Antigone vs Creon
Task: Write an essay about the conflict between Antigone and Creon in Antigone, by Sophocles. Show how each is right in his or her own fundamental belief. Then show how the tragedy was inevitable or show how one side was wrong and should have changed.
In Antigone, by Sophocles, there is conflict between the characters Antigone and Creon. Antigone is characterized as a rebellious girl, who turns into a martyr, and just lost both her brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, in a war between the city-states of Thebes and Argos. Eteocles was fighting the war on Thebes’s side, Thebes is where they live, but Polynices was fighting for the Argos army. Creon, the king of Thebes as well as Antigone’s uncle, has made a law that Polynices may not be given proper burial rights on the account of him being a traitor to Thebes. Antigone feels personally victimized by this law, she feels as though Creon has created this law entirely for her and Ismene, her sister. Antigone, the rebel, defies Creon’s orders and “buries” Polynices with one handful of dirt and in return is arraigned and executed, or more accurately committed suicide while she sat in her death chamber. Personally, I feel that both characters are wrong in their actions; however, I don’t fully understand the thought processes of ancient Theban citizens either.
“Hasn’t Creon graced one with all the rites, / disgraced the other? Eteocles, they say, / has been given full military honors, / rightly so- Creon has laid him in the earth/ and he goes with glory down among the dead. / But the body of Polynices, who died miserably- / why, a city-wide proclamation, rumor has it, / forbids anyone to bury him, even mourn him (Antigone 27-34).” Antigone goes on to explain to Ismene that she believes that Creon has imposed this law specifically for them. This quote from Antigone shows the conflict of the entire play. Antigone has a great love for both of her brothers and feels that they both deserve to be buried even though
In Antigone, by Sophocles, there is conflict between the characters Antigone and Creon. Antigone is characterized as a rebellious girl, who turns into a martyr, and just lost both her brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, in a war between the city-states of Thebes and Argos. Eteocles was fighting the war on Thebes’s side, Thebes is where they live, but Polynices was fighting for the Argos army. Creon, the king of Thebes as well as Antigone’s uncle, has made a law that Polynices may not be given proper burial rights on the account of him being a traitor to Thebes. Antigone feels personally victimized by this law, she feels as though Creon has created this law entirely for her and Ismene, her sister. Antigone, the rebel, defies Creon’s orders and “buries” Polynices with one handful of dirt and in return is arraigned and executed, or more accurately committed suicide while she sat in her death chamber. Personally, I feel that both characters are wrong in their actions; however, I don’t fully understand the thought processes of ancient Theban citizens either.
“Hasn’t Creon graced one with all the rites, / disgraced the other? Eteocles, they say, / has been given full military honors, / rightly so- Creon has laid him in the earth/ and he goes with glory down among the dead. / But the body of Polynices, who died miserably- / why, a city-wide proclamation, rumor has it, / forbids anyone to bury him, even mourn him (Antigone 27-34).” Antigone goes on to explain to Ismene that she believes that Creon has imposed this law specifically for them. This quote from Antigone shows the conflict of the entire play. Antigone has a great love for both of her brothers and feels that they both deserve to be buried even though
Bibliography: Fagles, Robert. The Three Theban Plays. United States of America: Penguin Classics, 1984.