Antigone

Wendi M. Brooks

Core I

9-29-03

            Antigone is a tragic story. It begins with Antigone and her sister Ismene talking about burying their dead brother, Polynices. Polynices and their other brother, Eteocles were supposed to rule Thebes after their father, Oedipus died. They were each supposed to rule for one year, but Eteocles refused to step down from the throne. Polynices marched on Thebes with a band of men, and was defeated. Both Polynices and Eteocles were killed. This made Creon, their uncle, ruler of Thebes. Creon had a very strict rule that said that any intruders that come into Thebes trying to fight or defeat anyone, would not be given a proper burial. Therefore, Polynices wasn’t given a proper burial. Antigone and Ismene were very upset about this because it is a disgrace to their family reputation. Antigone decided she was going to bury him herself. Ismene advised her not to, and told her that she would not take part in this illegal act. So, Antigone did it by herself. After Creon found out that she was the one that did this, he told her that her punishment was death, and Antigone was willing to accept that. Her fiancé, Creon’s son, tried to pursued him not to kill her, but he wasn’t successful. She is sentenced to death. I will focus on both Creon and Antigone’s reasons and excuses for their actions. I think they both have good legitimate reasons for what they do.

            This story is focused on the conflict between the two main characters, Creon and Antigone. Some would say that Creon is a horrible ruler. I disagree. He had his rules and he stuck to them. Polynices should have known this rule, and therefore knew what the consequences of his actions were going to be. The reason he wasn’t willing to give Polynices a proper burial was for his invasion of Thebes and his attack on his brother. In the play he justifies this punishment by saying that he has to be strong and strict in order to keep his rule over Thebes. If he were to let some people break the rules and get away with it, then others would do it, and it wouldn’t be equally fair. Antigone is presenting an example of civil disobedience by burying her brother and accepting the consequences. She is most definitely a righteous martyr, although she could have warned her brother of the consequences so that he wouldn’t have invaded Thebes and then lost his right to a proper burial. All she wants is her brother to be looked highly on by the gods, and she knows this won’t happen if he doesn’t get buried. She cares about her brother and the rest of her family, as well as their reputation. There could very well be an element of self destructiveness in her effort to help her brother get buried. Throughout the play she seems completely willing to give up her own life to give help to her brother. And that she does. She is sentenced to death by Creon. Her fiancé attempted to convince Creon not to kill her, but it didn’t work, and she was killed.