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Analysis of Sophocles’ Antigone

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 29, 2020 • ( 0 )

Within this single drama—in great part, a harsh critique of Athenian society and the Greek city-state in general—Sophocles tells of the eternal struggle between the state and the individual, human and natural law, and the enormous gulf between what we attempt here on earth and what fate has in store for us all. In this magnificent dramatic work, almost incidentally so, we find nearly every reason why we are now what we are.

—Victor D. Hanson and John Heath, Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom

With Antigone Sophocles forcibly demonstrates that the power of tragedy derives not from the conflict between right and wrong but from the confrontation between right and right. As the play opens the succession battle between the sons of Oedipus—Polynices and Eteocles—over control of Thebes has resulted in both of their deaths. Their uncle Creon, who has now assumed the throne, asserts his authority to end a destructive civil war and decrees that only Eteocles, the city’s defender, should receive honorable burial. Polynices, who has led a foreign army against Thebes, is branded a traitor. His corpse is to be left on the battlefield “to be chewed up by birds and dogs and violated,” with death the penalty for anyone who attempts to bury him and supply the rites necessary for the dead to reach the underworld. Antigone, Polynices’ sister, is determined to defy Creon’s order, setting in motion a tragic collision between opposed laws and duties: between natural and divine commands that dictate the burial of the dead and the secular edicts of a ruler determined to restore civic order, between family allegiance and private conscience and public duty and the rule of law that restricts personal liberty for the common good. Like the proverbial immovable object meeting an irresistible force, Antigone arranges the impact of seemingly irreconcilable conceptions of rights and responsibilities, producing one of drama’s enduring illuminations of human nature and the human condition.

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Antigone is one of Sophocles’ greatest achievements and one of the most influential dramas ever staged. “Between 1790 and 1905,” critic George Steiner reports, “it was widely held by European poets, philosophers, [and] scholars that Sophocles’ Antigone was not only the fi nest of Greek tragedies, but a work of art nearer to perfection than any other produced by the human spirit.” Its theme of the opposition between the individual and authority has resonated through the centuries, with numerous playwrights, most notably Jean Anouilh, Bertolt Brecht, and Athol Fugard grafting contemporary concerns and values onto the moral and political dramatic framework that Sophocles established. The play has elicited paradoxical responses reflecting changing cultural and moral imperatives. Antigone, who has been described as “the first heroine of Western drama,” has been interpreted both as a heroic martyr to conscience and as a willfully stubborn fanatic who causes her own death and that of two other innocent people, forsaking her duty to the living on behalf of the dead. Creon has similarly divided critics between censure and sympathy. Despite the play’s title, some have suggested that the tragedy is Creon’s, not Antigone’s, and it is his abuse of authority and his violations of personal, family, and divine obligations that center the drama’s tragedy. The brilliance of Sophocles’ play rests in the complexity of motive and the competing absolute claims that the drama displays. As novelist George Eliot observed,

It is a very superficial criticism which interprets the character of Creon as that of hypocritical tyrant, and regards Antigone as a blameless victim. Coarse contrasts like this are not the materials handled by great dramatists. The exquisite art of Sophocles is shown in the touches by which he makes us feel that Creon, as well as Antigone, is contending for what he believes to be the right, while both are also conscious that, in following out one principle, they are laying themselves open to just blame for transgressing another.

Eliot would call the play’s focus the “antagonism of valid principles,” demonstrating a point of universal significance that “Wherever the strength of a man’s intellect, or moral sense, or affection brings him into opposition with the rules which society has sanctioned, there is renewed conflict between Antigone and Creon; such a man must not only dare to be right, he must also dare to be wrong—to shake faith, to wound friendship, perhaps, to hem in his own powers.” Sophocles’ Antigone is less a play about the pathetic end of a victim of tyranny or the corruption of authority than about the inevitable cost and con-sequence between competing imperatives that define the human condition. From opposite and opposed positions, both Antigone and Creon ultimately meet at the shared suffering each has caused. They have destroyed each other and themselves by who they are and what they believe. They are both right and wrong in a world that lacks moral certainty and simple choices. The Chorus summarizes what Antigone will vividly enact: “The powerful words of the proud are paid in full with mighty blows of fate, and at long last those blows will teach us wisdom.”

