Examples Of Loyalty In Antigone

Loyalty means staying dedicated to one’s personal beliefs and ideas, regardless of the situation or the emotional and physical consequences. This requires a strong individual to carry out this description, for it is more easily desired than achieved. In the Greek play Antigone, the protagonist Antigone best exemplifies this definition of loyalty through her persistent protection of her family, her steadfast allegiance towards her religion, and her unwavering stance to her beliefs. Antigone first displays this definition of loyalty during a conflict with her sister Ismene set in the prologue. A law was set by King Creon, the ruler of Thebes, that no one was allowed to bury the deceased Polyneices - a “traitor” of the land. If done so, the criminal was to be punished through the consequence of execution. Polyneices is the brother of both Ismene and Antigone. Despite Ismene’s warnings to her sister to not carry out this …show more content…
While at King Creon’s court, he is shaken by Antigone’s contempt towards authority and accuses her of becoming an anarchist because of her illegal action. He attempts to dismay her course of action by intimidating her at the cost of capital punishment, but Antigone stays unaffected. She retorts, “Then I beg you: kill me. This talking is a great weariness: your words are distasteful to me, and I am sure that mine seem to you. And yet they should not seem so: I should have praise and honor for what I have done” (II. 394-398). This valiant response exemplifies a firm correlation to the definition of loyalty. A loyal individual must stay true to one’s personal beliefs despite the emotional and physical consequences. Antigone adamantly does not change her stance on her personal principles, challenges higher authority, and even laughs at the face of death. By disregarding the punishment, it shows that her courage does not