Antigone Character Analysis

Improved Essays
Antigone displays who she is as a person through her tone, diction, and through metaphors in the play write. Her brave side is shown, when she comes up with the idea to ignore Creon’s rule to not bury Polyneices, her brother. Polynecies who is thought out to be a trader in Creon’s eyes is not seen that way to Antigone, so she decides to bury him herself. Once it is discovered that Antigone did so, she showed nothing more than confidence in the decision she made, “I deny nothing” she expresses when questioned by Creon if the accusations were indeed true. This is then followed by further assertiveness when she explains to Creon that “It was not God’s proclamation..all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal unrecorded laws of god”,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Antigone is a play about a young girl and her uncle whose beliefs conflict with one another. Creon is the king and has made a law about traitors and how they are prohibited from having a proper burial. Antigone’s love for her brother, Polyneices was unconditional that she had no choice but to against the law, even though she knew what Creon’s harsh punishment would be for breaking the law. Creon was a determine King and refused to back away from his law even if Antigone ignored it. As a King, he was forced not show his weakness because it would result in him being overthrown for letting a woman have an effect on him.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A rule is a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles, governing conduct within a particular activity or sphere. Rules are necessary to maintain peace and order in a society. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, and Antigone, a play by Sophocles, portray events in which rules in societies may be rightly imposed or broken under certain circumstances. In Fahrenheit 451, a futuristic society has assigned firemen to burn books in order to rewrite history, and a naive adolescent attempts to uncover the truth behind it. In Antigone, a king has denied the right for a woman to bury her brother, and she seeks help from her sister.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Sophocles play, Antigone, Creon’s choices demonstrate his qualities of a poor leader, choices that lead to the downfall of others. Creon’s first decision to prohibit anyone from burying the dead body of Polyneices causes conflict with his niece, Antigone. Antigone does not deny that she buried her brother and tells Creon,”It was not God’s proclamation. That final justice that rules the world below makes no such laws”. She tells Creon that his law was not a wise one, one that no god would ever make.…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis Of Antigone

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Death of Antigone This poem is written in the narrative free verse style. I chose this form because it does not give me a limit as to how I should write. It liberates the writing style and expression of the poem. The poem is about the death of Antigone.…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Example Of Disobedience In Antigone

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited

    Here, once again, Antigone displays severe disrespect to Creon’s position as king when she explains mockingly that she did not know that “[Creon] had such powers to enable [the powers of the gods]” for is a mortal and will die someday, making out that his declaration will be replaced whereas the gods will be forever. However, her disrespect to Creon is established by her belief that “there is nothing shameful in honoring [her] brother” (559). Here, Antigone illustrates once again that the love and loyalty that she has for her brother Polyneices was her true and honest purpose for being defiant, not to show loyalty to the gods but to follow what the message employed: to cherish and respect family. For Antigone, “if [she] dared to leave the dead man, [her] mother’s son, dead and unburied, that would have been [the] real pain,” not death (510-512). Her desire to free the spirit of her brother so that it can be at peace explains the true reason of her rebellious…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jean Anouilh’s play Antigone is a tragedy inspired by Greek mythology and the play of the same name (Antigone, by Sophocles) from the fifth century B.C. The play Antigone tells the story of a brave girl (one of Oedipus’s daughters) who stands up against the law in order to honor her brother. The play had many important characters without which the meaning would be incomplete. However, there were many minor characters that completed the play and aided the reader’s understanding which leads us to the question of ‘Which minor character had the most significant role? ’…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For indeed/because of piety I was called impious./If this proceeding is good in the gods ' eyes/ I shall know my sin, once I have suffered./But if Creon and his people are the wrongdoers/let their suffering be no worse than the injustice/ they are meting out to me"…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Two Kings of Ancient Greek history face similar dilemmas even though they existed and reigned during different time periods and in different places. Antigone tells the story of a tyrannous king who refused to let anyone interfere with his mandates. The Iliad tells the story of a wartime king who held family over law and survived using the advice of his trusted associates. Both of the kings have made their mistakes that have had led to severe consequences.…

