Antigone by Sophocles

Essay by Pimp masta GHigh School, 11th gradeA+, February 1996

download word file, 3 pages 3.8

Downloaded 178 times

Its a pretty good essay Very good - on task essay - could be stronger on support

English

Stubbornness could be a virtue, but many times it could be a fatal flaw. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the heroine displays her obstinacy which ultimately results in death for her. At the opening of the tragedy, Creon and Antigone are in conflict. Antigone's two brothers have died in a war over the control of the state, leaving Creon at the head of state. Creon in penalizing the leader of the revolt left the one brother unburied outside the gates. Antigone in her desire to bury her brother chooses to break Creon's law and enshrine him. If Antigone exercised some caution in her actions, she might still be alive today.

Antigone's first concern was to show respect for her brother at his time of death. To have left unburied her brother would be to tell the world that one, she did not care for her sibling and two, she did not respect what her brother's cause was, namely, the control of the state.

Antigone understood the consequences because Creon had decreed that those persons who attempted to bury the rebels would also be put to death. Perhaps it is the spirit of Greek tragedy that death should cause more death, but it is also in the spirit of family unity to respect in death as it is to respect in life. Antigone attempts to recruit her sister Ismene to assist her in burying their brother. Ismene declines and additionally warns Antigone not to disobey Creon's rule in fear of the consequences. Antigone cannot heed her sister's advice and in her stubbornness rashly proceeds with her own plan to bury her brother.

One of the first signs of Antigone being...