Internal Conflict In Antigone

Antigone is an Ancient Greek tragedy written around 442 BCE that tells the story of the daughters of the deceased king Oedipus; Antigone and Ismene. Some other significant characters in this drama are Creon, Choragos, and Haimon. The conflict in this tragedy is caused by Oedipus's two sons Polyneices and Eteocles. Polyneices and Eteocles were at war with each other over the throne because Eteocles would not step down, and the two brothers ended up killing each other. When Oedipus died, his brother Creon became king of Thebes. His first rule as king was that Eteocles must be buried in honor, and Polyneices must not be buried. Antigone sees this as morally wrong, and feels that she must bury Polyneices, even though she knows the punishment for doing so is death. She tries to convince Ismene that this is the right thing to do, but Ismene declared that she “must yield to those in authority” (lines 50-51), and leaves Antigone to face the risks of burying her brother by herself. …show more content…
When she tells Ismene that she will do what is right by burying their brother, no matter the consequence, that convinces the audience that she is right, not Creon. Especially when she is caught, and does nothing to try to escape the consequences she must face. Pathos is also used when Antigone sees that her brother was not buried (right before she buries him) and the sentry compares her to a mother bird finding her babies missing from the nest. “A mother bird comes back to a stripped nest, heard her crying bitterly a broken note or two for her young ones