ipl-logo

Antigone Research Paper

1925 Words8 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Negative effects of happiness

Claire Manguerra Phil 140-02 April 27, 2015 Professor Eisenman Final Paper The Choices We Make Should Make Us Happy In life, we have choices, good and bad. Sometimes the choices we make are very dangerous, but in our mind and heart, we know it is correct. We do not have much time in our life to be sad and regret things we do. Therefore we need to make choices that make us happy and satisfied. People should live their life how they want to because it will make them a happier person. In the books that we have read in class, I have noticed a constant force each character had of having a choice that would make them happier. In the book Apology, Socrates taught individuals his belief because he wanted too. In the book Antigone, Antigone goes against …show more content…

Antigone challenges Creon himself, who is the male ruler of Thebes. “And if you think my acts are foolishness the foolishness may be in a fool’s eye” (Antigone 470). In this line, Antigone shows her opinion by calling Creon a fool. This represents that she does not have respect for Creon for being king or for being a male in a patriarchal society. Women are known to never disobey males because they did not have as much power as the men did. Creon knows that she cannot do it because he is king and everyone will listen to the ruler of his or her town. But Antigone goes against this and buries her brother anyway. Antigone also goes against the government’s laws, which are run by a male. She tells Creon the reason she buried her brother was because he loves him and that they are family. “It’s not for him to keep me from my own” (Antigone 48). Antigone rebels against the norm of being a women and saying what she believes in because in this society, women had no say in their opinion. Ismene tells her sister “…since we are subject to stronger power we must hear these orders, or any that may be worse” (Antigone 63). Ismene knows that women have no power in their society because of their gender. But Antigone is not afraid of what Creon is going to do to her so she buries her brother anyway. She knows that what she did could put the consequence of her to death, but her attitude shows incredible

Show More
Related
1180 Words | 5 Pages

One can either choose to be positive about situations in their life or negative. They can either choose the good leaves or the bad

Read More
1222 Words | 5 Pages

She is not afraid of the most powerful man in her community, and even when faced with the punishment of death, she continues to battle against the idea of men being more capable and possessing more power. Antigone highlights how the expectations of ancient Greeks were that a woman was to silently obey the male figures in her life. Antigone confronts the false ideals of her time, and demonstrates that a rebel and a hero should have no gender associated with it and that a woman’s power and abilities has no bounds. Antigone not only is able to show Creon and every other man in Thebes that she is just as strong as they are, she displays piety while doing so. She fights against the law of man, and obeys the law of the gods.

Read More
1116 Words | 5 Pages

As Ismene gives her advice to Antigone on whether or not she should bury their brother, Antigone disagrees with her sister's opinion and replies, “[h]e is my brother still, and yours;/ though you would have it otherwise,/ but I shall not abandon him” (Sophocles 345). Antigone decides to ignore her sisters advice, which she later reflects on when she is being sentenced by Creon, as she let her pride get the better of her by not listening to her sister. Due to her decisions, Antigone can be represented as a character who does not want to be proven wrong and doesn’t want to face the reality of others’ opinions.

Read More
1226 Words | 5 Pages

His free choice is represented by a quote from the guard surveying Polyneices body, “We saw this girl giving that dead man's corpse full burial rites—an act you’d made illegal” (337). Although Creon's own niece turns out to be the one that went against his word, he still chooses to follow through with the punishment even though the deed Antigone did was morally right. The punishment that he lays upon Antigone is excessive and unjust considering the crime. While in an argument with her, he calls to his guards proclaiming, “Take her and shut her up, as I have ordered, in her tomb’s embrace [...]

Read More
406 Words | 2 Pages

The excessive pride of Creon and Antigone lead to their downfalls in Antigone. In the scene in which creon is confronted by Antigone about his commands he says “go down and love you must- love the dead! While I’m alive, no woman is going to lord it over me” () Creon

Read More
1452 Words | 6 Pages

This can be seen through how Ismene and Antigone act. Ismene will follow what will help her, and Antigone will strongly follow her religious beliefs. At the end of the play, Ismene is trying to have part of the punishment put on Antigone because she feels guilty inside for not taking part in the burial of

Read More
736 Words | 3 Pages

After catching Antigone, he declares, “Listen, if she’s not punished for taking the upper hand, / Then I am not a man. She would be a man!” (pg. 20). It is evident that Creon believes women should be punished for not staying in their place.

Read More
667 Words | 3 Pages

Men have a lot of pride in Antigone, they believe that women are secondary in society. With men talking down to women; for example, Creon says to Antigone “Pride? In a slave?... Who is the man here…”

Read More
552 Words | 3 Pages

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?"

Read More
860 Words | 4 Pages

In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Antigone, a woman’s individual conscience trumps state law when Antigone displays time and again that she values her divine motives higher than those of the state throughout the tragedy. Her continued defiance of the state’s authority marks the importance of her individuality through various scenes in Antigone. Knowing full well her role as a woman in a patriarchal society, Antigone goes beyond the powers of the common man to carry on morals of herself and family exceeding beyond immortality and death. Engulfed in the menacing misogyny King Creon set forth in the state, Antigone is determined to thrive and keep the sacred deeds of herself and family in tact despite the fate it bears. The character of Antigone exhibits

Read More
1014 Words | 5 Pages

Ismene is stuck in between choosing what is right and what is dishonoring/wrong; the right choice would be to follow the divine law, their gods law, or follow Creon’s law that goes against the gods’. Creon’s man law also proves that his tragic flaw was hubris; his excessive pride and belief that his power was unlimited caused a series of events that led to his tragic downfall. The theme of gender roles, especially the “place” of women, is very limited. “Burying and mourning their dead relatives gave women an opportunity to do something important for their families. It brought women to the fore and gave them a role to play” (67), this quote is proving that a Creon is limiting one of the few things women were allowed to at the time of their society, which was for Antigone to bury Polynices.

Read More
636 Words | 3 Pages

But Antigone does not think that way because she disobeys for the sake of her brother. But as well she places the gods as the highest ruler instead of Creon, the King of Thebes. I think Creon views women as objects, he believes that men are in control and women should back down and obey the men. “there are places enough for him to push his plow. I want no wicked women for my sons.”

Read More
770 Words | 4 Pages

As Antigone tries to convince Ismene to help, she exclaims, “Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way.” She feels as though honoring her brother is worth dying for and that Creon can not “stand in her way.” When Creon hears of this startling news, he questions the ability of women to stand up to him in which he states, “Pride? In a slave?” At this point in time women are not seen as equals to men.

Read More
1113 Words | 5 Pages

She was outraged when she found out that her brother Polyneices was going to be left to rot and be eaten by animals, because he was a traitor to the city. Antigone believed that her brother deserved a proper burial even though he tried going against the city unlike her other brother Eteocles. She asks Ismene (her sister) to join her in this act of rebellion but Ismene does not want to get in trouble for going against her kings orders so Antigone does it on her own. Creon feels disrespected and punishes Antigone for not following his rules. He seals Antigone while she is alive, inside a tomb.

Read More
711 Words | 3 Pages

Life is full of hard choices. Everyone makes hundred thousand decisions every day. It may be a small thing or a big thing. Every day, we choose what to wear, which road to take, what to eat or drink, and when to go to bed. We decide what to be our jobs, should we marry or not, and will we have a baby.

Read More

More about Antigone Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document