of Polyneices is viewed nobly, yet Antigone is not faultless in that act. One of Antigone’s largest mistakes is that she burns bridges with those that care about her. Pleading with Antigone, Ismene laments “why would I care to live when you are gone?” (548). Antigone dismisses this heartfelt plea by deferring Ismene to Creon, thus isolating herself from her only kin.

“How could I live on alone, without my sister.” (Sophocles, page 32) She tries to take credit for the burial with Antigone. Ismene is distraught when Antigone rejects her and so she tries to appeal to Creon, asking him how he could kill his son’s bride-to-be. When Creon brushes off her pleas, he sentences her to be sent to the dungeons with Antigone.

“Not so self-centered that you never listen to other people” (Hugh Hefner). In the story of Antigone, Creon shows the characteristics of a tragic hero, as he is the king he shows his self-confident and he does not recognize his flaws until the end of the story. All of this leads into his downfall in the tragedy and causes him to realized what he had done. Creon is a tragic hero because of his self-righteousness, his excessive pride, and he does not listen to the opinion of others.

But Antigone did so anyways knowing the consequences were going to be brutal. This is significant because the sacrificial death of Antigone, who challenged a male counterpart is basically inevitable. This play challenged the beliefs of women during that day and age, giving them the power to criticize and proceed against an opposing male force. Without the sacrificial death, Antigone would only consist of the overpowering actions of King Creon. Her decisions and actions on challenging him was one of the main themes of the play.

After the exile of Oedipus, Creon became the king of Thebes, which placed a lot of power in his hands. With this sudden shift in authority, Creon's tragic flaw becomes more noticeable. When in an argument with Haemon, Creon's son, he states his position on the opposite sex, “If we must fall from power, let that come at some man’s hand—at least, we won’t be called inferior to any women” (353). This reveals his excessive pride, hubris, because he worries that his image would be tarnished if ever doing something imposed by a women. With this condescending perspective, he is led to believe that he is above all others, which leads to his free choice.

Ismene has an internal conflict for not trying to help her sister when first asked, which is the reason for her trying to take some blame in the acts Antigone had done. Antigone and Ismene are both to be put to death but Creon relents on the executing off Ismene. Before Creon did so, Ismene is scorned by Antigone for her late attempt for trying to be righteous. Ismene has always believed in loyalty and has always been loyal to her family. Even though she made a late decision and it is rejected by Antigone she is still loyal to her family by offering her help after she denied it to Antigone the first

After going through with the act of breaking the law, she says to Creon, “I did not think your edicts strong enough to overrule the unwritten unalterable laws of God and heaven, you being only a man” (438). Antigone clearly puts the laws of the gods over the laws of man, as she does not think the laws of man are strong enough to overpower them. She disregards man’s laws to serve the higher law. Another major aspect of this conflict is Creon’s sexism. Antigone tries to defend her acts by saying that she just wants to share her love with the world.