Antigone

Antigone When one considers the play Antigone, one will find that there are many lessons to be learnt from it. These lessons are mostly based on how one should behave ethically depending on the circumstances involved. When one thinks of the main character of the play, we find that she is a remarkably strong willed woman. Throughout the story, we find that she will stand up to whatever she thinks is right as seen when she chooses to bury her brother despite Creon’s express command forbidding Polyneices burial (Walker 199). Furthermore, she shows immense courage by burying her brother, and this can be seen as a rebellion against Creon’s authoritarian and unfair behavior (Vardoulakis 213). One would suggest that, Sophocles’ way of criticizing the authoritarianism was prevalent in many of the Greek cities of his time.
In this play, we find the theme of actions and punishment as seen through the punishment that Creon receives for his order for Polyneices not to be buried. In the end, he loses all those he cares about, namely his wife and son. This play also brings about the theme of the penalty of power. One would say that Creon’s greed for power makes him lose focus, and he ends up doing the wrong things to retain this power. The price he ends up paying, as a result, is exceedingly great, and he is left a broken man. This play can be said to be highly political in nature, and it is a lesson to those who seek power. If one wants supremacy, then they should be prepared to sacrifice all those people who are close to them. Moreover, they should realize that power is not everything, and their actions when they have such power will have repercussions, both on those they affect directly, and on themselves.
Works Cited
Vardoulakis, Dimitris. “” Invincible Eros”: Democracy and the Vicissitudes of Participation in Antigone.” Law and Literature24. 2 (2012): 213, 231, 293.
Walker, Kathryn. ” Between Individual Principles and Communal Obligation: Ethical Duty in Sophocless Antigone.” Mosaic: a Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 41. 3 (2008): 199-214.