In Sophocles’s Antigone the central conflict revolves around the question of whether Polyneices should be buried or not. Antigone, Polyneices’s sister, believes in divine law and wants the body to be buried. However, the king, Creon, believes in human law and orders for the body not to be buried. Although Ancient tradition demands that the body to be buried, Creon believes that these customs must be forgone for the good of the state. He transgresses from the domain of the divine, believing he is able to restore the balance by himself. This transgression is fueled by Antigone’s will to challenge his beliefs. More specifically, the fact that he is being challenged of his pride by a woman determined to find justice causes him to commit such a
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Creon’s anger is fueled by this, being challenged by a woman. We are introduced to Creon as he gives a speech on the safety of the state. Within his speech, words such as “principles”, “laws” and “policies” dominate (195-200). These words show the extent to which Creon focuses on government fixation and state as the supreme. He knows he is the king and this gives him his excessive pride. But when this pride is challenged by a woman, he takes it personally as an attack to his leadership. When Creon first meets with Antigone he says that “she is the man/if this victory goes to her and she goes free” (541-542). Creon is saying if she wins, she will wear the pants in the family. By calling her a man, Antigone becomes the controller in the situation. The controller is the man’s role. Creon will not allow Antigone to win this battle and take away his pride and power no matter what consequences it will bring. After he sentences the sisters to death, he demands them to be tied up so they’ll act like women (653-654). Tying up someone is like arresting them for doing something bad. All Antigone did was follow custom and please the divine law. Tying the sisters up only satisfies Creon because he knows that he has not let anyone beat his power. He sees this feminine disobedience as something that corrupts the order of civilization on all levels. Creon says “Anarchy – She, she destroy cities, rips up houses/breaks the ranks of spearmen…Therefore/we must defend the men who live by law/never let some woman triumph over us” (751-756). In his speech about how man should conquer, he refers to “Anarchy” as a feminine pronoun. Anarchy translates to lacking leadership. Without a leader, law is not uphold as supreme. To Creon, he suggests that Antigone is anarchy itself since she brings corruption to society with her opposition to law. Creon believes to bring back
Creon’s anger is fueled by this, being challenged by a woman. We are introduced to Creon as he gives a speech on the safety of the state. Within his speech, words such as “principles”, “laws” and “policies” dominate (195-200). These words show the extent to which Creon focuses on government fixation and state as the supreme. He knows he is the king and this gives him his excessive pride. But when this pride is challenged by a woman, he takes it personally as an attack to his leadership. When Creon first meets with Antigone he says that “she is the man/if this victory goes to her and she goes free” (541-542). Creon is saying if she wins, she will wear the pants in the family. By calling her a man, Antigone becomes the controller in the situation. The controller is the man’s role. Creon will not allow Antigone to win this battle and take away his pride and power no matter what consequences it will bring. After he sentences the sisters to death, he demands them to be tied up so they’ll act like women (653-654). Tying up someone is like arresting them for doing something bad. All Antigone did was follow custom and please the divine law. Tying the sisters up only satisfies Creon because he knows that he has not let anyone beat his power. He sees this feminine disobedience as something that corrupts the order of civilization on all levels. Creon says “Anarchy – She, she destroy cities, rips up houses/breaks the ranks of spearmen…Therefore/we must defend the men who live by law/never let some woman triumph over us” (751-756). In his speech about how man should conquer, he refers to “Anarchy” as a feminine pronoun. Anarchy translates to lacking leadership. Without a leader, law is not uphold as supreme. To Creon, he suggests that Antigone is anarchy itself since she brings corruption to society with her opposition to law. Creon believes to bring back