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Sophocle's Sister In Antigone

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The sibling relationship between Antigone and her sister plays as a central theme in the work of “Antigone” by Sophocles. One central theme portrayed by Antigone and her younger sister is loyalty. Antigone places the loyalty of her family and of the gods above the loyalty of obedience to the city. By placing the loyalty of her family and the gods first, antigone shows that loyalty of both are stronger that than the loyalty to the city or ruler. Ismene, Antigone’s sister, at first puts the obedience to the city and the ruler above the loyalty to family and the gods, but later the weighing of Ismene’s loyalty shifts. Analyzing the text as a whole, displays that Antigone knows from the start where her loyalty lies and her beliefs, but the text …show more content…

While each sister believes they are being loyal, they are not and one sister is being less loyal than the other. Ismene did change her mind and decided to help Antigone, but Antigone rejects her. Antigone is already in a cell when Ismene begs Antigone for forgiveness and gets rejected. Ismene deciding she will bury their brother herself gets arrested by Creon. Both sisters now in trouble and are said to be put to death. Antigone in the views of some readers may be the less loyal sister for putting Ismene in the situation to go against the law and to go against her beliefs. In the eyes of other readers, Ismene is the less loyal sister as her loyalty in the beginning did not lie with her family. The different beliefs of the sisters have an affect on the central theme by both showing and not showing loyalty to one another. Antigone's loyalty became questionable as she let her sister get in trouble for something she didn’t want any part in. They showed loyalty by one deciding to finally help, and the other sister showed loyalty by having her sister arrested to not get in trouble, even though Ismene did get in …show more content…

They had to share the crown of being a king and one brother did not like that. The loyalty of the brothers was gone when they killed each other by putting their family in the situation ruling in the death of Antigone. The new king also had loyalty issues as he killed his sons, Haemon, fiance causing Haemon to kill himself and then Creon's wife and Haemon's mother to kill herself leaving Creon lonely. The reason for Creon to be unloyal is because although Antigone went against the law, she was indeed his family and it just shows that Creon’s loyalty and beliefs are above the belief that he should be loyal to his family. Creon’s loyalty did not lie with his family and that is simply shown by the death of Antigone. Creon also did not think of the consequences that her death would have on his son leaving another impression by Sophocles that Creon is uncaring of

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Antigone will always stand up for her family so she will go against her own uncle. Antigone is correct for bold rebellion to bury her brother because she loyal to her family and to the gods. Antigone will always be loyal to her brother no matter what anyone says, even her uncle. According to the play, Antigone says, “Ismene I am going to bury him. Will you come?’’

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Antigone made her viewpoint clear that no matter which side her brothers were on, they were family and worthy of honor. Antigone is more loyal. Antigone is being very loyal to her family by giving their brother a proper burial. It states in the story “Creon buried our brother Eteocles with military honors... but Polyneices...fought as bravely and died as miserably” (Sophocles 666).

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Antigone and her sister Isemene are an example of how different family members can be beside being raised the same way. While Ismene isn’t a destructive character in Antigone’s life she still acts as a foil rather than an antagonist to Antigone the protagonist. A foil exists to cast the spotlight on traits of another character through their own flaws, without creating opposition or conflict to cause harm to the protagonist. While Antigone is strong-willed and determined and willing to defy the law and risk her life to give her brother a proper burial, Ismene is portrayed as more passive and obedient, choosing to obey creon. This contrast highlights Antigone's bravery and morality, making her seem even more determined and admirable.

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Her Life is over./ I have no desire my son should have an evil wife. ”(Sophocles Pg 22, 23) Creon has so much pride that he would actually kill his son's bride himself.

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