Antigone questions

Sophocles, Antigone

Question 4 & 3

In most plays it’s easy to identify the protagonist and antagonist in every story line.  Yet, in Antigone your beliefs can alter your perception of role identification.  At first, we sympathize with Antigone, we know the importance of putting to rest a dead relative, especially if your loved one was murdered.  Later on, we are introduced to Creon, the king of Thebes that gained control right after a victorious battle against the city state of Argos.  As the leader of his city-state his role is to unite, and make sure that his subjects are loyal to Thebes.  Prohibiting anyone from burying, or grieving Polynices shows that Creon has zero tolerance for treason.  Antigone and Creon both represent loyalty.  The question is who are they loyal to?

“And whoever places a friend above the good of his own country, he is nothing: I have no use for him. Zeus my witness, Zeus who sees all things, always– “. Throughout the play Creon gave praises to the gods for protecting them.  He constantly acknowledged the fact that they were pleased with him and watched over him.  Creon’s pride was so indomitable that he felt that his will was also that of the gods.  Not only was he protecting the honor of Thebes, but he was also upholding the honor of the gods.

“If this is the pleasure of the gods, once I suffer I will know that I was wrong. But if these men are wrong, let them suffer nothing worse than they mete out to me–these masters of injustice!” Here Antigone expressed that she has faith in the gods.  No way can they not see her heart and empathize with her.  She was committed because of her pride, so committed that she wants to “Shout it out”.  This was her way of striking Creon’s pride.  They were so alike that she knew just were to hurt him. Any person defying the king was braver than most men.  In this case that person was a woman.  This infuriated Creon.  He would call men woman as a way of insulting them.

We see this a lot in modern times.  In politics, we all side with a different party/candidate for our own reasons.  Some identify with a group for religious reasons. Others are loyal to one group because they are born citizens. There isn’t a right or wrong.  There are just perceptions and different views.  We are so adamant about our views that we voice our opinions over public forums.

Usually in a story line the protagonist and antagonist have contrasting traits. Yet, here in Antigone the decisions of both characters resulted in the deaths of their loved ones.  One person could view Antigone as the provoker that could’ve let things be for the better of Thebes, others could view Creon as a power-hungry dictator that shouldn’t’ve let his pride get the best of him.  These two characters are so similar that it’s up to the reader to interpret who’s who, and what’s the real motive behind their actions.