Richard III 2

A detailed Summary of Richard III 2

In Sophocles' Antigone, the struggles the main character, Antigone, faces concerning the burial of her brother, Polyneices, evoke a wide array of emotions towards Creon. Antigone is portrayed as a woman acting out of obligation and duty, to the gods, her family, and her conscience. She faces overwhelming odds and incredible hardships for doing what she knew was right, which was what led her to the death sentence from Creon. Creon is to blame for this tragedy because of his insecurity, his insensitivity, and his stubbornness.

As king of Thebes, Creon is obligated to make an example to those who perform traitorous acts; Polyneices falls under this category through his actions against the state. Eteokles showed valor and loyalty to the state of Thebes; so therefore, he is deserving of proper ceremony and burial. Polyneices, on the other hand, conspired against Eteokles and Thebes, so naturally, he deserves no honor in death. Creon sees Polyneices as a traitorous villain who deserves to be left in the sun to rot. Antigone's family has already suffered tremendous hardships even before the play begins. Ismene, her sister, laments the tragic circumstances of their parent's fate by saying, "Think of Oedipus, ou

In the end, Antigone faces her death as nobly as any martyred heroine of any era. "There, in the farthest corner of the cave, we saw her hanging by the neck. The rope was of the woven linen of her dress" (1521). Instead of facing starvation and madness in the cave and wailing and weeping until she died, Antigone showed her integrity by taking her own life, on her own terms, with courage and bravery. This bravery is quite the contrast to the sniveling way Creon does when the prophecy of his fate is fulfilled. He states, "The end will welcome, the final day. Why don't you come at last? I'm waiting for doom. I don't want to see another day (ll 1516-1518). Creon's fate is no more heavy than the fate which Antigone was dealt since her birth, nor were his actions any less in his control than were hers, yet even though Antigone paid a greater price than he, Creon laments at his misfortune. Antigone believes that once a thing must come to pass and is unavoidable, there is no sense in mourning, or cursing the fates for misfortune, but rather, one must take the course of events into his/her hands. In Antigone's case, she took control over the very last thing that she could - she took her own life, on her own terms. On those terms, she died with honor and dignity, despite the humiliating effect dying in the cave was supposed to invoke. Creon, whose life was spared, whines and snivels because of his misfortune. This very situation shows the weakness of Creon's character.

This is another one of Creon's positions which holds no validity whatsoever. He is arrogant in thinking it is acceptable to use his position of power to deny the wishes of the gods. Antigone herself charges Creon with this fact, "I didn't suppose your dec

Some common words found in the essay are:
Polyneices Antigone, Eteokles Polyneices, Creon Polyneices, Thebes Creon, Creon Antigone, Sophocles' Antigone, Creon Creon, Eteokles Thebes, burial polyneices, proper ceremony burial, life own terms, deserving proper ceremony, ceremony burial, gods antigone, death antigone, deserving proper, own life own, regardless actions, antigone feels, own terms, own life, life own,

Approximate Word count = 1171
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English