Do Not Ignore the Laws of the Gods Loyalty to the state should not undermine a person’s loyalty to their gods. When the king challenges or ignores the authority of the gods, he is headed for failure. Sophocles trumpets this message throughout his tragic play, Antigone. After Polyneices rebelled against Thebes and killed his brother Eteocles in battle, King Creon decreed that a traitor to the state cannot be buried.
The Burial at Thebes, a version of Sophocles’ Antigone written by Seamus Heaney, is a play about newly appointed King Creon, who brands the brother of his niece Antigone a traitor and mandates that his body remains unburied, which sparks the overall conflict in the play. In his first speech that this essay will be focusing on, Creon attempts to assert his newfound authority and justify his command denying Polyneices a burial. Creon's clever use of rhetorical devices such as ethos, logos and pathos throughout his speech, created an atmosphere for him to be able to not only establish himself as head of state in the eyes of his audience, but also managed to persuade them to accept his decision regarding Eteocles and Polyneices. Creon begins
Annotated Bibliography Topic: Discuss ancient Greek funeral and burial traditions and then illustrate why these matter to Antigone’s activity during the play. Be sure to analyze Antigone’s motives based on these traditions. Thesis: Greek burial traditions were extremely important during the time of Antigone’s need to bury her brother, Polynices, even though Creon says it is against his law. Antigone based her beliefs off traditions from the past, causing many people to not agree with her.
In the first moments of the play, Antigone is opposed to her sister Ismene, because she was afraid Antigone wanted
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.
The search for justice is never ending. Justice may be delayed, denied, or postponed, however, the search is timeless. To be just is to argue for fair rights for all. It is to be someone that will help the people of the community. However, many times justice is not sought and not given to those who need it most.
In Antigone, there was two brothers who shared being the King and one of the brothers, Polynices, wanted to start a war with the kingdom because he wanted to be the main ruler. Polynices and his brother Eteocles fight and they both end up killing each other. Their Uncle Creon, who takes position as King when they are both killed, decides that only Eteocles will have a proper burial and Polynices will be left to rot. Antigone, Polynices and Eteocles sister, thinks that Creon’s decision is unfair and takes upon herself to give Polynices a proper burial. When their other sister Ismene finds out, she is stuck between helping her sister bury their brother and following Creon’s demands.
Antigone uses both logical and emotional appeals to persuade her sister Ismene that their brother Polyneices should be honored and have a proper burial. During an argument between Antigone and Ismene, Ismene believes that the law should be obeyed therefore she will not help Antigone. Antigone states, “Polyneices, who fought as bravely and died as miserably…no one shall bury him, no one mourn for him… his body must lie in the fields (Sophocles et al.190).” Antigone is trying to communicate to Ismene through the use of an emotional and logical appeal by explaining that he was, left to be decomposed by the birds. In the Greek culture, having a burial is a civic and religious duty which is necessary to proceed to the afterlife unaffected.
The ritual of burying a family member was important to ancient greek culture. The gods from the greek religion are the ones who said that the burial must happen or else the deceased would be stuck halfway to the underworld. Antigone’s family history had not been the best up until the point of her brothers’ deaths. In the book it was stated that Antigone felt very strongly about burying her brother no matter what Creon said. In the text after the play it is written by senior editor Paul Moliken that “When Creon Forbids the burial of Polyneices, he is denying Antigone the opportunity to perform one of the most significant duties that Greek society allowed for women.
He considered that Polynice did not deserve to be interred and he would punish who tried to do it. Making reference to the play, the first act describes with clarity what each of the two sisters, Antigone and Ismene, understand about power and justice. The discussion that they have is about to bury their brother Polynice or not. The position of Ismene (the oldest sister) is noticeably submissive, and obedient, even if she think the same as her sister, she believe that the correct thing is to do what her uncle is told because is the man, the leader, the king, he is who have the power, and the role of women is just to be married, be quiet and loyal. She argues that because she and Antigone are women, they lack the power to defy the state.
Antigone believes she should have the right of her brother’s burial. Creon states, “No one shall burry him, no one mourn for him” (Sophocles 2) illustrating that Polyneicis is irrelevant in the city of Thebes. The law in Greek society is a female should not have power or freedom over any circumstance. Antigone demands rights over her brother and will not accept
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.
The play Antigone, by Sophocles, presents the power of love, which the sword cannot defeat. Nevertheless, the play itself provides the idea in which it might be argued whether love is one of the superior forces in society that drives people to pursue their ideals. The story itself, places Antigone determined to carry out the burying of her brother Polyneices with the purpose of honouring him and giving him the importance she thinks he deserves. Considering this an act of love, Antigone is willing to overcome the laws of the state and Creon’s orders by sacrificing her own life in order to distinguish the reputation of her family.
“I shall be hating you soon,” (193). Antigone then transitions into a more emotional form of persuasion, by threatening the relationship between them if she is to not join in on her plan. This targets the guilty conscience of Ismene which is normally what tends to push people to agree with the arguer, although it can be seen as a slightly manipulative tactic. Despite Antigone’s passive aggressive argument with Ismene, she fails to convince her to join the burial and carries out her mission on her own. However, the sentry Creon sent to spy on the grave spots her and brings her to Creon as the guilty
In ancient Greece, a common saying that all citizens had in their very core, a traditional Greek principle, was this: love your friends, and hate your enemies. This rule seems pretty straightforward and would appear easy to apply in real life. However, in the timeless play Antigone, Sophocles shows his audience a situation where this maxim does not apply. Sophocles concentrates on a complex story where the values and principles of the ancient Greek culture come into conflict. Religious or moral versus secular, family versus community, and living versus dead: all of these conflicting aspects are explored in Antigone.
