Morality In Antigone

Sophocles’ play Antigone addresses a person’s morals, and the circumstances for a person to stray from their morals. When both of her brothers are killed in battle, Antigone expects to follow the divine law and bury both of them, even though her brother Polyneices is considered a traitor. When her uncle Creon, the new king, issues an edict that prohibits the burial of Polyneices, Antigone is furious. Although the consequence is death, Antigone buries Polyneices anyway and aims to become a martyr. Despite Antigone’s belief in the divine law and martyrdom, her morality reverses in the case of her own death.
Antigone was born full of superiority and courage, yet leaves the world as a conquered person. Antigone’s ordeal begins when she learns she was born of the incestuous union of Oedipus, the former king of Thebes, and his own mother, Jocasta. After her father-brother blinds himself as a …show more content…
Creon says that he is loyal to the state, and thinks that is the best way to rule, but eventually, the state becomes him. Creon began to make decisions that only benefitted himself and acted more like a tyrant rather than a sovereign leader. Creon also praised Teiresias, a seer who is always right, one moment, but then accused him of bribery when Teiresias gave a prophecy Creon did not agree with. Ismene’s, Antigone’s sister, morals also fluctuate in the play. In the beginning, Ismene was against Antigone burying Polyneices and did not wish to take part in any of it, but when Creon accused her of aiding Antigone to bury the body, Ismene lied. Although she did not care before, Ismene did not want her sister to take the blame alone. Sophocles is proving that moral ambiguity is not particular to one person, but rather that it exists in everybody. Everyone will experience a moment of moral ambiguity in their lives no matter their prior