Essays on Antigone

In the book, Creon as Antigone’s uncle is a powerfully built strong man. He is, however, a weary and wrinkled old man suffering from the burdens of the rule. He portrays several character traits as portrayed in the book. He is seen as a person bound only to ideas making a good sense. This is portrayed as he only agrees with the things and other character’s ideas that make good sense. This is seen as he practically distances himself from the termed tragic aspirations of Oedipus and his entire line. He is dedicated to upholding only the righteous and important matters that ...

Thesis

Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles that begins with the deaths of two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices; their deaths are caused by their own swords in a struggle for the throne after their father, Oedipus, dies. Creon, the relative who takes up the throne allows for an honourable burial of Eteocles but denies Polyneices the same respect. He issues a decree that Polyneices’ body be dumped in the wild and no respect to be paid for it. Antigone, Polyneices and Eteocles’ sister, learns of the decree but goes ahead to bury her brother, Polyneices, despite the orders given by the king, Creon ( ...

In the Greek play Antigone, there exist great conflicts between religious/moral laws vs. state/human law. The rebel (stubborn Antigone) and Creon the king, fully represent the conflicts that lie within the laws. Antigone believes that the god’s decrees accompanied by his family chores in taking care of his two brothers had a great importance than any other written laws and decrees by man. She dares to ignore all the written laws including the ones passed by the mighty Ruler of Thebes. She ignores the fact that the powerful King is her uncle and leaves no chance to bow to ...

Sophocles was one of the most prescient and well-regarded playwrights of Greek drama, whose tragedies have established many literary and theatrical conventions that are still alive today. While Sophocles’ work is indicative of the culture in which it was created, it is also a trenchant critique of human nature as well. This comes across especially clearly in his Theban plays – Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus – in which he uses his stories and characters to reflect flaws and issues he sees with the human condition and its relationship with the gods. Exploring these critical aspects of Sophocles’ Theban ...

Introduction

The main antagonist in the Theban plays, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, Creon undergoes a major character transformation. This is clearly indicated in the three roles he takes up in respective plays. In Oedipus the King, Creon is the loyal brother-in-law who is accused by the former of murder. He is depicted as a lover of his family and of the people of Thebes. In Oedipus at Colonus, this nature slowly fades away and he becomes devious and deceptive. As a king, Creon, a noble statesman finds himself between a rock and a hard place while he decides to stand for the ...

Antigone and Creon

Antigone and Creon are the main characters in the play Antigone by Sophocles. These two characters have opposed views on various issues but are alike in many ways. The play Antigone features these two central characters that have different set of values and loyalties against each other in the public. Despite their enormous discrepancies, Antigone and Creon have many similarities that make them uniquely alike in numerous ways. They are both loyal towards their views, independent as well as arrogant and hasty in decision making. However, Sophocles tried to make Creon and Antigone different, at the same time he ...

3 Short Essays

The conversation between Crito and Socrates took place inside the prison wherein Socrates was waiting for his execution. His loyal friend Crito arrived earlier before the break of dawn to tell Socrates to save his life by escaping from prison. By escaping, Crito will keep him as his true friend and will not be accused by people that he did not do what was needed to save a friend’s life. However, Socrates does not care about the majority’s opinion. What he was concerned about is his friends’ would be in trouble from the authorities after ...

‘Instructor’s Name’

‘Subject’ Thinking Critically with Drama- Antigone Antigone is a tragic play written by Sophocles in or before 441 BCE. Although it is the last of the Oedipus trilogy, Antigone was written first and bagged the first prize at the Dionysia festival. The play deals with a female protagonist who acts against the order of the king, and in the process meets her untimely death. The conflicts between the two main characters Creon and Antigone, is a powerful human struggle, which is still relevant as it was during that day. It is a struggle of an individual against the establishment. Antigone by ...