As the play opens Antigone declares her intention to her sister Ismene to defy Creon’s impious and inhumane order and enlists her sister’s aid to bury their brother. Ismene responds that as women they must not oppose the will of men or the authority of the city and invite death. Ismene’s timidity and deference underscores Antigone’s courage and defiance. Antigone asserts a greater allegiance to blood kinship and divine law declaring that the burial is a “holy crime,” justified even by death. Ismene responds by calling her sister “a lover of the impossible,” an accurate description of the tragic hero, who, according to scholar Bernard Knox, is Sophocles’ most important contribution to drama: “Sophocles presents us for the first time with what we recognize as a ‘tragic hero’: one who, unsupported by the gods and in the face of human opposition, makes a decision which springs from the deepest layer of his individual nature, his physis , and then blindly, ferociously, heroically maintains that decision even to the point of self-destruction.” Antigone exactly conforms to Knox’s description, choosing her conception of duty over sensible self-preservation and gender-prescribed submission to male authority, turning on her sister and all who oppose her. Certain in her decision and self-sufficient, Antigone rejects both her sister’s practical advice and kinship. Ironically Antigone denies to her sister, when Ismene resists her will, the same blood kinship that claims Antigone’s supreme allegiance in burying her brother. For Antigone the demands of the dead overpower duty to the living, and she does not hesitate in claiming both to know and act for the divine will. As critic Gilbert Norwood observes, “It is Antigone’s splendid though perverse valor which creates the drama.”

Before the apprehended Antigone, who has been taken in the act of scattering dust on her brother’s corpse, lamenting, and pouring libations, is brought before Creon and the dramatic crux of the play, the Chorus of The-ban elders delivers what has been called the fi nest song in all Greek tragedy, the so-called Ode to Man, that begins “Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man.” This magnificent celebration of human power over nature and resourcefulness in reason and invention ends with a stark recognition of humanity’s ultimate helplessness—“Only against Death shall he call for aid in vain.” Death will test the resolve and principles of both Antigone and Creon, while, as critic Edouard Schuré asserts, “It brings before us the most extraordinary psychological evolution that has ever been represented on stage.”

When Antigone is brought in judgment before Creon, obstinacy meets its match. Both stand on principle, but both reveal the human source of their actions. Creon betrays himself as a paranoid autocrat; Antigone as an individual whose powerful hatred outstrips her capacity for love. She defiantly and proudly admits that she is guilty of disobeying Creon’s decree and that he has no power to override divine law. Nor does Antigone concede any mitigation of her personal obligation in the competing claims of a niece, a sister, or a citizen. Creon is maddened by what he perceives to be Antigone’s insolence in justifying her crime by diminishing his authority, provoking him to ignore all moderating claims of family, natural, or divine extenuation. When Ismene is brought in as a co-conspirator, she accepts her share of guilt in solidarity with her sister, but again Antigone spurns her, calling her “a friend who loves in words,” denying Ismene’s selfless act of loyalty and sympathy with a cold dismissal and self-sufficiency, stating, “Never share my dying, / don’t lay claim to what you never touched.” However, Ismene raises the ante for both Antigone and Creon by asking her uncle whether by condemning Antigone he will kill his own son’s betrothed. Creon remains adamant, and his judgment on Antigone and Ismene, along with his subsequent argument with his son, Haemon, reveals that Creon’s principles are self-centered, contradictory, and compromised by his own pride, fears, and anxieties. Antigone’s challenge to his authority, coming from a woman, is demeaning. If she goes free in defiance of his authority, Creon declares, “I am not the man, she is.” To the urging of Haemon that Creon should show mercy, tempering his judgment to the will of Theban opinion that sympathizes with Antigone, Creon asserts that he cares nothing for the will of the town, whose welfare Creon’s original edict against Polynices was meant to serve. Creon, moreover, resents being schooled in expediency by his son. Inflamed by his son’s advocacy on behalf of Antigone, Creon brands Haemon a “woman’s slave,” and after vacillating between stoning Antigone and executing her and her sister in front of Haemon, Creon rules that Antigone alone is to perish by being buried alive. Having begun the drama with a decree that a dead man should remain unburied, Creon reverses himself, ironically, by ordering the premature burial of a living woman.

