Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Antigone
Sophocles, an Athenian politician and dramatist, wrote Antigone and Oedipus the King, two famous works, known for the connection of tragedy between generations of the characters. Indeed, Antigone's fate is shaped not only through her own actions, but through Oedipus' sin as well. Any analysis of Antigone is therefore incomplete without first taking into account its linkages to Oedipus.
Both Antigone and Oedipus have the same theme of the hubris or arrogance of even the most powerful of men (Oedipus and Creon) ultimately having to bow down before 'the supreme will and power of the Gods', as exemplified in "But if any man comes striding, high and mighty, in all he says and does, no fear of justice, no reverence for the temples of the gods -- let a rough doom tear him down, repay his pride, breakneck, ruinous pride!" (Chorus: Oedipus) and again in Antigone:"Isn't a man's right to burial decreed by divine justice? I don't consider your pronouncements so important that they can just...overrule the unwritten laws of heaven."
The common theme gets magnified since Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Creon, his brother-in-law and the sense of continued tragedy. "For once a family...
Both Oedipus and Creon move from being prideful, heroic kings to self-realization through tragic fate that humbles them in the end.
In Antigone, the virtues in Creon's character are established upfront at the beginning of the play. He is shown as a valiant warrior, a patriot and loyalist to his State, who ascends the throne not by design but by an accident of fate after the deaths of Oedipus' sons in battle.
It is perhaps Creon's very virtues and strong sense of right vs. wrong that is the cause of his willfulness in insisting that Polynices not be given a proper burial. Creon's strong convictions and contempt for lesser mortals come through very clearly when he says, "Such the spirit of my dealing; and never, by deed of mine, shall the wicked stand in honour before the just; but whoso hath good will to Thebes, he shall be honoured of me, in his life and in his death."
It is the same arrogance that leads him into inviting the wrath of the Gods by going against his own religion which decreed that when a corpse was left uncovered…
Antigone and Oedipus Rex are both tragic plays by Sophocles. In many ways, these plays are similar to one another as tragedies. For one, they are part of the same set of texts by Sophocles. Antigone is the first installment in the series of three plays. Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) is the second of the trilogy. Second, the title characters in the plays are related, as Antigone is the
Antigone is the last play in the Oedipus cycle written by Sophocles. In the play, Antigone, the Oedipus's sister-daughter challenges her uncle, Creon, who has ascended the Theban throne after he brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, are killed in battle. In the play, Antigone defies Creon's mandate that Polyneices should not be granted a proper burial because he is an traitor and an enemy of the state. Because of her opposing
Antigone: A clash of state and personal values Sophocles' drama Antigone unfolds the tale of the tragic daughter of Oedipus Rex. At the beginning of the play Antigone is the bereft sister of two dead brothers who died fighting in the Theban civil war. Creon gives the brother (Eteocles) who defended the city's current leadership a hero's burial while leaves the other brother (Polyneices) to rot in the streets, exposed to
As a character, Creon is almost and inverse of Antigone, because his concern for his own authority trumps his love for his own family, as he all but disowns his son Haemon for the latter's support of Antigone. As these flaws are the most important elements of characterization in terms of the plot, they essentially define the characters even in spite of the interior emotional lives hinted at within
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