Defiance In Antigone

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Throughout Sophocles’ Antigone the Antigone is portrayed to the reader as a sort of radical character, unable to bend to the law set upon her by the King of Thebes. Though this may at first be believably seen as truth it is an over simplified version of what happened. She was forced to choose between breaking the laws set upon the people of Thebes and breaking Divine law. Antigone acted with reason weighing all of her options and assessing which would be a decision she could stand behind. Had Antigone been a man her actions would not have had the same degree of ramification as in the play inflicted upon her. Antigone’s perceived defiance of the Chain of Being and Thebes was not simply that defiance. The Chain of Being was at this time very…show more content…
Firstly her family and her loyalty to them impacted her decision by adding an emotional level to it. Antigone’s devotion to her family is exemplified by the fact that she sticks by both of her brothers despite them being on different sides, and holding the connection of family over the barrier of war. Having only recently lost most of her family Antigone is in a sensitive and emotional state, making her need to give her brother a proper burial that much stronger. This state was evident by her snapping at her younger sister without entirely just cause and her wails after realizing her brother had been unburied. Considering that both of her brothers had died on the same day at one another’s hand, Antigone felt an obligation to both of them, she was satisfied with Eteocles’ burial and found the need to inform Creon that he would too have been unimpressed by Polynice’s treatment. Antigone truly believed that her brother Eteocles would have agreed with the fact that despite Polynices’ betrayal. The influence of the new laws set upon Thebes although not as evidently emotionally swaying impacts her decision as well in part the impact is be due to the severe punishment for the actions that Antigone was considering. The fact that up until incredibly recently Antigone’s family had been in power and thereby made the laws for Thebes, having that all change in the same time that she had lost most of her family may have made her more determined to do as she thought was morally correct. This due to the fact that she had grown up watching as her family

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