Just like anyone else, all characters in a story have their own historical background and information regarding their pasts. This information is usually very important in understanding their traits and their current lives. Therefore such information assist readers understand a specific story. This is what is referred to as exposition. Generally it can be defined as the historical background touching on the characters and setting in a given story usually at the beginning of the story. The major information is usually occurrences that took place before the story was initiated. Therefore it is usually the initial part of the plot. Therefore, in ...

World Literature

‘Antigone’ by Sophocles: Analyzing the importance of Teiresias in Greek tragedy Greek Literature speaks of ‘Antigone’ as the tragic play, which was written by Sophocles during 441 B.C. Some of the literary experts are of the view that the original manuscript belonged to years much before 441 B.C.; however, the lack of evidence certifying the earlier dates suggest the former as the age of this storyline (Leach). This play is an important asset that World Literature preserves with care, and serves as the source for many important inferences that can be drawn from each event that ...

Sophocles’ literary work “Antigone,” is one of the most popular books related to Greek mythology. Antigone, the central character of the book, believes that both her birth and family history instilled a desire of death in her instead of a desire for life. When Antigone realizes that Creon’s prohibition on burying a body is against the law of gods, she does not risk death to bury a child or a husband. However, in the case of her brother Polyneices, Antigone happily risks death to bury as she desires death to have a union with her brother that she longs for. The quote from the ...

The book “Antigone,” written by Sophocles is one of the most famous works on philosophy. The attitudes and actions of several characters in the play showcase gender and tragic morality. In regards to gender, Antigone showcases feminist logic, while Creon favors patriarchal society. While Creon demands the people to follow the laws set by him by ignoring religious and moral beliefs, Antigone believes that God’s laws lay above all other laws. The confrontation between Antigone and Creon gives rise to the conflicts between genders in “Antigone.” Excluding Antigone, Sophocles portrays the other female characters as timid before men. ...

Law and the Language of Power

Laws are an essential part of life because they are necessary for there to be the order. There are both natural and man-made laws. Even at a very basic level where we eliminate man from the equation laws are necessities. For example, if nature opposed what we now term as the laws of physics then life on earth would not exist. The very premise of man-made laws is that they are designed to benefits persons in positions of power. The code of Hammurabi epitomizes this property of man-made laws. Natural laws on the other hand attempt to bring order in ...

Aristotle was one of the greatest Greek philosophers. He wrote on many areas including, meteorology, climate, biology, animal anatomy, psychology and ethics. His philosophical works focused on logic and the use of inference and deduction. He also wrote a number of works on the arts including the structure of the Greek Play. For the ancient Greeks, the tragic play was the greatest form of drama, and Aristotle ideas of Greek Tragedy and the tragic hero were based on the views of the times. According to Golden, Aristotle’s defined a Greek Tradgedy as, ". . . an imitation of a noble and complete action, having ...

[In Montmartre – Paris, France, at a fancy outdoor terrace, served by a young American boy.] [Enter Antigone, followed by Gregor Samsa, who pursues Antigone everywhere, declaring his true love for her] ANTIGONE: By Zeus, dear Insect, please offer me no more dishonor and allow me to rest at this table, thinking of my own troubles. GREGOR SAMSA [with a squeaky voice]: Good Lady, I mean no harm to your exquisite beauty. I ask only to listen to the soft tone of my voice, to sense my true soul and see me as a person. Because I am a deeply in ...

In Sophocles’ Theban play Antigone, the titular character defies the orders of her king in order to permit an honorable burial for her brother, who had just rebelled against the state of Greece. By showing the flaws of the state, Antigone is successful in her suicide; Antigone’s steadfast dedication to the individual and the family unit (supported by the gods) is a harsh critique of the cold-hearted nature of the state, as well as the corrupting nature of power. While Antigone knows systemic oppression as a woman, she knows she must fight for what she feels is right; Creon is ...

