Antigone

Antigone Table of Contents Identification of Specific Values, Beliefs, Character Traits of Antigone Contributing to Her Actions and Leading to HerDeath3
2. Five Ancient Greek Beliefs, Customs, Views Using Evidence from Antigone3
3. What the Play Suggests About the Nature of Leadership3
4. Status of Women in Ancient Greece3
5. On Antigone- Older or Younger Sister? 4
Works Cited5
1. Identification of Specific Values, Beliefs, Character Traits of Antigone Contributing to Her Actions and Leading to Her Death
She is defiant and loyal to family values, willing to go against the edict of the king in order to bury his dead brother. Facing the King Creon, she continued to be defiant, reasoning with the kind and questioning the morality of the king’s edicts, and this stubbornness is a main cause of her downfall. She would take her own life by hanging herself, true to her character and her defiance (Sophocles).
2. Five Ancient Greek Beliefs, Customs, Views Using Evidence from Antigone
The Ancient Greeks believed in appeasing the gods with sacrifices, as evidenced by the testimony of the prophet Tiresias. They also believed that not burying a dead person is the worst kind of fate that can befall a person. Through Tiresias we also find that the Ancient Greeks had a superstition against burying people alive. The Ancient Greeks also viewed going against the gods as having fatal consequences for the person and his family and kin. The Ancient Greeks routinely offered sacrifices to Dionysius, their god of the theater as well as of intoxicating spirits (Sophocles).
3. What the Play Suggests About the Nature of Leadership
The play suggests that leadership is also about listening to the inputs of ones followers, following the promptings of intuition together with tradition and common sense, and taking to heart the lessons of the past (Sophocles).
4. Status of Women in Ancient Greece
In the play the women advised Creon, but had little power to change the will of the king and to change their fates. This is evidenced by the Eurydices passive role as wife of the king, and Antigones own inability to save herself from being buried alive (Sophocles).
5. On Antigone- Older or Younger Sister?
The play seems to be silent about whether Antigone was older or younger than Ismene. This may have been deliberate, meaning that it does not really affect the outcome of the play either way (Sophocles).
Works Cited
Sophocles. Antigone