Antigone By Sophocles Essay Research Paper Fate

Antigone By Sophocles Essay, Research Paper

Fate, Loyalty, and Law

The play Antigone by Sophocles is a play like no other. There are three major themes or ideas which have a very important role in the play. The first major theme is fate, on how the play comes about and the turn of events that come about throughout it. Another main theme or idea is the pride the characters have and their unwillingness they have to change their minds once they are set on something. The last major theme is loyalty and the practical problem of conduct involving which is a higher law between the divine laws and those of the humans. It is an issue of which law is the “right” law, and if Creon and Antigone’s acts are justifiable or not. The issues that Antigone and Creon have between them are what ties this whole play together. The themes are also developed with the use of their issues between each other and what they believe in. “Freedom of religion was encouraged to be exercised in the city-states and man was focused on more than the Gods or heavenly concerns. These new ideas and beliefs, though good in intention, often conflicted with one another and created complex moral dilemmas. In the play, Antigone and Creon battle a philosophical war concerning their ideas”(Arrowsmith 296). Antigone represents the laws of the Gods while Creon represents those of the humans.

The first major theme of fate is what had gotten the family of Oedipus where they were when the play began. Fate is why Oedipus winds up killing his own father and eventually ended up marrying his own mother and then later on he found out about all of this. Fate is also what led Creon to be the new king of Thebes and what led his nephews to be on opposite sides of the war. The fate of the two brothers winds up ultimately killing both of them on opposite sides during the war. Antigone’s ultimate fate was to die trying to honor her dead brother and show loyalty what is most important to her, her family. In the first paragraph of the play it reads, “My darling sister Ismene, we have had a fine inheritance from Oedipus. God has gone through the whole range of sufferings and piled them all on us, -grief upon grief, humiliation upon humiliation”(1042). This just shows how terrible fate has treated the family of Oedipus. Creon has a different fate, one that he brought upon himself but it is much more dour than anyone else’s. Creon’s fate was to lose all of all of his family and the rest of his life knowing it was his entire fault because of his selfish actions and his stubborn ways. In the end of the play Creon says, “Nobody else to share the blame. Just me . . . I killed you. I killed you my dear”(1078-1079).

Pride acts as another major theme; it is what got Creon in this situation in the first place. Creon has too much pride to admit to anyone that maybe he was wrong. Even when he has Antigone he has too much pride to let her go. Creon’s own son questions him and he replies, “Am I to stand here and be lectured to by a kid. A man of my experience”(1063)!Creon shows that here he is too proud to change his decision for his own son even if he made the wrong choice. The king’s friend the Leader tries to convince Creon to change his mind by telling him “My king, ever since he began I’ve been debuting in my mind, could this possibly be the work of the gods”(1050). The Leader was trying to tell Creon maybe the gods did have something to do with it still does not convince the pride filled king to change his mind. After Creon has captured Antigone and has sentenced her to die the blind prophet, Teiresias, tries to get Creon to change his mind. Teiresias went to Creon and informed him of his wrong doings and told Creon that his actions would result in terrible things that are going to come back to him. Even the blind prophet could not change the strong-minded and the pride filled decision of the king, Creon. Creon’s pride filled and stubborn decision led him to what he got and ultimately he led himself to his terrible fate. “Creon could have changed his mind, and there were a fare amount of warnings. But his decisions lend him an empty life that could have been adverting if only he would have put his pride aside for a while”(Wharton 295). Creon acknowledges his great mistake in being prideful and realizes how his pride caused suffering.

Both Antigone and Creon have their own ideas of what is “right” and what is “wrong”. This is to say that we should not make assumptions about whether or not something is right or wrong, unless the answer to that is apparently clear. Antigone’s opinion is one that supports the gods and the laws of the heavens. Her reasoning is set by her belief that if someone were not given a proper burial, that a person would not be accepted into heaven. Antigone was a very religious person and the acceptance of her brother by the gods was very important to her. Creon’s actions are guided by the ideal that man is the measure of all things. Creon believes that the good of man comes before the gods. Creon believes that the actions that the actions he had taken were in fact the right ones, because he believed that Polyneices was a traitor to the land, and anyone who would give him a proper burial would suffer the penalty of death. Creon is devoted to his laws while Antigone is loyal to her beliefs. Creon labels those who dare to act against him as traitors, and his justice is quick and cruel.

Antigo