Gender is a social construct, not tied to sex in any neat, definitive manner and hence, amenable and open to (re)construction in order to challenge power relations. This paper explores gendered power relations in Euripedes’ Medea and Sophocles’ Antigone, in an endeavour to explicate upon how such relations manifest themselves in the text, and thereby, shape, influence and contribute to an understanding of the overwhelmingly misogynist and patriarchal social reality of ancient Greece. The paper also seeks to take issue with the use of language as mediating an elucidation and plurification of meaning/s in the text, and aiding in ...

English

Sophocles’ Antigone is the story of two protagonists’ Antigone and King Creon, who, in their pursuit to define their destiny, fade into oblivion. The two form the nucleus of the play around which Sophocles develops his tragedy. On close observation of the reading of this play, it is hard to eliminate the explication of the Greek rhetoric that, all humans are mortals. The phrase, “We die for ever” (58), was told by Antigone to her sister Ismene, when Ismene tells her that they would have to face the wrath of Creon, should he come to know of their act. ...

Looking at Antigone the play, it is a play that originates from ancient Greece. The play however has themes that are really applicable to our day to day lives. In this play, the broad themes include state control, natural law and contemporary legal institutions, civil disobedience, citizenship, fidelity, portrayal of the gods and lastly, there is love and family. If then all this themes are applied in a movie, it will attract attention and curiosity from the viewers. With the current issues, it will shed light on the inhuman political leaders we have in the world. It will then demonstrate that ...

Written around 441 BC, Antigone is one of the seven surviving plays produced by the Greek playwright Sophocles and is considered to be the classic example of hubris, meaning extreme pride or arrogance that is ultimately a person’s undoing. This play, however, has several other important themes including Sophocles perspectives on human rights and women’s rights. Both are quite fascinating considering ancient Greece practiced slavery and certainly was a male dominated society, but the burial of Polyneices by the hand of Antigone, as well as her rejection of Creon’s decree denying those funeral rites, illustrate Sophocles felt people ...

The aim of this essay is to present you with a portrait of a drama which was written in the Ancient Greek Classical period in approximately 442 B.C., by Sophocles, one of the three poets of Ancient Greece, who along with Aeschylus and Euripides are considered to have established the tragedy as a poetic, theatrical kind of writing. This portrait will emphasize on the main thematic core of this drama and how this idea which is its thematic core, is of classical value. The main idea ‘Antigone’ puts across to its audience and readers is the idea of the conflict between ...

The aim of this essay is to present you with a portrait of two dramas. The first one is ‘Antigone’ and it was written in the Ancient Greek Classical period in approximately 442 B.C., by Sophocles, one of the three poets of Ancient Greece, who along with Aeschylus and Euripides are considered to have established the tragedy as a poetic, theatrical kind of writing. The second play is ‘Another Antigone’, a modern theatrical play of nowadays which was written by A.R. Gurney and first produced in 1987. The portrait of both plays will be drawn in this essay so that both plays ...

Oedipus the King and Antigone are great plays written by Sophocles. They give an account of the tragedies which befell Thebes. Whereas Oedipus the King chronicles the story of Oedipus, a mysterious man who suffers during childhood before eventually murdering his biological father, marrying mother and becoming a king, Antigone continues the chronicle by giving the story of King Creone who established his rein before eventually falling due to fate and his own arrogance. Both plays have heroes. Although they establish their leadership regimes in this kingdom, they really suffer. However, this suffering is not only attributed to fate, but ...

Antigone, by Greek author Sophocles, is one of the most famous and important plays of all time. It has gone through numerous reincarnations in many different time periods, and has been studied by such famous philosophers as Hegel and Goethe. This may be because it includes issues that have been problematic throughout Western civilization: the difference between right and wrong, between just and unjust laws, the importance of family, the place of deity, etc. Nevertheless, contrary to what its name suggests, the tragedy is not Antigone’s, but Creon’s, as this is the character whose downfall through a character ...

