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How Did Antigone Break Creon's Law

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In Antigone as the Law of the Gods fights King Creon’s law to obey the law of the Gods. The problem starts when Oedipus’s sons Eteocles and Polyneices had to share one throne. Polyneices and Eteocles murder each other during their battle for the throne. Since their were no other male heir to Creon being the new king made a new decree that Polyneices’ body wouldn’t be buried because he was a traitor for attacking his homeland, but the divine law says that if a body isn’t buried by sundown the soul or ghost of the person will stay present on the earth eternally without resting in peace. Antigone wants to follow the law of the Gods instead of following Creon’s human law. Antigone has to face the consequences of Creon’s Law if she wants to bury …show more content…

Antigone thinks that Creon isn’t rightful King, and she thinks that everything was happening too fast, first the curse on her father, now her brothers are dead, and Creon is new king (815-816). Antigone is not breaking Creon law it is just the one that has a conflict with the law of the Gods because she obey the Gods greatly. Antigone believes that the laws of the Gods are above the human law. Antigone does not care about her life, because she knows that the punishment is death. Antigone says: “But I will bury him: and if i must die/ I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down / With him in death, and I shall be as dear / To him as he to me” (816). Antigone is thinks that when she dies for this human law, she will be honored in death for burying Polyneices. When Creon put Antigone in the stone vault to die on her own time. She just can’t take it anymore and she kills herself. Stubbornness made Antigone lose her own …show more content…

Creon see Antigone as a person who is scheming against him for his crown because she bury Polyneices. Creon did not want to seem weak as the new king, and he wanted to make an example out of Antigone this is why Creon sent her to death. His family and the blind prophet warn Ceon of his actions, but he was too stubborn to care about the consequences of his actions. Creon explains and that Haemon should not care because that she is just a normal women now not even family when she bury Polynices. Creon say: “Do you want me to show myself weak before the people? / Or to break my sworn word? No, and I will not / The women dies. / I suppose she’ll plead “family ties.” Well let her”. (840). Then Creon was visited by the blind prophet Teiresias. Teiresias tells Creon that his actions as king have affected all people of Greece: “This was a sign from heaven. My boy describes it, / Seeing for me as I see for others. / I tell you, Creon, you yourself have brought / This new calamity upon us” (850). Creon tried to save Antigone, but it was already too late. Creon’s downfall is when loses his son, wife, and his willing to rule Thebes because didn't want to change his opinion when putting Antigone in a stone

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186 Words | 1 Pages

Antigone was right in her decision in disobeying Creon and his decree to not bury Polyneices. Antigone was right in her decision in burying polyneices because she was following what she thought was right. She decided to follow what her religion told her to do even if it would cause her death: ” But I will bury him; and if I must die”(Prologue,55). She was not afraid about dying because she knew that

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487 Words | 2 Pages

However, Creon becomes a ruthless leader who did not abide by the laws of the gods and rules by his own will. In the book, Creon decides not to bury Polyneices after being told by Antigone that it is against the gods to not bury someone who fought with valor. After being told numerous times by Antigone to bury Polyneices, he decides to punish her by imprisoning her. This shows that Creon believed that not even the gods can go against his decision. In other words, Creon is concerned only with his

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617 Words | 3 Pages

Creon decreed that it would be against his rule to bury the body of Polynices; nevertheless, Antigone still goes to bury the body because she believes it to be morally right. She can not be seen as entirely evil because she kept the body of her brother from just laying there on the battlefield to rot, yet Antigone can not be seen as completely good since she has broken the first

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1470 Words | 6 Pages

Also, while Antigone is fully motivated to give her family a proper burial, Antigone also criticizes her family, Ismene, for being too much of a sissy and a conformist. For illustration, Ismene insists that whether they agree with or authorize Creon's action is fully inapplicable since Creon is the sovereign of Thebes, and thus, they must “ observe the bones who stand in power ”( Sophocles, 62). Ismene’s belief that simply following Creon’s law is the stylish course of action easily reveals the antipode between her and Antigone. While Ismene wants to bury Polynices just as important as Antigone does, she doesn't believe that burying her family is enough of a defense to simply ignore the law, and clearly enough to die for. This contradiction

