Antigone by Sophocles

 Antigone by Sophocles is a classic Greek tragedy that has survived the test of time as it rings the heartstrings of the audience, even in the modern times, thousands of years after its inception. It entails the story of a heroine, Antigone against the tyrannical monarch of Thebes. The main characters of the play are as follows:

1. Antigone - Protagonist, daughter of Oedipus
2. Creon - King of Thebes, Oedipus's brother
3. Ismene - Antigone's sister
4. Haemon - Creon's son, Antigone's betrothed
5. Euridice - Creon's wife, Haemon's mother 
6. Polineices and Eteocles - Antigone's brothers

The play begins with the Greek state of Thebes, fresh out of a conflict. After the gruesome death of Oedipus, his sons made a pact to rule in turns. However when Eteocles betrays Polyneices, the latter attacks Thebes with the aid of Argos. The altercation results in their deaths at each other's hands and their uncle Creon taking the throne. To establish his suthority, Creon decrees that Eteocles's body to be buried with utmost honor while Polyneices's corpse to be left to rot and scavenged upon by vultures with no due rites as he views him as a traitor.

Antigone is disgusted by this decree whereby one of his brother's body will be desecrated. She decides to take matters into her own hands and confides with Ismene, her sister to help her do the right thing. At the slightest hesitation, Antigone does not involve Ismene and makes up her mind to go against Creon; to bury her brother's body as she considers it as upholding justice according to divine law.

Upon knowing that his decree has been violated by Antigone who tried to perform her brother's last rites, Creon arrests Antigone as well as Ismene on suspicion of aiding her sister. He is further infuriated by Antigone's lack of remorse and her open admission claiming that she did no wrong defying the king's order. Enraged, Creon sentences Antigone to death by burying her alive inside a wall. Antigone however seems to have accepted her fate and also disowns Ismene as she did not offer her help when it counted.

Haemon, betrothed to Antigone tries to persuade his father Creon on rescinding his order and forgiving Antigone. However, Creon rebukes him saying he should find another bride and men should uphold stoic standards; they should never be manipulated by women. He maintains that hierarchy and chain of command must be maintained and failing to do so would undermine his authority. Haemon pleads that everyone in Thebes is against Creon's brutal punishment of Antigone but do not say so explicitly due to fear. After heated argument and failure to persuade his  father, Haemon leaves declaring that Creon shall never see his face again.

Creon is visited by a bling prophet, who warns Creon that some great tragedy is about to befall his family. Creon obliges and says that he will heed the prophet's advice. However, when the prophet asks him to free Antigone as his actions against her have angered the Gods, Creon hurls insults at the prophet claiming that he has been bribed. The prophet leaves feeling indignant, claiming that Creon has ignored and admonished the prophet at his own peril.

Creon finally comes to his senses and rushes to free Antigone from her tomb but it is too late as she has killed herself. He finds Haemon beside her corpse who incapable of bearing the loss of his beloved stabs and kills himself in front of Creon. The climax is peaked when Creon learns about her son's death and put the entire blame on Creon. At the end of the play Creon laments for all the death and blames himself as he is left in desolation. The fate of Thebes is uncertain.

A noteworthy thing is that the play consist of chorus that initially takes an indifferent tone but continually acts as a warning to Creon to correct his course. the play follows a traditional linear plot structure that begins with exposition followed by continually rising action and reaching climax when all tragedies occur and finally settling in when Creon is left in utter ruin. 

The play's main theme can arguably stated as the conflict between man-made law and divine law. This is played out by the antagonism between Creon and Antigone as Creon is adamant on upholding his decree but Antigone disregards his order  as it is in violation of the laws made by the gods. Antigone firmly believes that the laws decreed by divinity is superior and failure to adhere to them will result in far worse consequences that the agony any man can deliver.

Many other themes come to play such as the downfall of man due to pride, religion and its importance, sacrifice to uphold one's values and domestic clash. Creon is a newly crowned monarch of Thebes. This was a result both rightful heirs to the throne killed themselves making the unlikely come true. Hence it can be surmised that power takes hold of Creon's senses who is not accustomed to it. His pride in his newly found station eventually leads to his downfall. There are various religious themes  and multiple allusions to Greek mythology throughout the play of for instance the mentions of Zeus, Ares, Dionysus etc. this theme of religion is found in many Greek literature as god's wrath on Oedipus, Poseidon's vengeance on King Minos, Achilles refusal to bury Hector's corpse which is similar to Creon's order.

Antigone, the protagonist is the epitome of sacrifice and upholding of one's values in the face of great perils. She can be argued to be the first feminist icon and the heroine who is steadfast . She stands true to her values and refutes King's orders to give her brother a proper burial and due honor. Her sister Ismene acts as a foil to Antigone as she refuse to help Antigone. She is timid and frightened to do what is right. Antigone is a headstrong woman of strong convictions and is willing to sacrifice anything to do what she feels is the right thing to do. She defies Creon, in a time of patriarchal dominance when women were treated as inferior sex. She also possesses strong ideas as she scorns Ismene for refusing to help her through actions but only through hollow words. She reprimands Ismene for her cowardice and hypocrisy disowning her. Although it can be argued that she did this protect Ismene from the painful fate that awaited herself.

Creon is the main antagonist of the play as he is protrayed as the prideful and boastful monarch who grows tyrannical throughout the play. He shows signs of pettiness when he forbids the burial of Polyneices, who despite everything was a fallen warrior and also refuses his final rites. He also displays blatant disregard for divine laws as it was considered sacrilege to not bury the dead. He is drunk on his newfounded power as he makes no concession upon finding Antigone to be the culprit who is betrothed to his son. His views on marriage are also deprecating as he readily tells his son to find a new bride. Therefore, Creon is blinded by power and is the despotic ruler that is the perfect antagonistic force for Antigone. 

Creon also constantly boasts of the importance of maintaining hierarchy and the importance of obedience towards the superior to foster harmony. However, he ultimately comes off as a hypocrite when he treats any advice that does not align with his preconceived notions with insults. This is explicitly presented when he is eager to hear the prophet's advice but readily insults him upon finding that the advice goes against his decree. Creon also presents a degree on insecurity as he cannot stand any criticism and constantly throws baseless accusations at others of accepting bribes while himself unable to tolerate anyone undermining his authority.

The play also uses burials as a symbol of a sacred ritual owed to the dead. This divinely ordained law to which Antigone adheres and dies upholding. the conflict arise due to the 'burial' or the lack thereof for Polynices that spurns Antigone into action. Sophocles further highlights Creon's disregard for the Gods when he not only denies burial of the dead Polyneices but further orders Antigone to be buried alive in a tomb.

Hence, Antigone is a universal tale of good vs evil, of power against principles. Antigone and Creon are both obstinate to the highest degree in sticking to their words, but what separates them is that Antigone's strength derives from strong convictions while Creon is inflicted with injured pride that results in fruitless and unwarranted stubbornness. The story perfectly captures and presents the idea of personal conscience against the trials of life and insurmountable of odds of the state.