Essay Sample on Antigone: Sophocles' Classic Tragedy of Theban Legend

Introduction

Antigone is a play about a tragedy by Sophocles, which was written around 441 BC. The play has three actors, and Antigone is the third one in the order of the occurrences portrayed in the play. It is, however, the first that was written. The play is expansive on the legend of Theban, which predates it. It continues from where Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes ends. The chorus has a particular focus on the attention of the audience on the acting in the settings of a theater. The play outlines the conflicts that arose in the family of Oedipus, which were leading to loss of lives as they struggle for power.

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Antigone has a sister who goes by the name of Ismene and Antigone wants to disclose some news which is terrifying to her sister. To be able to deliver the horrifying news, she takes her sister and leads her out of earshot from the king's premises where they were b living. The palace was once a property of their late father, Oedipus, but now it belongs to their uncle, who goes by the name of Creon, who their father did not trust. The news that Antigone wants to share with her sister is not supposed to be overheard by their uncle. After moving away from the palace, Antigone gets ready to disclose the news to her sister and talks to her about several issues that their family had had to go through due to the actions of their father when he was alive. His parents abandoned Oedipus after birth but later meets them in a different place. Unaware, Oedipus killed the king and his wife, who were his parents and married Jocasta, with whom he had two daughters and two sons.

Their two brothers were the source of a new tragedy in the family and into the lives of their sisters, Antigone and Ismene. The two brothers were engaged in conflicts where they had to fight until they killed each other. At this level, a theme of conflict is coming up when the two brothers engage each other in a fight that leads to their deaths. One of the brothers, by the name of Polyneices, would not endorse Creon as the king. Therefore the king hated him and ordered his body to remain at the battlefield to decompose there while he honored Eteocles by declaring him as a hero and burying him with honor that is given to the soldiers. To Antigone, the news was horrifying and to and to her sister too. Their mood was sad due to the issues that were happening in the family.

For the love of her brothers and the feeling that she needed to honor her brother instead of leaving him out to decompose, she requested her sister to assist her in burying the brother. Creon had given a stern warning that whoever would attempt to conceal Polyneices would be stoned to death. After requesting her sister, Ismene is shocked and asks her sister to consider the sentiments by Creon about what he would do to anyone who would attempt to bury Polyneices. Antigone maintains that the warning by their uncle would not scare her away and that she would have to bury his brother. The two sisters were shocked and were sad, and we are also able to see how Antigone is determined and brave as she wants to bury her brother despite the warning by the king.

On the other hand, Ismene is scared and afraid of going against the warning by the kind. The conflict among the two brothers arose because they had differences in endorsing the king. Polyneices would not accept Creon as the king, while Eteocles had taken Creon as the king.

Deaths were too much in the family of Oedipus, where he killed his parents unknowingly. He married Jocasta, who together gave birth to Antigone and her sister and the two brothers. The two brothers engage in a conflict that would make them fight each other until they were both dead. The two brothers were fighting for power as one was against Creon becoming the king, and the other one was for Creon becoming the king. With these deaths, Ismene reminds her sister about the mystery in their family. She tells her about the death of their mather, who killed herself after realizing that she sired the children with her son. Their father also destroyed himself after discovering that he had children with his mother. Ismene and Antigone were the only ones left, and when she told Ismene to assist in burying their brother, she was inviting another tragedy as they would be killed as well.

Conclusion

The central theme that comes out from the play is the theme of conflict for power. For instance, the two brothers Polyneices and Eteocles, get into a dispute related to power where one was against Creon becoming the king, and the other one was in support of that. They fought until they were dead. The struggle and conflict between Laius and Oedipus also ended in death. There was the theme of civilization due to disparity between the civilized and those that were not civilized. When the king orders for an honorable burial of Eteocles was an indicator of culture. On the other hand, when he says that the body of Polyneices to be left at the field to decompose was an indication of uncivilization. Ismene after realizing that it was wrong to leave the ]corpse of their brother to rot in the area, she does not want to go against the orders of Creon by Antigone goes ahead to defy them and buries the body of her brother as she found it wrong to leave it

Work Cited

Brecht, Bertolt, and Gerhard Jelen. The Antigone of Sophocles. Bloomsbury, 2013.