Antigone, being led to her entombment, is shown stripped of her former confidence and defiance, searching for the justification that can steel her acceptance of the fate that her actions have caused. Contemplating her living descent into the underworld and the death that awaits her, Antigone regrets dying without marriage and children. Gone is her reliance on divine and natural law to justify her act as she equivocates to find the emotional source to sustain her. A husband and children could be replaced, she rationalizes, but since her mother and father are dead, no brother can ever replace Polynices. Antigone’s tortured logic here, so different from the former woman of principle, has been rejected by some editors as spurious. Others have judged this emotionally wrought speech essential for humanizing Antigone, revealing her capacity to suffer and her painful search for some consolation.

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The drama concludes with the emphasis shifted back to Creon and the consequences of his judgment. The blind prophet Teiresias comes to warn Creon that Polynices’ unburied body has offended the gods and that Creon is responsible for the sickness that has descended on Thebes. Creon has kept from Hades one who belongs there and is sending to Hades another who does not. The gods confirm the rightness of Antigone’s action, but justice evades the working out of the drama’s climax. The release of Antigone comes too late; she has hung herself. Haemon commits suicide, and Eurydice, Creon’s wife, kills herself after cursing Creon for the death of their son. Having denied the obligation of family, Creon loses his own. Creon’s rule, marked by ignoring or transgressing cosmic and family law, is shown as ultimately inadequate and destructive. Creon is made to realize that he has been rash and foolish, that “Whatever I have touched has come to nothing.” Both Creon and Antigone have been pushed to terrifying ends in which what truly matters to both are made starkly clear. Antigone’s moral imperatives have been affirmed but also their immense cost in suffering has been exposed. Antigone explores a fundamental rift between public and private worlds. The central opposition in the play between Antigone and Creon, between duty to self and duty to state, dramatizes critical antimonies in the human condition. Sophocles’ genius is his resistance of easy and consoling simplifications to resolve the oppositions. Both sides are ultimately tested; both reveal the potential for greatness and destruction.

24 lectures on Greek Tragedy by Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver.

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Five thesis statement why Antigone is a tragic hero in the play Antigone?

This is for my essay

I can't formulate five in this but here are a few for you:

Antigone has a few tragic flaws going for her, or rather against her. Her loyalty to the gods and her brother's memory means that she will have to be disloyal to King Creon.

Antigone is also pretty stubborn. That is kind of a good trait in a heroic sort of way but unfortunately her stubbornness gets herself in trouble but also risks other characters as well like Ismene and Haemon.

Antigone's modus operandi seems to be a reverence for all things dead, like Polynices, rather than herself or the people alive that she cares about.

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Blindness vs. Sight

In Oedipus Rex , Oedipus mocks the blindness of the seer Tiresias , who responds by telling Oedipus that he (Oedipus) is blind to the corruption in his own life, and soon will be literally blind, too. Issues of blindness and sight aren't quite as obvious in Antigone , but the same basic tension is there. Tiresias gives the current king, Creon , a warning, and the king is unable to see the wisdom of…

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Natural Law

Creon , as head of state and lawgiver in Thebes, believes in obedience to man-made laws. But in defying Creon's command that no one bury Polynices, Antigone appeals to a different set of guidelines—what is often called "natural law." Whether its source is in nature or in divine order, natural law states that there are standards for right and wrong that are more fundamental and universal than the laws of any particular society.

Antigone believes…

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Citizenship vs. Family Loyalty

The concept of citizenship and the duties that citizens owe to the state were subjects of huge importance and debate in fifth-century B.C.E. Athens, where Sophocles lived and where Antigone was first performed. Antigone and Creon represent the extreme opposite political views regarding where a citizen of a city should place his or her loyalties.

In the play, Creon has a strict definition of citizenship that calls for the state to come first: "…whoever places…

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Civil Disobedience

Creon says that the laws enacted by the leader of the city "must be obeyed, large and small, / right and wrong." In other words, Creon is arguing that the law is the basis for justice, so there can be no such thing as an unjust law. Antigone , on the other hand, believes that there are unjust laws, and that she has a moral duty to disobey a law that contradicts what she thinks…

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Fate vs. Free Will

The ancient Greeks believed that their gods could see the future, and that certain people could access this information. Independent prophets called "seers" saw visions of things to come. Oracles, priests who resided at the temples of gods—such as the oracle to Apollo at Delphi—were also believed to be able to interpret the gods' visions and give prophecies to people who sought to know the future. Oracles were an accepted part of Greek life—famous leaders…

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An Analysis of Power, Authority and Truth in Antigone, a Play by Sophocles

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“The Antigone” by Sophocles: Characters and Plot Research Paper

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Introduction

Characters and the plot of the antigone, character of ismene, character of creon, sophocles years of life, the antigone, works cited.

