Antigone suggests that Creon has defied the divine law even though he claims to promote lawful behavior, suggesting that he violate ritual and that it is her duty to change that, "Hate and scorn and shame have followed us, we two, living with hell's own curse... now Creon makes an enemy of our own flesh and blood" (Braun 22). Antigone argues that her actions are done out of love, desperately pleading to her sister Ismene "You coward! Stop turning my love into hate... you know what I must do.. how can you deny it" (Bethune 1; Braun 24). Antigone also proclaims that she "wasn't born to hate one with the other, but to love both together" referring to her brothers (Braun 42). "I am different. I love my brother" (Braun 24). The chorus however suggests that law superceded love, stating "The mind is full of cunning, for evil and for good. We honor human law, we honor the law of god, but the sinner is cast out." Antigone rises above the law however, suggesting that love can overcome and overpower it. This is evidenced by Creon's assault on Antigone during their confrontation, where, enraged by Antigone's defiance Creon grabs her wrist and twists it. This causes immediate pain but then as the squeezing increasing, Antigone feels nothing suggesting that she is beyond the reach of the law and state of power that Creon...
Creon however may also be viewed as unlovable, someone who has surrendered himself to suffering and the "burdens of rule" (Tan 1). He distances himself from personal love and instead concerns himself only with affirming political order. Yet despite this Creon finds the act of sentencing Antigone loathsome, and her death leaves him robbed of his dignity, mourning and alone (Tan 1).
Ismene would later be pardoned, but Antigone's decision to include her sister in the plot denotes further criminality on Antigone's part. In any case, the crime that Antigone commits is relatively minor: she is not harming anyone and is actually following the law of custom, tradition, and religion, a law which Antigone places before any law of the mundane world. Ironically, her suicide can be interpreted as a further violation
Sophocles plays "Antigone," and "Oedipus Rex." COMPARING THE SCENES Teiresias is the blind prophet of Apollo. He appears in both plays to warn the characters of some danger, or teach them what they need to learn, through the seeings of Apollo. He is the messenger of Apollo, bringing his words to the "mortals." He does not want to deliver his message at first, but Oedipus eggs him on, and he says, "Teiresias:
Thus, the nobility of Antigone's character lies in her reluctance to condemn her sister, whereas her tragic flaw lies in her fanatical devotion to the men in her family, to the point that she wishes to lie with her brother's corpse. Antigone's fall comes when she is caught burying Polyneices' corpse, and the fact that her subservience to patriarchy is the precise reason for this fall is revealed in Creon's
Antigone What is fate, and what is free will? In Sophocles' play Antigone, both fate and free will are important in determining the outcome of the play. Fate is presented as something that the gods determine. It is the destiny of human beings, and something that people have no control over. No matter how hard a person like Antigone or Creon tries to fight fate, their lives are not entirely our
Antigone Literature has the ability to reflect the society in which the piece was created and the cultural beliefs of that community. This cultural perspective also has to do with the religion of the community in which the piece of literature was written. The discrepancy between religious belief and the demands and order of the governmental system is a particularly common theme in literature. Perhaps one of the best examples of
However, there are a number of similarities in the two writings, ranging from the dominance of men over women to the determination of women to do as they please, with no care whatsoever of the consequences that their actions have on themselves. "My Duchess" does not actually bring proof to support the concept that the duchess is actually dead, thus leading one to believe that she did not receive the
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