Death:

The idea of the burial of the dead is culturally put down upon in Antigone. Ismene is fearful but Antigone is fearless and decides to attempt to bury her brother who has died in a battle. Antigone takes the initiative herself and decides to bury her brother even though she knows there are possible consequences of her own death. She comes to a point where she would rather die than live with the burden of knowing her brother’s death and the conscious pain it gives her. She states, “My own death is not going to bother me, but I would be devastated to see my mother’s son die and rot unburied”. She is not embarrassed for what she is done and really admits her actions. The Idea of death raises the question of facing the pain of losing someone and maybe it is worth it to bury them and understand they are fully gone instead of questioning themselves.  In the end, Haimon defends Antigone and states “it’s her brother and they have to understand the value of the brother’s life.” It seems as if there was no respect of the dead at that time, only if the person was important or provided value to the king. The king had an idea of a zero-sum game in his mind.

Opening of her arms] invites

Everyone except her lover] all not

Cherishes the moment] feast

Thinking about her lover, Hera] for Hera

The only problem is, she is not here and will never come back]as long as

Page 31:  I created a diagram to display two specific things, her deep love and her loss of hope. She states in the poem, “He”. It really lights up my ear and it makes me feel as if she is trying to trick the reader into who she really is referring to. As she keeps the reader on their feet she continues discussing her feeling when she hears her lover speaking. She seems impoverished because she does not know how to control her love anymore. She is desperate and she feels like she is almost “dead”, as it seems to her. She describes this lover and her heart beats from love. She compares him equal to gods, which is an extreme sign of respect in greek culture.