Creon Decrees In Antigone

In the story, Antigone, Creon, the king, established two decrees in the land of Thebes. The first decree is nobody should bury Polyneices and the second, Antigone and her sister, Ismene, be put to death. Antigone, Polyneices sister, performed an act of civil disobedience by burying her brother with full knowledge she would die. Although Ismene didn’t commit the crime, she still wanted to be punished. Ismene said, “But now I know what you meant; and I am here to join you to take my share.” As the story progresses, the effects of Creon’s decrees result in rebellion, unhappiness, and death. As mentioned before, Antigone performed an act of civil disobedience by burying her brother. Thus, she rebelled against Creon’s specific mandate. For a rebellion to happen, Antigone had to perform the action with all knowledge she would die or another punishment would occur. Rosa Parks experienced a similar situation. When the “separate but equal” movement was still underway, the official law was that any colored people had to give up a front bus seat for a privileged white individual. In 1955, Rosa Parks, a colored woman, refused to give up her seat.

Consequently, they vocalized their opinions to Creon; making him short-tempered and depressed. He soon gave into peer pressure along with anger and introduced an alternative punishment for the two sisters. Creon said, “Oh, it is hard to give in! But it is worse to risk everything for stubborn pride.” Though he tried to make a change, in the end he was still unhappy because his wife and son died. Ismene would not be punished since she did not commit the crime and Antigone received banishment to a small cell as an alternative to death. Antigone stated, “Think death less than a friend? This death of mine.” She is depressed because her brother died and she’s in solitary