In Sophocles’ Antigone, what appears to be a Greek tragedy story is filled with several central ideas that holds weigh even in our modern times. In Antigone, Sophocles explored the concept of civil disobedience, Devine laws versus laws of man or the state, and the price of pride. As a prequel to Oedipus the King, Antigone suffers the ramification of her father’s curse as she is false to defy her king in an attempt to honor her fallen brother. Although Antigone’s main goal was to honor Polyneices, she also defied Creon for personal honor, because she believes she “will suffer nothing as great as death without glory” (5). As selfish as it may seem, her personal honor is the reward of honoring Polyneices against King Creon’s edict. Antigone sites …show more content…
In consistence with most civil disobedience cases, rarely does such unlawful actions goes unpunished, and there was no exception for Antigone. In a coherent manner, as series of events unfolded throughout the story, civil disobedience, and divine laws above that of man, and the price of Pride in unisons created a tragic series of events. As the prideful nature of both King Creon and Antigone sets both characters on a path of disaster. Stubbornly unapologetic for her defying Creon’s edict, Creon had to make an example of out of Antigone. On the other hand, Creon’s Pride rendered him incapable of heeding to Teiresias prophecy of doom to come; with such character flaws in both Creon and Antigone, Sophocles was able to create a character friction that underlined the theme of civil disobedience and the price of pride as the main central idea of the story. As if stubbornness was byproduct of pride, unrepentant Antigone died for her stubbornness, while Creon finally realized his stubbornness and lost his son and his wife for not acknowledging the
Antigone’s words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character by showing
Critical analysis of Creon as a symbolic character, Antigone as a tragedy, and Sophocles as a well-studied intellectual reveal with certainty that the intention was to portray Creon as an unjust
In the short story titled “Antigone,” the author portrays Creon as a tragic hero by displaying flaws in Creon's character shown throughout the story. Creon’s character contains many flaws which lead to many problems. His decisions end up deciding the fates of his son, his wife, and Antigone. Creon finally realizes that what he has done is sinful to the gods. He has put his own pride over the appreciation of the gods.
People have been using ethos, pathos, and logos quotes for a very long time in order to get something that they think is necessary. In Sophocles play as translated by Seamon Heaney, Antigone says these types of quotes in order to justify the burial of her brother Polyneices. In Antigone, there are many wonderful examples of Antigone using ethos, pathos and logos in order to get what she thinks is right. Antigone believes that it is the right thing to bury her dead brother's body even if he was a traitor. “For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate”, a quote about argument by Margaret Heffernan, a famous author.
Pride can be one of man's strongest qualities. In Sophocles' play, Antigone, the Theme of pride becomes the cause for destruction for both Creon and Antigone in the play.. Creon's Pride blinds him to the injustice he commits against Antigone and the gods. Antigone's pride leaves her no choice but to be killed because of her beliefs. They Both automatically surrender to their own hubris and demonstrate how uncontrolled pride leads to personal downfalls and destruction in Antigone.
Civil Disobedience Martin Luther King once stated in "The Letter from Birmingham Jail", "Any individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment to arouse the conscience of the community over it injustice is in reality, expressing the highest respect for the law" (King 411). King meant that, if anyone feels a law is unjust and needed to expose its injustice, should willingly accept any penalty that comes in their way to help arouse people 's conscience in changing that law. In “The Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King explains the four powerful steps of the nonviolent campaign he used to protest against racial injustice for African-Americans
(lines 510-516). Antigone has been captured by the guards and taken to Creon where he ask why she dare break the law that he has set forth. Antigone’s honor lays with the gods and overrides any law man has set forth. Antigone states her beliefs and stands on them with reference to divine law which is a clear conflict of Creon’s decisions. This challenges Creon and stirs up further conflict over who is right and wrong over the matter at hand.
Everything that makes man's life worthwhile-family, work, education, a place to rear one's children and a place to rest one's head -all this depends on decisions of government; all can be swept away by a government which does not heed the demands of its people.” (Kennedy 379). Citizens must not only speak up; they must also be heard by their government as well. Creon enacted a law that he felt was just however, he did not listen to Antigone when she was explaining why she had broken that law. If Creon would have listened to Antigone and taken into consideration the reasons for her unlawful actions, he would have saved himself and his nation from the wrath of the
In the classic play by Sophocles, Antigone is a tragic story of the bold Antigone who defied her uncle, King Creonʻs, edict by burying her brother, Polyneices, who died attacking the city of Thebes, trying to take the power away from their brother, Eteocles, who refused to share the throne with Polyneices. Even though Antigone knew that going against Creon and burying her brother would not end well for her, she still choose to risk her life to do what is right. After being caught breaking the law, Antigone is appointed to be locked away, isolated in a cave until she dies, but she hangs herself at the end. At the same time, things for Creon are not looking good, as everyone around him seems to be against him in his decision for punishing Antigone. Everyone Creon cares about kills themselves from a curse that is put on Creon for not following the Godsʻ laws.
Creon finally realizes that he was wrong and Antigone’s act made him realize this. Antigone was able to create change through her action, and thus making her act a civil disobedient
From world wars to present day national elections, pride can always be connected to many appalling, life-changing issues. Pride has always either been negative or positive, and it has been around forever. In the epic play Antigone, Sophocles demonstrates how Creon’s hubris allows for the downfall of himself and the killing of his family. Creon’s fatal flaw is his hubris. Creon not only loses his family, he also loses the trust of his people.
Against the warning of others, Creon goes on with his plan to essentially sentence Antigone to her death. Creon continually ignores what others counsel him to do because he believes that just because he is king, everything he does is right. It is this thinking that ultimately leads to the death of not only Antigone, but also Creon’s son and wife as well. All tragic heroes suffer from a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. Creon suffers from two tragic flaws, pride and stubbornness.
In Sophocles’ story, Oedipus character shows pride in his country which drove him to look for the truth that was lying just beyond the surface. This was the truth that freed him from the burden of his life, which without he would have always been trapped in. Next, in the story, Antigone is faced with the dilemma of whether to bury her brother or not and the pride that she has not only in her family name but also in her religion gave her the courage to stand up to Creon and follow what she knew was right. This development is the story is essential to who Antigone is yes she ends up a martyr but at the beginning, she is a hero who should be recognized as such. These things perfectly demonstrate how pride is necessary for a character if someone does not have pride in themselves and their country they have no reason or purpose in their lives, without pride characters have nothing to rise too, no call to
In the play Antigone by Sophocles, he demonstrates the many ways an unjust leader can overpower those who fight for what is right (Adams 1). In Antigone’s case, she fought for the just treatment of her brother in his afterlife and for giving him a proper burial. In her fight for justice, Antigone exhibits strong beliefs of fairness to her community regarding family, rights and morality in her battle against a seemingly unjust leader, Kreon. Sophocles’, in Antigone, displays the type of justice called fairness. He pulls the laws and unjust teachings of his time and puts them into a play for all to see and analyze.
Jaanvi Shah Mr. Eyre English 9 March, 2015 Literary Analysis of Antigone John Foster says, “pride comes before fall.” As the action of the Sophocles 's Antigone unfolds, it is clear that the protagonist Creon has all the six characteristics of a tragic hero. Teiresias interactions with Creon help to demonstrate three of those typical traits: Creon’s noble stature, his tragic flaw of having pride and arrogance, and his free choice that makes his downfall his own fault. Creon, the King of Thebes, accords with Aristotle’s theory of a tragic hero beginning as powerful distinguished and important person.