Burial at Thebes Essay
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6 Pages
The central conflicts within Antigone speak to people through the centuries as relevant to their way of life or the violent situations they find themselves in. The lesser disputes mostly centre around family feuding. The argument between siblings (Antigone and Ismene) and the strife between father and son (Creon and Haemon) are illustrations of clashes within many families.
The arguments between the Ruler and People (Chorus/Guard) and his adviser (Tiresias) feed into the central dispute between Ruler and Rebel as personified by Creon and Antigone.
. The two sisters’ disagreement in the first pages (1 to 7) is pertinent to families throughout history. Sibling rivalry is a major point in the play as the death of Polyneices was at the …show more content…
The arguments between the Ruler and People (Chorus/Guard) and his adviser (Tiresias) feed into the central dispute between Ruler and Rebel as personified by Creon and Antigone.
. The two sisters’ disagreement in the first pages (1 to 7) is pertinent to families throughout history. Sibling rivalry is a major point in the play as the death of Polyneices was at the …show more content…
As Ismene says on p26;
‘Different worlds, both equally offended.’ The argument between Heamon and his father (pp. 29 to 35) also resounds through the ages. No father likes to take advice from his children. No parent likes to see their child making (in their view) a wrong choice of partner. In a way this is probably the quarrel most people have had at some point in their life whatever time or culture they come from. The protestations of love on both sides coupled with the recriminations would sound familiar to everyone.
‘Father/son, son/father –that regard is natural and mutual.’ says Heamon, (p.31) while his father rails against him; (p.34)
‘You’ll rue the day you took it on yourself
To lecture me. You’re a real know-nothing.’
There is another minor dispute that surfaces throughout the play in that Creon is also concerned with corruption. He constantly accuses people of taking bribes;
‘There’s always money in lurking and I never
Underestimate the lure of money’ (p.12)
And he continues to curse money and accuses people of being paid to work against him during the rest of the play. The levels of corruption in governments have not diminished with time and the fight of a leader against it is a familiar and never ending one. The major point of the play is the conflict between Creon, as the new leader of the state, and Antigone, his niece. When the play was written the position of the protagonists was
‘Different worlds, both equally offended.’ The argument between Heamon and his father (pp. 29 to 35) also resounds through the ages. No father likes to take advice from his children. No parent likes to see their child making (in their view) a wrong choice of partner. In a way this is probably the quarrel most people have had at some point in their life whatever time or culture they come from. The protestations of love on both sides coupled with the recriminations would sound familiar to everyone.
‘Father/son, son/father –that regard is natural and mutual.’ says Heamon, (p.31) while his father rails against him; (p.34)
‘You’ll rue the day you took it on yourself
To lecture me. You’re a real know-nothing.’
There is another minor dispute that surfaces throughout the play in that Creon is also concerned with corruption. He constantly accuses people of taking bribes;
‘There’s always money in lurking and I never
Underestimate the lure of money’ (p.12)
And he continues to curse money and accuses people of being paid to work against him during the rest of the play. The levels of corruption in governments have not diminished with time and the fight of a leader against it is a familiar and never ending one. The major point of the play is the conflict between Creon, as the new leader of the state, and Antigone, his niece. When the play was written the position of the protagonists was