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1321 Words | 6 Pages

So, in the end Antigone got what she wanted, which was a proper burial for Polyneices, to die a hero, and to live an eternity with Haimon, but Creon did not get what he wished for. For Creon, the play ended with his furious son killing himself right in front of Creon, and his wife stabbing herself in vein of him. While both character’s fates were greater than they deserved, Creon will suffer from guilt for as long as he is living, he also dreadfully said, “Let death come quickly, and be kind to me. I would not ever see the sun

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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 [...]

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1641 Words | 7 Pages

Creon captures and questions Antigone why she disobeyed his orders to not bury Polynices. In response to Creon’s questions, she said, “That order did not come from God. Justice, / That dwells with the gods below, knows no such law” (138). Antigone is saying that Creon is disobeying the gods with his refusal to bury Polynices, yet he still proceeds with his plan in defiance of the gods. In Ancient Greece, if someone disobeys the gods they could expect the gods to condemn and punish them severely for their actions.

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1501 Words | 7 Pages

As Antigone states when talking to Ismene, “It is the dead, Not the living, who make the longest demands” (694). This clearly tell us that, she is more fearful that the Gods will punish her much worse than Creon ever could if she neglected burying, Polyneices,

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805 Words | 4 Pages

Moral integrity is defined as the quality of being honest, fair, and doing what is right based on what you believe in. In the Greek tragedy, Antigone, a character's’ moral integrity is a vital component of the story. The quality shows strengths, weaknesses, and what someone is willing to do on behalf of what they believe in. Antigone is not only the leading lady of this story, but she is also one of the most important characters.

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385 Words | 2 Pages

When people defend what they believe in or who they love that is sacrifice. In order to be certain that her two brothers she loved had a proper burial and that their souls could rest, Antigone sacrificed her life. Regardless of the potential outcome; even if that means that she was going to have to challenge her uncle (King Creon), she plans on pursuing her quest. Polynices and Eteocles killed each other in battle for control over Thebes, leaving the city to the new King, Creon Jocasta’s brother and Antigone’s uncle. Because of the actions that Polynices took during the war, Creon labels him a traitor and halts any burial process, leaving his body for the animals (222-234).

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622 Words | 3 Pages

Antigone is the daughter of the late king Oedipus, and Creon is the king of Corinth. The conflict that these two face is the burial of Polyneices, who was Antigone’s deceased brother. Creon was not allowing Polynices to be buried, because he had fought against Athens. To Creon, this was correct: “And yet you dared to overstep these laws?” (Sophocles Line 458)

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765 Words | 4 Pages

Antigone being the one to fight for her beliefs and obeying the god's laws attempts the burial of Polyneices and goes against Creon’s law to prove to him that he’s in over his head that he has too much pride in himself, in lines 15-35 Antigone claims that she is going to go

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882 Words | 4 Pages

In lines 599 to 601, Creon’s states that, due to his selfishness and stubbornness, he will not allow a woman, that woman being Antigone, to change his mind and defy his judgement. He declares that, if Antigone chooses to not change her ways, she will be killed, as to not waver from his own decree. Antigone therefore dies as a result of Creon’s insufferable and ignorant ruling, causing her to suffer at Creon’s hand. Creon’s ruling for the murder of Antigone also causes Haemon to suffer. Creon finds Haemon, in his last moments, mourning the loss of Antigone, “now among the dead, his father’s work,” as described by the messenger in line 1364.

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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.

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757 Words | 4 Pages

Creon realizes it’s too late his mistakes, and now that he lost his family, he realizes he should of listened. All his family dead, he is now alone because he was blinded by his pride that he didn't listen. He realized too late of all the consequences that his ignorance brought upon him. Throughout the play Antigone by Sophocles Creon is seen as a tragic hero, due to the fact that he is rude to others when they try to talk to him and acts childish when insulting others.

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