Antigone's Theme

A detailed Summary of Antigone's Theme


The main theme of Antigone is the moral contradiction between doing good and bad. Meaning, you can still do bad when doing something good. An important ideal in Ancient Greece was the belief that the government was to have no control in matters concerning religious beliefs. In Antigone's eyes, Creon betrayed that ideal by not allowing her to properly bury her brother, Eteocles. She believed that the burial was a religious ceremony, and Creon did not have the power to deny Eteocles that right. Antigone's strong beliefs eventually led her to her death by the hand of Creon. Never, though, did she stop defending what she thought was right. As Creon ordered her to her death, Antigone exclaimed, "I go, his prisoner, because I honoured those things in which honour truly belongs." She is directly humiliating Creon by calling his opinions and decisions weak and unjust. She also emphasizes "his prisoner," which tells us that Creon's decision to capture Antigone was his own, and was not backed up by the majority of the people. She feels that Creon is abusing his power as king and dealing with her task to a personal level.

Creon's actions are guided by the ideal that states "Man is the measure of all things." The chorus emphasiz


Though most of Creon's reasonings coincide with the Greek ideals, one ideal strongly contradicts his actions. The ideal states that the population would be granted freedom from political oppression and that freedom of religion would be carried out. Creon defied both of these. First, Antigone was "his prisoner", not necessarily the publics. In fact, the general population supported Antigone, though they were too scared to say anything. Haemon, the son of Creon, knew of this, and told Creon, "Has she not rather earned a crown of gold?- Such is the secret talk of the town." This proves that Creon was exercising complete domination of political power, which is strictly forbidden in the new ideals. Also, not allowing Antigone perform her religious ceremony of burying her brother is interfering with religious affairs. This denies Antigone freedom of religion, hence, contempt for this ideal.

es this point during the play by stating that "There is nothing beyond (man's) power." Creon believes that the good of man comes before the gods. Setting the example using Polynices' body left unburied is a symbol of Creon's belief. "No man who is his country's enemy shall call himself my friend." This quote shows that leaving the body unburied is done to show respect for Thebes. After all, how coul

Some common words found in the essay are:
Eteocles Antigone's, Ancient Greece, , doing bad, freedom religion, creon's actions, cup car, bad doing, that's pollution, religious ceremony,

Approximate Word count = 879
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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