Antigone is a Greek play written by Sophocles. It is a Greek tragedy full of love, betrayal and death. Antigone the main character in the play is portrayed as rebellious and refuses to follow the rules in the family. Even though she took care of her blind father to his death, as was her duty as a daughter and woman, and although she sought to perform rituals over her brother’s corpse to send him to the after life that were tasks known to be reserved for women, Antigone’s character goes against nearly every Greek ideal for women in the 5th ...

Angitone's Relation to Modern Society

In my thesis, I will be comparing how the “Angitone” Relates to Modern Society. The aims of my thesis will be - The theme of Hubris or pride and its effects - Individual laws and beliefs versus the state’s law - The theme of love - The theme of gender inequality - Relating the themes of the “Antigone” with the modern society

Introduction

The “Antigone” was written by Sophocles in the 5th century. Sophocles’ production “Antigone” has many relevant themes that relates to the modern living. Even though the book was written a long time ...

Introduction

The research paper is about Antigone, the play by Sophocles. The paper provides a complete overview of the play. Antigone’s love for her brother and obeying the commandments of God are reflected in the paper. The stubbornness and inhuman acts of King Creon are also clearly revealed. Moreover, a comparative analysis of the tragedies of Antigone and King Creon are followed by the story, and Creon is proved the real tragic hero of the story.

Background to the myth of Antigone

The circumstantial events that resulted in the tragedy of King Creon begin as Oedipus arrives at Thebes looking for his real parents. To Thebes has ...

Despite the emphasis on male characters in Greek epics and tragedies, particularly as arbiters of virtue and responsibility, there are quite a few strong women characters present in this literature as well. These characters defy the oft-repeated trope in Greek literature of women being fickle, weak or treacherous, and are able to assert their own desires in their own ways. Athena in The Odyssey and the titular character of Antigone are both uniquely bold and independent women, who both defy their equals/superiors to do something for someone in need. While Athena defies the other gods to help Odysseus in his quest ...

Ismene and Antigone are different in many aspects. Ismene is beautiful while Antigone is plain. Antigone is brave while Ismene is timid. The most important difference lies in Antigone’s willingness to change and Ismene’s wish that she can live thorough without making changes. This difference is so evident in their behaviors toward the burial of Polyneices. Antigone is willing to do anything for her brother to be buried. However, Ismene just worries about her sister. These differences in behaviors continues. Ismene accepts Creon’s demands, but Antigone taking risks. For example, Antigone even sacrifices her life to ...

Antigone Essay

Antigone is a legendary Greek play originally written by Sophocles. In the play, it is easy to confuse who between Antigone and Creon is the protagonist, and there have been many debates on the same issue. According to Greek tradition, a protagonist is the person with the leading role in the story, that is, the hero or heroine of the story. It is the person from whom the title of the story is derived. Whereas many scholars are of the opinion that Antigone is the play's heroine, Creon seems more deserving of this position.

Naturally, literalists consider the character whose ...

Antigone of Sophocles is a play that represents the Theban saga. Antigone is daughter to Oedipus and Jocasta. Her siblings are Polyneices, Eteocles and Ismene. Oedipus was king of Thebes that was after killing the father and marrying his mother, Jocasta, who killed herself because the husband put out his own eyes (Taylor et al., 30). Eventually Oedipus ceased to be king and his two sons, Polyneicesand Eteocles, agreed to alternate as king, but Eteocles would refuse to give up the throne forcing Polyneices to fight back. The two brothers finally killed one another and Creon, brother to Jocasta, took ...

Antigone is a legendary Greek play originally written by Sophocles. In the play, it is easy to confuse the protagonist. There have been many debates on whom between Antigone and Creon is the hero of the story. According to Greek tradition, the protagonist is the person who has the leading role in the story, that is, the hero or heroine of the story. It is the person from whose name the title of the story is derived. Whereas many scholars are of the opinion that Antigone is the play's heroine, Creon seems more deserving of this position. Greek literature ...