Antigone by Sophocles is a classic Ancient Greek play. It is well-known all over the world for the morality and brevity of the main character. Moreover, the play discovers a causative-consecutive line of tragic events that make it rich in content. The author provides the majority of emotional and logical features in characters using their dialogues or monologues. In this respect, one should not underestimate the role of the chorus. This instrumentation was used by Sophocles in all his plays to make conversation between characters as well as the tragedy of the moment more impressive. The play is performed in the tradition of classic Greek tragedy. Characters and the plot of The Antigone are highlighted in the play for resolving the problem of morale and pride in human beings and the counter-reaction of gods in response.

Looking at the elaboration of actions in the play, it is significant to work out the problem of the development and change in a character. In this respect, one should keep an eye on two characters: Creon and Ismene. These two are identified in the play, as unstable and despaired people. In the case of Ismene, she betrayed her sister Antigone by being afraid of the death penalty. Her involvement in actions that were in defiance of Creon’s edict is shaped with great fear for burying their brothers: “I do them no dishonor, but I find myself too weak to war against the state” (Sophocles 12). When Antigone was pledged Ismene refused to be for her sister. One sees her, as a weak character without family identification and duties. She placed duty to the polis higher than the duty to her family (Markos 146). This parameter makes her actions immoral and going apart from Greek family tradition.

Another feature defining Ismene is her disgrace of sacred duty to bury the bodies of Eteocles and Polynices. In this respect, Antigone emerges, as “the still small voice”. She persuades Ismene to follow her pieces of advice even under the threat of death. Looking at such weighty arguments, one sees that the entire nature of morale is more represented in Antigone. Sophocles wants to show her tries to make Ismene do what is right. That starting moment in the play illustrates what both sisters felt. However, it also predicts the end of the play and its tragic outcomes. Antigone attempts to break Ismene’s desire to follow the cruel edict of Creon down. The main heroine is shown in the play, as one who speaks with passion and moral supremacy (Pedrick and Oberhelman 92). To lay more emphasis on Antigone’s courage and decisiveness, it is better to estimate the words of her toward Ismene, namely: “Fear not for me. Thine own fate guide me aright” (Sophocles 12). Such words represent a challenge for both sisters that was passed only by Antigone.

Creon is another character in whom a reader can see a change. However, it is apparent solely in the final scene of the play. Analyzing his command to assess the highest punishment to Eteocles and Polynices, he wanted to make his power and his position in the city of Thebes firm. The thing is that such firmness was built on a shaky basis. The will of gods was neglected due to Creon’s pride and hypocrisy. Initially, he was sure that such aggressive methods will destroy any defiant person. Creon admits his righteousness in ruling using the rhetoric question: “And will my subjects tell me how to rule” (Sophocles 45)? Unfortunately to Creon, Antigone was that woman who valued family more than polis.

Thus, one can describe Creon, as the embodiment of polis, power, and law, and Antigone is supposed to kinship and persistence in moral aspects (Markell 66). Even with immoral actions by Creon Sophocles provides a gorgeous message in actions by Antigone. Such relation of people to gods is indicated in all Ancient Greek plays. Though Creon stays firm in his will to punish Antigone, he does not even recognize the price of losses, as a result. He repeats the eternal mistake of human beings by acting without realizing the moral or rational grounds of this or that action. Creon follows the wrong way of opposition to gods and the good fate of his own. His conviction in the righteousness of his actions is, without any doubt, unsound. He leads his whole life toward decline.

The genius of Sophocles lies in the definition of is total ruination of a person’s life. Ignoring the family values of one person, Creon lost their own family’s well-being. The play distinctively depicts this tragic moment of Creon’s confession and his inner change, as a result: “Ah me! The fault is mine” (Sophocles 74). This scene characterizes Creon, as a man caught by personal fallacies and ignorance of sacred features for a man, such as family.

Creon is a tragic character, for the ominous but fair payback appeared in his life. A man should study the mistakes he/she does. It is even better not to be trapped in disasters by some distinct examples from the experiences of other people. The educational nature of the play is implied in the fact that at last Creon has understood his error. In the final scene, a viewer notices the sorrows of Creon. Here the tragedy is evaluated because he desires death more than relief. Creon presupposes it, as a form of some relief: “That nevermore I look upon the light” (Sophocles 74)… This punishment of Creon is directed to everyone who seeks wisdom.

