" " " " " " Opposing Laws: A Study of Sophocles’ Antigone " In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, we see a struggle between two brothers deaths. According to Antigone, because human beings are forced to make difficult decisions between opposing laws; divine law becomes the most valuable. Yet the issue of the play goes beyond that conflict and touches the universal conditions of suffering, religion, and loyalty to family." " " In the early stages of the Prologue (1-84), Antigone shows devotion to her family through the burial of her brother. According to Antigone’s own speech:" " " …Creon buried our brother Eteocles with military honors, gave him a " " soldier’s funeral, and it was right that should: but Polyneices,
In the play “Antigone” written by Sophocles, it is clear that both family and authority are honoured in many different ways. Both Antigone and Haemon honor family while Creon and Ismene honor authority. Antigone values her family as she fights against the law to bury her unburied brother, Haemon shares his thoughts with his father and also through his love for his bride shows family honor. Creon shows arrogant thoughts towards the ideas of family honor when he creates the law that his nephew should not be buried, Ismene shows strong honor to authority as she does not help her sister bury and honor her brother. Throughout this play Sophocles contrasts family vs authority which diminishes and changes relationships between family members and characters.
The difference between both of them is that they aspire to two very different aspects of life; She wants respect and he wants power, we see that those two principles do not always agree with each other. We obviously see that both are ready to face the extreme. But Creon could not be considered as a Sophoclean hero because all he does is respect what he has to do, the written laws. He could have made an exception, especially for his niece but he did not. Antigone was overpowered by unwritten laws, which are what makes her a Sophoclean hero.
The main conflict arises when Antigone decides to go against civil law and bury her deceased brother. She justifies her actions when she states that “Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way.” (Pro.35). She remains completely loyal to divine law because she believes that her life will be judged by the gods and her main goal is to please them. Despite civil law, Antigone trusts her
In addition to excessive pride, both fate and love play a role in the causes of the deaths of loved ones. These deaths were a result of contrasting beliefs; Antigone stood for what she believed in, and died for what she felt was right, whilst Creon, the powerful King of Thebes, established a law prohibiting the burial of Polyneices. This conflicted with Antigone’s beliefs, therefore challenging her uncle Creon, and showing disregard for his ruling of Polyneices denial of burial rites. This in turn, consequently resulted in the death of Creon’s son, Haemon, and his wife Eurydice. Throughout the play, conflict of dissimilarity develops between the two protagonists, Antigone and Creon.
Because Antigone had nothing left to live for, while knowing the sentence of stoning, Antigone defied King Creon’s edict in order to fulfill her duty. Bound by her dead brother’s last wish for a proper burial, Antigone could do nothing more than respect and honor spilt family blood. The defendant, Antigone, was also compelled to commit this laudable act by the higher and more demanding laws of heaven. When faced with King Creon’s irrational edict and the edict of morals and the gods, Antigone chose the righteous and selfless
She also holds her family above the laws of man. She finds the thought of not burying her brother Polynices unacceptable and vows to do so even if it means a death sentence for her. Even Ismene, her sister, doesn’t understand her thoughts on the
King Creon lets it be known that Polyneices, Antigone’s brother, the traitor is not to be buried, but his sister Antigone defies the order because of the values she holds. For instance, Antigone believed that god’s law should come before everything. Creon believed that everyone should listen to the laws of man but Antigone doesn't agree with this because she believes that the laws of the gods should be held above
I didn’t expect Amy to go against her religion and kill Frank Miller in an effort to save Will Kane. Throughout the entire movie, Amy stuck to her morals and did what was expected of her, not what she felt was right. That is exactly how her character and Will’s differ. Will Kane was always looking out what was best for the townspeople. Amy was selfish.
Anyone who buried Polynices would be punished by death. Creon does this to demonstrate to his people that anyone who tries to overthrow the king, as Polynices did, will be punished. He does this to protect his position as king, and the position of Thebes’ future rulers. Antigone decided to go against her uncle’s rule and bury Polynices. One might argue that Antigone acted not to disobey her uncle, but because she cared for her brother.