Introduction

Women form an intrinsic part of this play which is probably one of the finest in all Greek literature. From the very first scene we have insightful exchanges between women which continue to dominate the play as if in leitmotifs. In fact, Antigone and Ismene who represent the two sisters set the scene by exchanging a rich vein of words which can only show that they are two persons almost in love with each other but up to a certain extent also wary of their own situations.

One has to remember that women in Greek society were rather more liberal than ...

Below is a discussion between three characters from the play Antigone by Sophocles as they are hosted in a talk show. The discussion below follows after the death of Etocles and Polynices. Host: good evening everyone and thank you for coming out tonight. The topic of our discussion tonight is about the value of family and religious beliefs and values as opposed to following the law to the letter. There exists a thin line between the two concerning which we go for first while making a decision for an action. Ladies and gentlemen tonight , please welcome the three main characters in the ...

“Antigone” is one of three Theban plays written by Sophocles approximately in 442 BC. Chronologically, it is the third tragedy of the cycle, as the events in it happen last; however it was written first. The character of Antigone is unique and presents a huge historical interest, as it is the first female character in the world literature that fights against the power of men and exhibits great bravery comparing with those men who scorn her. This play is not only feminist; it is also very radical in wide meaning of this word, as it rebels against authority in general ...

Antigone is one of the most famous classical Greek tragedies even though Sophocles structured his play a bit differently than the typical structure of Greek tragedies. A definition of tragedy was outlined by Aristotle in his Poetics and for the most part, Sophocles’s Antigone follows all the elements of Aristotle’s definition of tragedy. Of course, Sophocles came from the same culture and period as Aristotle, and shared the same cultural values as him. So it is not surprising that Sophocles closely structured Antigone according to the definition outlined by Aristotle. This paper is a critical analysis of the structure ...

Writings of any kind and form and movies represent humans’ projection upon life, their feelings, thoughts, desires and aspirations regarding the world they live in. As such, Anouilh's version of “Antigone” (based on Sophocles’ play with the same title) and Wim Wenders movie “Wings of Desire” reflect the author, respectively the director’s view upon the world they lived in, with the realities specific of those times. The key common component of these two representations stays in their theme, which is the loss of innocence, the awakening and the fight for freedom, rejecting imposed ideologies and authorities. Based ...

For those who consider the disputed 2000 Presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore to have been controversial, the story that takes place just before the opening of Sophocles’ Antigone must seem downright barbaric. If you consider the chaos that the previous year or so had brought down on Thebes, Antigone’s wrath could just as well be considered the bellowing of an entire city, weary of its rulers’ drama. Oedipus had died after blinding and exiling himself, on the heels of discovering that he actually had fulfilled the Oracle’s prophecy of killing his father and ...

The fabric of any prosperous political community in the world is bestrewn by threads of peace and social order. The desire for social order and peace catapulted human beings to surrender to some of their unalienable rights, bestowed upon by nature, in exchange for security from the government. John Locke asserts that life in the state of nature was short, nasty and brutish.The war of every man against every man acted as a catalyst for man to leave the state of nature and become party to a society governed by the rule of law. Although the rule of law is ...

(A). Both Antigone by Sophocles and Apology by Plato reveal that although the concepts of the rule of law and civil disobedience seem to be completely different and opposite of each other, if we keep in mind that a higher authority exists, we may view the two ideas as compatible. Sophocles very effectively depicts the apparently unsolvable conflict between the two concepts in his tragic drama Antigone. It becomes apparent that Antigone has absolutely no regard for the rule of men since she performs an illegal act of mercy and is condemned for it. Instead, she holds divine, unfailing ...

What is the main theme of The Epic of Gilgamesh?

