Seven Against Thebes

Antigone has the difficulty of deciding whether burying her brother is worth the risk of death. It all started when Oedipus and Jocasta both committed suicide because they realized that Jocasta was Oedipus’ mom. Since Oedipus was the leader of Thebes, they had to appoint a new leader. Usually, the father’s son would be the one to take over the city according to the Greek culture. However, Oedipus has two sons: Polynices and Eteocles. They decided that they would split off leading the town. Eteocles ruled the town for the first year and then Polynices ruled the second year. After the end of Polynices’ time leading, he did not want to give his power up. This made the city go into a huge turmoil. Eteocles and Polynices both died in the…

Antigone’s uncle and the ruler of Thebes, would not listen to her reasoning simply because she was a woman. To this effect, the community viewed Antigone as a rebellious, headstrong woman for the same reasons. However if she were a man, she would have been treated differently. Her strong opinions would make it seem as though she was a strong-willed person standing up for what she believed in. Also, Sophocles used Antigone 's sister, Ismene, as a portrayal of how women in ancient…

Of all actions of man that can be attributed to pre-written fate, going against fate itself is not one- rejecting one’s fate is the choice of man and leads to punishment by the gods. II. Antigone, unlike Oedipus, respects the authority of fate and does not try to change the fact that she will be punished for burying Polyneices; although she meets her demise as punishment for her insubordination, she does not add to her punishment with her own actions since she did not struggle against her…

descent.” In this statement she differentiated between their “descent” from princesses of Thebes, as a result of their father, and actual “fallen”-ness which would occur if Polyneices was left unburied by them. At this point, then, Antigone considered that she and her sister were in a moment of darkness before the illumination of their status or place in the world, dependent on whether they would take action to bury Polyneices. She did not consider her loss of status equivalent to fallenness,…

city-state. The motive became building a strong community, rather than a strong family. Antigone shows the contradiction between these two aspects of living. The importance of the oikos was not completely lost but the polis had gained significance in Greek life. Antigone shows how these two ideas are pitted against one another, and reveals the damage that a broken oikos can leave behind. Antigone is the offspring of Oedipus and Jokasta, and Antigone is not only her father’s daughter but also…

The story of Antigone begins with the conquest of Thebes, a Greek city-state. The ruler of Thebes, Oedipus, stepped down and gave both of his sons, Eteocles and Polynices power to rule Thebes. The only condition was that they must alternate being king on a yearly basis. However, Eteocles refused to give up his power at the end of the year and exiled his brother Polynices from Thebes. In anger of being exiled, Polynices travels to the nearby city-states to gather an army to retake Thebes from his…

1. Kreon orders burial honors for Eteocles, but forbids burial for Polynieces because Eteocles chooses to be loyal and to stand with the army of Thebes, while Polynieces chooses to be a traitor and to stand with the army of Argos. Antigone wants to disobey Kreon’s orders because Polynieces is her true brother and family is very important to her. 2. The relationship between Antigone and Ismene can be described as having completely opposite personalities; however, they still love each other very…

Antigone was a fascinating play/story. Oedipus and Jocasta had four children and they are Eteocles, Polyneices, Ismene and Antigone. Eteocles Polyneices were the brothers which were very different Eteocles was very stubborn while Polyneices was fair, loyal and devoted. The two sisters were kind of the same but had slightly different traits. Antigone was determined, stubborn, devoted, loyal, brave, religious, and intelligent, she was also a selfless person. While ismene was considered more…

She is the contrast version of the overdramatic heroine, the representative blond ingénue as personified in Ismene. She has always been problematic, frightening Ismene as a juvenile, always claiming on the satisfaction of her desires, denying to “understand” the bounds located on her. She had a strong jealousy of Ismene. Unlike Antigone, Ismene is the object of all men’s desires. Antigone has a different type of beauty compared to Ismene such as her doing something for her brother that nobody…

Creon has the rightful rule of the city of Thebes because he was born into a family of power and virtue. He also had the natural rule over Antigone because she was a woman and men were superior to women because Aristotle saw the women as less rational than the men. The law set forth by Creon to dishonor Polyneices’ body and to put to death whoever tried to bury him was a justified law in the mind of Aristotle because the law came about during a military expedition and so Creon could rightfully…