Antigone Paper
Throughout life there are many decisions that one will have to make that could have a variety of outcomes, an example of this is seen in Sophocles’ Antigone. Antigone, the protagonist of the story, faces a unique dilemma; Creon, the new King of Thebes (who is also Antigone’s uncle) states that anyone caught trying to bury Polyneices (one of the two brothers who ruled Thebes before Creon) will face great punishment. Antigone wants to ensure that her brother has a proper afterlife, so she has to decide if it is worth breaking the law for her brother’s sake. What Sophocles is trying to tell the reader about human nature is that one’s selfish nature will impair them from making proper decisions, and as seen from Creon, these poor …show more content…
Sophocles use of foreshadowing is very prevalent in this story; Antigone is warned a number of times to avoid burying her brother, but she continues to instead listen to her gut instincts, which turns out to be a horrible idea. Despite Antigone knowing that if she gets caught she’ll face an intense punishment already, but it would even be worse because of the fact that she is a woman. Creon’s determination also leads to his downfall, by claiming to punish whoever buried Oedipus, he is going down the same path that Oedipus, which clearly didn’t end up working out for Oedipus. One quote that supports this is from …show more content…
CREON: Not I, thy life is mine, and that's enough. ANTIGONE: Why dally then? To me no word of thine Is pleasant: God forbid it e'er should please; Nor am I more acceptable to thee. And yet how otherwise had I achieved A name so glorious as by burying A brother? so my townsmen all would say, Where they not gagged by terror, Manifold A king's prerogatives, and not the least That all his acts and all his words are law. (497-506)
Both character’s determination lead to all the bad events that would later occur. This is also another example of how Antigone is willing to sacrifice herself for a cause she believes in. Antigone doesn’t embrace death, but she is willing to accept it in for her brother’s sake. There are many possible examples of how rules and morals can sometimes interfere with one another. In Sophocles’ Antigone, this is conveyed through death; Antigone has to decide if it is worth breaking the law to ensure that her brother is damned for the rest of time, and she makes the decision to bury him and in doing that, she causes the downfall of many other characters in the play, much like her father Oedipus. The message of the play is that if one acts selfish, s(he) will have to face serious
Throughout life there are many decisions that one will have to make that could have a variety of outcomes, an example of this is seen in Sophocles’ Antigone. Antigone, the protagonist of the story, faces a unique dilemma; Creon, the new King of Thebes (who is also Antigone’s uncle) states that anyone caught trying to bury Polyneices (one of the two brothers who ruled Thebes before Creon) will face great punishment. Antigone wants to ensure that her brother has a proper afterlife, so she has to decide if it is worth breaking the law for her brother’s sake. What Sophocles is trying to tell the reader about human nature is that one’s selfish nature will impair them from making proper decisions, and as seen from Creon, these poor …show more content…
Sophocles use of foreshadowing is very prevalent in this story; Antigone is warned a number of times to avoid burying her brother, but she continues to instead listen to her gut instincts, which turns out to be a horrible idea. Despite Antigone knowing that if she gets caught she’ll face an intense punishment already, but it would even be worse because of the fact that she is a woman. Creon’s determination also leads to his downfall, by claiming to punish whoever buried Oedipus, he is going down the same path that Oedipus, which clearly didn’t end up working out for Oedipus. One quote that supports this is from …show more content…
CREON: Not I, thy life is mine, and that's enough. ANTIGONE: Why dally then? To me no word of thine Is pleasant: God forbid it e'er should please; Nor am I more acceptable to thee. And yet how otherwise had I achieved A name so glorious as by burying A brother? so my townsmen all would say, Where they not gagged by terror, Manifold A king's prerogatives, and not the least That all his acts and all his words are law. (497-506)
Both character’s determination lead to all the bad events that would later occur. This is also another example of how Antigone is willing to sacrifice herself for a cause she believes in. Antigone doesn’t embrace death, but she is willing to accept it in for her brother’s sake. There are many possible examples of how rules and morals can sometimes interfere with one another. In Sophocles’ Antigone, this is conveyed through death; Antigone has to decide if it is worth breaking the law to ensure that her brother is damned for the rest of time, and she makes the decision to bury him and in doing that, she causes the downfall of many other characters in the play, much like her father Oedipus. The message of the play is that if one acts selfish, s(he) will have to face serious