The primary theme of The Epic of Gilgamesh is that of love and friendship, and how it can make people change for the better. In the beginning of the tale, Enkidu is an arrogant, self centered warrior, and Gilgamesh is a tyrannical king who bullies his people. Over the source of the story, Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s friendship causes them to see the better parts of themselves. Gilgamesh causes Enkidu to change into a better, more noble man instead of a savage, and Enkidu brings out the more heroic qualities in Gilgamesh. Their own unique qualities complement each other, and the love ...

1) Discuss some of the mythic and ritual elements, and the logical, rhetorical, and ethical aspects of Oedipus the King. Think about how Oedipus proposes to purge the city of the murder-pollution, the key arguments between Oedipus, Tiresius, and Creon, and the arguments Oedipus made to himself and acted upon to defeat the prophecy, the rhetorical device of irony that permeates the play, and the ethics of everyone's actions, the family members and others involved in the tragedy.

According to the traditional interpretations of classical drama, Oedipus the King was brought down by the gods or fate because ...

Concept of justice

If there is one thing that deserves credit in the existence of mankind is the presence of a woman. Though they are neglected, abused and discriminated, they are the ones who hold the earth together. In Greek for example; antigone, Lysistrata and Odyssey were well nurtured and they stand out above their heads to be noticed as women of high integrity, determined to do their duties and uphold the moral principles of ancient woman. They always fight for there rights and demand justice in every action (Sophocles 665). Justice is an act of bringing people together in a community where there ...

These two speeches are the most memorable speeches given. They might seem different but as I read through the two speeches they sounded similar, despite the fact that they were given two thousand years apart. The similarities are featured in length, content and in the situations whereby the two speeches are given. In Pericles' speech appreciation of the ancestors, the people who died for the country, the survivors, and their families served as the purpose for his speech. The speech also reminded the readers and the listeners of the benefits of having democracy as well as the goodness of ...

Introduction

Laws are intended to enforce and reflect the ethical and moral standards in a society that is civilized. Laws are used in civilized societies as fundamental instruments for controlling the behavior of man. There is a slight difference between ethics and morals that should be outlined. Morality deals with the aspects that are regarded as wrong or right. Morality originates from the conscience of the individual and from the values of a society that are based on political principles or religious traditions. A moral conduct, therefore, is that which is considered right in the conscience of the doer and the values of ...

Sophocles Oedipus-analysis of the play

The play revolves around a young Greek man who is almost run over by a chariot belonging to a rich arrogant person. This defines the position that Oedipus takes in the society. The play developed in a Greek mythology. Oedipus meets a lot of riddles and challenges that move him to the state of solution and prompts him to use his problem solving skills and resolution tactics. Eventually, due to the solution of one of the riddles that faced him, he rises and becomes the king of Thebes. The previous king is murdered by unknown person, which put Oedipus to task to find a solution ...

For many years thinkers have try to defined and create a vision of what they term as The Ideal Society. This assumes beforehand an understanding of human nature. Many thinkers who have endeavored to build the vision of an ideal society agree that humans desire to find happiness. But no everyone agree upon what sort of society will make that possible. Examples include Plato’s “Republic.” This begins with an exploration of human virtue and uses small view to explore the big view of the state state. Most thinkers, modern and ancient, believe that an ideal society is one in ...

The stories of Antigone, Oedipus. Odysseus, Richard III and Othello all still resonate loudly within modern times. All of these characters had significant flaws that took their greatness and threatened to undo it – and often did undo it when circumstances refused to change. The pride of Antigone was both her strength and her demise; the boldness of Oedipus both brought him the throne in Thebes and sealed his doom. The cleverness of Odysseus brought him through trial after trial, but it also blinded him from fact of his dependence. Richard III’s acumen on the battlefield and in the ...

19th May, 2011. When laws are accepted to work and yet morally they are not upright, then there is trouble. This means that with the laws there are victimization, there are immoralities of all kinds that must be connected in one way or the other with the law that will be in use and yet morally dead. Such laws are many and they exist in very many societies even to day. For the sake of this research, I will use the apartheid law in South Africa. In the play Antgone, the law of the state is given ...