Thus, Ismene and Creon are characters who are going through the process of change. Ismene is depicted, as the only ally to her sister. However, she demonstrates faint-heartedness at the moment when Creon summons both Ismene and Antigone to tell about their crime. Creon, driven by his persuasion in the righteousness of his edicts, ignores the family values and morality of tradition and the will of gods. On the one hand, Ismene stayed unchanged toward personal fears. On the other hand, Creon smarted for his pride and cruelty using his son’s and wife’s suicides. The story teaches about following the duty to secure moral values more than the duties of the polis.

Sophocles (497/6 BC- 406/5 BC) is an outstanding Ancient Greek playwright (Sophocles 5). He along with Aeschylus and Euripides contributed greatly to the heritage of Greek drama that is extant to contemporary observers. The most attractive plays of Sophocles are Oedipus and Antigone. These plays counterbalanced the achievements of previous playwrights in the mastership of drama and tragedy, in particular.

Sophocles made the instrumentation in his plays more expressive and distinct from other authors due to a reduction of chorus roles to a limited extent. On the other hand, he improved the role of characters and their fates to some higher extent. Additionally, he involved the third and, later on, the fourth actor in his plays (Sophocles 6). As distinct from Aeschylus, Sophocles did not create trilogies describing one theme in a complex of each play. His plays, such as The Antigone or Oedipus are complete in themselves (Sophocles 6). The success of his earliest plays, The Antigone , was obvious to every Greek who settled Attica and Athens as well. It was dated to the late third century BC, but contemporary researchers in ancient literature cannot define a distinct date. It is thought that the play had been written around 441-440 BC (Sophocles, Fainlight and Littman 5).

Furthermore, this play had made Sophocles the winner at the Festival of Dionysus. It is known that by Aristophanes of Byzantium’s appointment of Sophocles, as a general in the Samian War 441/440 BC, Sophocles overcame Aeschylus who was the winner for many years (Sophocles, Fainlight and Littman 6). He also overcame Euripides who had won this prize a year before.

Describing the civil war between Eteocles and Polyneices in common features, Sophocles directs his thoughts toward rigor of law and significance of morale. These two features imposed into the main theme of the play that resonated with viewers such great success of Sophocles (Sophocles, Fainlight and Littman 8). Since the moment of his victory at the Festival of Dionysus Sophocles became persona grata in Athens in terms of art and social issues. Up to his death, Sophocles never gave up personal participation in the artistic and social affairs of Greece.

Markell Patchen. Bound by recognition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Markos, Louis. From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics . Westmont, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2007.

Pedrick, Victoria and Oberhelman, Steven M. The soul of tragedy: essays on Athenian drama. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2005.

Sophocles. Antigone. Translated by Plumptre E. H. New York: Digireads.com Publishing, 2005.

Sophocles, Fainlight, Ruth and Littman, Robert J. The Theban Plays: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone. Translated by Fainlight, Ruth and Littman, Robert J. Baltimore, MD: JHU Press, 2009.

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COMMENTS

  1. Antigone Essay Examples: Topics, Hooks, Thesis Ideas

    Antigone Thesis Statements to Get Started. The Clash Between Divine Law and Human Law; In Sophocles' 'Antigone,' the central conflict between divine law and human law highlights the complexities of moral decision-making and underscores the enduring struggle between personal conscience and societal obligations.

  2. What is a good thesis statement for an essay about Sophocles' play

    The following thesis statement once upon a time served me well: A major theme of Antigone is the conflict between religious law and man-made law. Antigone believes in the supremacy of religious ...

  3. Analysis of Sophocles' Antigone

    Home › Drama Criticism › Analysis of Sophocles' Antigone. Analysis of Sophocles' Antigone By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 29, 2020 • ( 0). Within this single drama—in great part, a harsh critique of Athenian society and the Greek city-state in general—Sophocles tells of the eternal struggle between the state and the individual, human and natural law, and the enormous gulf between ...

  4. The Ancient Greek Tragedy "Antigone"

    188 writers online. Learn More. The ancient Greek tragedy "Antigone" was written by Sophocles and narrates about a woman fighting against a royal decree that hurt her personal feelings and principles. Antigone is a girl who has crossed out her future by her act and has incurred the wrath of King Creon. She has the following features ...