    • 1653 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Antigone asks her sister, Ismene, if she will join her in burying their brother, but Ismene is not quite as bold as Antigone. In response to Ismene’s concern, Antigone declares, “Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way” (Sophocles, Antigone 191). This is a very strong statement for a woman to be saying out loud, especially since it has to do with a man, at this time. While Creon may find her decision to oppose him as a weakness, now many find Antigone strong and brave for taking action. Also, Creon did not see this scene unfold; he thinks that her actions were impulsive, when in reality this is a deliberate plan to fix what Antigone believes is an unjust decision.…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Nobody encourages her to defy Creon’s orders and provide a proper burial for her brother, but rather, it is a decision that results from Antigone acting in accordance with her free will. When Ismene tries to convince Antigone that burying Polynices is not worth the risk and punishment of death, Antigone replies, “You have your excuses. I am on my way / I will raise a mound for him, for my dear brother” (Antigone 94-95). In this instance, Antigone is effectively taking a stand for what she believes in as she values family ties and loyalty as well as the virtue of courage.…

    • 1983 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Polyneices on the contrast shall not be buried at all, he shall be left to rot and be eaten by animals. Antigone being fiercely devoted to her family and the laws of the gods, could not stand Creon’s order and declares to bury Polyneices despite Creon’s punishment. She refuses to listen to even her dearest sister Ismene when she tries to convince her not to go against the laws. “But oh, Antigone, Think how much more terrible than these, Our own death would be if we should go against Creon, And do what he has forbidden! We are only women,We cannot fight with men, Antigone!…

    • 1285 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Antigone actions demonstrate that loyalty to family is more important than obeying the law, regardless of the consequences; disregarding the relationship with her brother. Antigone is confronted by Creon for burying Polyneices, she was concerned about giving her brother a proper burial instead of looking out…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She believes that the law of the gods is superior to any other law, even though Creon, the new king of Thebes, orders that Polyneices body is not to be buried as punishment for his wrongdoings. Antigone knew that by burying her brother, she would be put to death, yet she felt so strongly about doing the right thing in the eyes of the gods that she had to go and bury her brother anyway (Sophocles 37). Antigone’s civil disobedience of the law is very direct. Instead of trying to protest the unfair treatment of Polyneices’ body and get together a group of people to try and get the law to be changed, she favors direct action and does the burial ritual as well as covering the body with dirt against the rules of king Creon. It is not only the rules of the gods that influences Antigone’s civil disobedience, but also her brotherly love for Polyneices.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Antigone buried her diseased brother, she did it knowing it was against the law, but believing it was the right thing to do. In the beginning of the play, Antigone shows sympathy for her brother who is legally not allowed to be buried, but also anger towards Creon for making this law. She states, “But the unhappy corpse of Polyneices he has proclaimed to all the citizens, they say, no man may hide in a grave or funeral, but leave unwept, unburied, a dainty treasure, for the birds that see him, for their feasts delight,” explaining that Creon has told the people of the city that Polyneices is to rot and have his corpse eaten by the animals (Sophocles). Creon shows hate towards Polyneices for saying this, by telling the people of the city that Polyneices shall rot and be forgotten without anyone respecting his death and giving him a funeral or burial (Sophocles).…

    • 1937 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    No Greater Love Hath a Son Had George Santayana is most famous for his perplexing statement “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”(speeches.byu.edu). It is for this reason that society repeatedly tells of tragic heroes; people who seem to be destined to suffer suffering, downfall, and or, defeat. Modern examples include the Lance Armstrong, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and Justin Bieber. However society infrequently tells of the tragic heroes of the past or of those of literature like Odysseus of the Odyssey where some of the past’s greatest lessons are taught. One such almost forgotten example found in tenth grade literature, is the life of Haemon in Sophocles’ Antigone.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays