Antigone Interpretive essay
Antigone Interpretive Essay
The play, Antigone, written around 422 B.C. by the author Sophocles, is the first of the three Theban plays written by this author. Although it was the first written, Antigone is the third in the series coming after the plays Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. This play follows the story of a girl, Antigone; and the king of the city of Thebes, Creon, who both have different beliefs about Antigone’s dead brother Polyneices. Creon makes a rule that no one can bury Polyneices because he was a traitor to the city and attacked it with an enemy army. So as an insult to him, he will not permit his burial. Antigone, on the other hand, believes that even though what he did is wrong, that family is family and she has a right to bury him. She does so, defying Creon’s law, but gets caught in the act and Creon sentences her to death. With this decision, he refuses to let go of, we see Creon’s contradictory opinions: on loyalty, by wanting what is best for the city yet he kills their princess, he kills his own son’s bride to be; he pays more attention to himself and what he says is best for the city, rather than his own family, especially his wife.
The first example of Creon’s contradictory opinions is his belief that everything he does is for the best of the city. As this quote from Creon states, “I say to you at the very outset that I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor that is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that is best for the state; and as for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare- I have no use for him, either.” (1/20-24/1027) he states his belief in the safety of the city and its people, no matter what the cost is. So once Creon becomes aware of what Antigone has done, he stands by his word and orders her killed, thinking that if he lets her go the people will see him as weak and breaking his word, saying the good of the people comes first, above all else. What he doesn’t realize is
The play, Antigone, written around 422 B.C. by the author Sophocles, is the first of the three Theban plays written by this author. Although it was the first written, Antigone is the third in the series coming after the plays Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. This play follows the story of a girl, Antigone; and the king of the city of Thebes, Creon, who both have different beliefs about Antigone’s dead brother Polyneices. Creon makes a rule that no one can bury Polyneices because he was a traitor to the city and attacked it with an enemy army. So as an insult to him, he will not permit his burial. Antigone, on the other hand, believes that even though what he did is wrong, that family is family and she has a right to bury him. She does so, defying Creon’s law, but gets caught in the act and Creon sentences her to death. With this decision, he refuses to let go of, we see Creon’s contradictory opinions: on loyalty, by wanting what is best for the city yet he kills their princess, he kills his own son’s bride to be; he pays more attention to himself and what he says is best for the city, rather than his own family, especially his wife.
The first example of Creon’s contradictory opinions is his belief that everything he does is for the best of the city. As this quote from Creon states, “I say to you at the very outset that I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor that is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that is best for the state; and as for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare- I have no use for him, either.” (1/20-24/1027) he states his belief in the safety of the city and its people, no matter what the cost is. So once Creon becomes aware of what Antigone has done, he stands by his word and orders her killed, thinking that if he lets her go the people will see him as weak and breaking his word, saying the good of the people comes first, above all else. What he doesn’t realize is