Antigone, who was Oedipus’s daughter, had both a theme of free will and fate, however, they seemed to contradict one another. Although her fate was to live, her free will would not allow her to break the promise to her brother, which was she would give him a proper burial. This went against the king, Creon at the time, and she was to be punished by death if she chose to follow through with the burial. At this time, however, a woman had little to no rights or authority, so for her to stand up to a man, and someone who was a ruler above her, was very uncommon. Both Creon and Antigone were faced with some very difficult decisions and choose to deal with them in different ways. Antigone seems to accept her fate while Creon seems to struggle and make his own way.
At the very beginning of the story, we right away are met with Antigone and Ismene, who is her sister, and they are discussing their brothers, who both died in battle together. We learn that one of her brothers killed her other brother over who was going to be the ruler of Thebes. They both died, leaving Creon the ruler. Creon orders that since Polynices kills his brother, he is not to be buried. Antigone recognized this, however, still felt the need to bury her brother because the gods say it’s unlawful to not give a deceased family a proper burial. Ismene knows that her sister is serious about following this law who was written by the gods and says: “How I fear for thee!”. Antigone says: “Fear not for me, guide thine own faith aright”. She is making it clear to her sister that she has full intentions of following the rules of gods, rather than trying to follow the rules of man.
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At this time, Creon represents the polis, which means he is the one who makes the laws concerning what religious practices should take place. However, Antigone is basically ignoring this by stating, in a way, that this is what the gods want us to do, and that burying family members is a human right, that should not be taken away. While in today’s world, we do have the right to human rights, divine rights, religious freedom, etc., in this time period, these were not the case. The kings and rulers at the time were able to make all the decisions and you were not allowed to overstep these.
However, another way in which people could at it is that Antigone did not do any wrong, because in a way she did not overstep any boundaries that Creon had put into place. The Athenian citizens made a promise to follow any laws placed into action, as long as they were sensible. Meaning that any common laws that were deemed relevant or understandable, they would follow, but any laws placed that did not make sense, they chose not to follow. They did not see any concerns in which it would hurt someone to give Polynices a proper burial, although it is his fault he passed, it’s still not fair to deny anyone the right to remember and celebrate the life of their brother, or family member.
Eteocles was able to receive full honors in burial, this seems to be unfair. They were both involved in the battle and were killed, so how come one brother was given full rights, and the other was to be left outside the city, and was not allowed to be buried? Although one crime may be worse than another, this shows a bit of favoritism on Creon’s part, in my own personal opinion. I believe strongly, that what is right and lawful for one, should be lawful and lawful for another. At the end of it all, they both should have the same divine and human rights that one individual has. No crime should ever be committed, but not having the right to bury your loved one is cruel. I believe that Creon is taking his right to the throne to extreme measures and simply abusing his right to power.
Creon, when he is told the news about the burial Antigone has done, becomes very upset and threatens the guard who told him the news, if he does not tell him who has gone against him. Right there, I can tell that Creon is a very self-centered, cruel man who is using his power as a right to be ruthless to other people. I don’t believe that Creon should have the right to be king. He is using the fact that he is the king as a way to sabotage others into doing what he says or else he is going to sentence them to a very cruel and selfish crime.
When it was found out that Antigone was the one who gave her brother a burial, she was forced to face it. When she goes before Creon, she explains to him that burying a loved one should be a divine right from the gods and that there is no reason she should be punished. However, Creon believes that anyone who shows any hate to the city should not be given any rights, including the rituals of burying a loved one who has passed. So, therefore, she went against the laws which he had enforced.
The family was obviously a very important thing to Antigone. She would be very devoted and loved her family very much, and would do anything for them. So far as to die in order to do what she believed was right for them. She believed that it was her duty to bury her older brother, and went through every measure to make sure that it got done. She went up against her own uncle, which shows that it’s from within that makes up a family. Antigone says that only for her brother that she would be willing to make that sacrifice. She believed that it was the very last thing that she could do to honor and show her love for him.
Antigone showed very heroic signs of free will, just like her father. She stood her ground, even though it meant that she had to die as a last effort of devotion to her family. Although she could have easily broken the promise to her brother and obeyed Creon, she made the decision to keep her word. Ismene even tried to get her out of it and lie for her, but she stuck to what she felt needed to do. Her fate was to live, but her free will and actions sentenced her to death. In many ways, she and her father shared a similar fate and free will.
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