The Emotions Of Creon In Antigone By Sophocles - 852 Words

Throughout the play Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone does not have one main motivation, but rather a blend of many. As Antigone’s three most evident motives are doing the right thing, flouting Creon’s authority, and expressing her overall anger at life, the first and the last are most important. In this play, the combination of Antigone’s emotions toward her grave past and her obligation to her brother, regarding the gods, fuses together to be the incentive for her actions, regardless of Creon. Challenging Creon is almost a side effect, a medium through which Antigone can achieve her goals. Antigone’s past is a messy one: an incestual and murderous curse put on her family, her mother’s suicide, her father’s self-mutilation and banishment,†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, in Antigone’s conversation with Ismene, she reveals more of her motivations. Antigone’s anger is carried over, but the reader is also introduced to a budding grief. She states that Creon â€Å"has no right to keep [her] from [her] own† (59). The fact that Polynices is her brother is enough to for Antigone to justify her actions against the law. The tone of this statement feels like a grief-stricken plea, to do what is right for her brother. She loves him, and he deserves to be buried. Antigone then mentions that Creon and everyone who refuses to bury Polynices is â€Å"dishonor[ing] the laws the gods hold in honor† (91-92). For Antigone to then act against everyone, would, therefore, be the right thing, in terms of religious beliefs. For someone other than Antigone this might be sufficient enough motivation, but since she is so complex it is only a factor. A thoughtful, rational person probably wouldn’t be so quick to jump into a decision that would inevitably lead them to their death, even if that decision was the right one. Since Antigone is so upset with her life, she doesn’t care if she lives or dies, if the past is any indication of her future, only more pain will come. This is what makes her do the right thing. Antigone believes burying her brother is right, and that the laws of the gods must be obeyed, so it is a factor, but since she actually takes action and buries him, she throws her life away.Show MoreRelatedAncient Greek Tragedies: Passion vs. Prudence 959 Words   |  4 Pagesis the catastrophe caused by acting on emotions. Both Oedipus and Antigone experience this as a result of their rash behavior. Even Creon ends up miserable in Antigone due to the change in his behavior. By acting on their e motions, these characters all experience tragic downfalls, while others, such as Ismene and Creon during Oedipus Rex, remain safe due to their prudence and indications of wisdom. Due to the actions she took based on her emotions, Antigone suffered a far worse fate than IsmeneRead MoreAntigone Character Analysis1422 Words   |  6 Pages Antigone, the final play in a series including Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, discusses the ideas of leadership, family, and choices. It features two central characters: Antigone, a girl who chooses to illegally bury her brother, and Creon, a king who decrees the burial of the brother to be illegal. Upon the first encounter of the text, it appears that Antigone is the â€Å"hero† of the play, but on further analysis, one realizes that the tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle, is actually Creon. The ideaRead MoreAntigone Catharsis Essay982 Words   |  4 Pagesaction to release self-pitying emotions. This process of relieving oneself from fear and pity into a sense of renewal and purification is known as catharsis. In the Greek play, Antigone, the author, Sophocles used catharsis to demonstrate situations in which the sense of renewal one is seeking for sometimes can only be reached through tragic ways. The play exhibits these violent ways through struggles and the ultimate aftereffect of three important characters. In Antigone, catharsis is reached by theRead MoreCreon : The Tragic Hero In SophoclesAntigone886 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"According to Aristotle, the function of tragedy is to arouse pity and fear in audience so that we may be purged or cleansed, of these unsettling emotions.† (â€Å"What is† 739) This â€Å"purging† is clearly effective in Sophocles’ Antigone which is about a young woman’s will to do what is right by the G ods. Also, according to Aristotle, â€Å"a tragedy can arouse twin emotions of pity and fear only if it presents a certain type of hero or heroine who is neither completely good nor completely bad† (â€Å"What is† 739). HeRead MoreIn â€Å"Impossible Mourning: Sophocles Reversal† By Fanny Soderback,1276 Words   |  6 Pages In â€Å"Impossible Mourning: Sophocles Reversal† by Fanny Soderback, she introduces the concept of a Sophoclean reversal at the heart Antigone. To introduce her argument, Antigone is associated with the private realm and divine law, and Creon is a representative of human law and politics. Soderback bases her understanding of Antigone on the work of Hannah Arendt, who argues that the Greek public realm is distinctly separated from the private realm, which rebuts most claims of how family and state wereRead MoreEssay about The Greek Gods Did Not Think Before They Acted1615 Words   |  7 Pagesoften root from a fatal flaw. By placing power on their emotions when making decisions, they are unable to come to terms with the repercussions at an early stage. When they finally step back and rationally understand situations it essentially is too late. In Sophocles’ play Antigone, the author follows the Aristotalean principles of a tragic heroine in contriving the character Antigone. One distinct component of a tragic hero that Antigone comprises of is that she comes from a noble family thatRead MoreThe Tragedy Of Sophocles Antigone1355 Words   |  6 Pagesperson thinks about the word suffering a lot of emotions and meanings can all flow in at once. It is a word that not many people want to talk about let alone feel it. However it is a truly amazing emotion; to suffer. That word can mean so many different things to so many different people. It is up to that one person to make a choice and define that word for themselves. The reason as to why one must define the word themselves is because it is a personal emotion. One person cannot tell another that theyRead MoreEssay on Creon as the Tragic Hero in Sophocles Antigone1326 Words   |  6 PagesCreon as the Tragic Hero in Antigone     Ã‚   This essay will compare two of the characters in â€Å"Antigone†, Antigone and Creon, in an effort to determine the identity of the tragic hero in this tale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To identify the tragic hero in Sophocles’ renowned play â€Å"Antigone†, we should first consider both the elements present in Greek tragedies and what characteristics define a tragic hero. Aristotle’s definition of tragedy is: â€Å"Tragedy is a story taking the hero from happiness to miseryRead MorePathos In Antigone978 Words   |  4 PagesAntigone and Aristotle’s definition of tragedy The beauty of tragedy is its ability to capture the audience and evoke a particular emotion in it. Tragedy, as Aristotle defines it, â€Å"accomplish[es] by means of pity and fear the cleansing [katharsis] of these states of feeling† (Poetics 1449b 27-28). Aristotle claims that tragedy offers some certain value for the audience – a social and psychological value – through the empathy it sets in place for the audience. Sophocles’ tragic play, Antigone, isRead MoreSympathy for the Main Character in Sophocles Antigone Essay794 Words   |  4 PagesSympathy for the Main Character in Sophocles Antigone Sophocles play is named after its main character, Antigone, and for one the first times in Greek Tragedy it is a woman. In this play, Antigone is clearly the protagonist, as she is showed in her grief, seems sympathetic and the reader or spectator sees her from the beginning; it creates more impact and draws attention to the extremity