  5. Why is Antigone more justified than Creon in their tragic collision

    Possible thesis statements for why Antigone is more justified in her reasoning than Creon might sound like the following: Antigone's reasoning is more justified than Creon's because Antigone seeks ...

  6. Antigone Analysis

    In Antigone, the leader of the chorus is a character rather than a background figure. Antigone Study Tools ... What is a good thesis statement for an essay about Sophocles' play Antigone?

  7. PDF PosiTion 4 Analysis: Lit

    an still evaluate the thesis statement in this way.) The potential for a nuanced thesis exists; Antigone is most critics' definition of a tragic hero and Creon is a les. obvious (and thus potentially more nuanced) choice.For example, a more nuanced thesis statement might read as follows: While the tragic Antigone nearly fits the classic ...

  8. Argumentative Essay On Antigone

    566 Words | 3 Pages. Antigone Essay In the play Antigone, written by sophocles in 441 BC, two main characters, Antigone and Creon, must decide who is right and who is not. There are many arguments as to why Antigone is right and why Creon is right but there are a bit more logical reasons to why Antigone is right.

  9. The Play "Antigone" by Sophocles

    The Play "Antigone" by Sophocles: Summary Essay. Sophocles, 496-406 B.C.E, is an ancient dramatist and the best play-writer of 468 B.C.E who created his works for the readers of Athenian civilization. On the whole, he wrote around 120 plays seven of which reached the present-day reader. The main idea of the play "Antigone" is pride and ...

  10. Antigone Reflection and Analysis

    For example when she was talking with her sister Ismene. She says, " Do as you like; I shall bury my brother. I know it's right, die if I must! My crime will be holy. I am his and I shall lie buried with him. (Antigone 5)" This shows she was courageous and determined to bury her brother irrespective of the consequences.

  11. Five thesis statement why Antigone is a tragic hero in the play

    Antigone Five thesis statement why Antigone is a tragic hero in the play Antigone? This is for my essay. Asked by manpreet k #384990 on 9/11/2014 6:48 AM Last updated by Aslan on 9/11/2014 10:16 AM Answers 1 Add Yours. Answered by Aslan on 9/11/2014 10:16 AM

  12. Antigone Essays and Criticism

    What is a good thesis statement for an essay about Sophocles' play Antigone? What would be a suitable title for an essay on choices and consequences in Sophocles' "Antigone"?

  13. Antigone Themes

    Creon says that the laws enacted by the leader of the city "must be obeyed, large and small, / right and wrong." In other words, Creon is arguing that the law is the basis for justice, so there can be no such thing as an unjust law. Antigone, on the other hand, believes that there are unjust laws, and that she has a moral duty to disobey a law ...

  14. An Analysis of Power, Authority and Truth in Antigone, a Play by

    Had Kreon slackened the reins on his hold of political power or had Antigone showed political authority in a different manner, their objectives might have reached a compromise. Antigone, stubborn until the end, literally hangs for her beliefs and Kreon, scared of losing his political power and authority if he gives in, ends up losing everything.

  15. The "Antigone" by Sophocles and Its Historical Context

    Antigone's simple act of compassion leads to the fall of an empire (Anouilh 78). Conclusion. Antigone invokes Theban law by stating that Creon's actions are dishonorable (Braun 126). Antigone's defiance rallies the people of Thebes (Anouilh 97). Some scholars have argued that Antigone represents the feminist movement (Anouilh 142).

  16. What is a potential thesis statement about the theme of choices and

    In my mind, I think that a possible thesis statement concerning the theme of choice and consequences might involve how personal commitment is needed to substantiate these decisions. Antigone might ...

  17. Thesis Statement For Antigone

    II. Overview (specific to topic/plot): Outline major background points about the play. In the play Antigone by Sophocles Antigone breaks the law and in the article Student protests growing over gender-equal dress codes they try to change the dress code rules. III. Thesis Statement (Main Argument/Preview of Points): Outlines your argument/theme.

  18. Antigone Critical Essays

    Antigone is a complex play, one that defies ready interpretation. It is a study of human actions, with complex emotions. Each character represents a moral ideal, a moral argument, and the play ...

  19. "The Antigone" by Sophocles: Characters and Plot Research Paper

    Introduction. Antigone by Sophocles is a classic Ancient Greek play. It is well-known all over the world for the morality and brevity of the main character. Moreover, the play discovers a causative-consecutive line of tragic events that make it rich in content. The author provides the majority of emotional and logical features in characters ...