Family Affairs in Antigone, a Play by Sophocles

Antigone, written by the great philosopher Sophocles around BC 440, may seem to be a simple tragic story at first glance, but upon deeper scrutiny, it reveals itself to be a labyrinth of ambiguity and basic characteristics of humanity. Antigone, the protagonist of Antigone, is an over-confident, determined girl who is the “glue” of her cursed family. Even though she is rather sanctimonious with her actions, she cares deeply for her family and will do anything to help them. Antigone attempts to implement the value of familial virtues in her pursuit of saving her family members, whether physically or mentally.

Every tragic hero/heroine has a “project”, a goal that he or she strives to achieve (but usually does not accomplish). Antigone is no exception to this rule; with her heart of gold and fortitude, her “project” would be ameliorating the lives of her family members. Her brother Polynecius is charged with traitorous acts and is deemed unworthy to bury, but Antigone cannot bear to see her brother treated in this manner: “Ismene, I am going to bury him…He is my brother…”. Antigone is strong-willed and courageous, but her sister, Ismene, is shy and submissive. When Antigone presents the idea of honoring their brother by burying him, Ismene is fearful of Creon, their iron-fisted uncle who decreed that Polynecius will not be buried. After getting both herself and Ismene into trouble with Creon, Antigone endeavors to save her sister from the fatal punishment by declaring her innocence: “No Ismene. You have no right to say so. You would not help me, and I will not have you help me.” Creon declares that he will not subject Ismene to the same fate as Antigone. This is the only time that Creon shows any compassion until Scene 5. Despite his tough and forbidding exterior, Antigone is determined to save him mentally from himself. She initiates a discussion between them, telling him to that his people are terrified of him; that’s the only reason they won’t stand up for her, and that he should reconsider his decree to forbid anyone from burying Polynecius: “All these men here would praise me Were their lips not frozen shut with fear of you… Nevertheless, there are honors due all the dead.” Creon, as stubborn as ever, refuses this knowledge, and the rest of the play rolls along to its tragic conclusion. Antigone tried her best to save all of her family but, as this is a tragedy, she is doomed to fail from the moment she was born.

Being doomed to fail is a common theme in tragedies, and Antigone is no exception. Though Antigone struggles to complete her “project” by saving her family members, everything just goes bad as one would expect it to. Antigone first attempts to save Polynecius physically by trying to bury him, but she is caught by the guards: “She wept, and cried on heaven to damn the hands That had done this thing. And then she brought more dust And sprinkled wine three times for her brother’s ghost. We ran and took her at once. She was not afraid, Not even when we charged her with what she had done. She denied nothing.” Antigone does not let this faze her, and tries to reason with Creon; however, he will not listen to it, which turns out to ruin his life. Creon sentences her to death, which angers Creon’s son Haimon, to whom Antigone is betrothed. Haimon argues with Creon, pointing out that Antigone is correct about honoring the dead: “They say no woman has ever, so reasonably, Died so shamefully a death for a generous act…Forget you are angry! Let yourself be moved!” Creon stubbornly refuses to see this reasoning, and also mocks Teiresias, even though he comes to warn Creon about what lies in store for Thebes. Upon hearing Teiresias’ warning, Creon rushes to free Antigone, but she has already hung herself: “She had made a noose of her fine linen veil And hanged herself. Haimon lay beside her…And suddenly drew his sword And lunged…” Haimon, seeing what had happened to Antigone, committed suicide. Eurydice, the wife of Creon and father of Haimon, killed herself after she heard of Antigone’s and Haimon’s suicides. In the end, most of the main characters have died by suicide and Creon has to live with his choices and how they’ve affected the people around him.

Antigone may be the most relevant character in this story; however, Creon cannot be neglected. Without him, Antigone would have no antagonist to challenge. Creon is also a good example of a hypocrite. In his opening speech, he declared: “Nevertheless, I say to you at the very onset that I have nothing but contempt for the kind of Governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State…” Creon then goes on the punish Antigone later for something that should have been done in the first place. He remains stubborn throughout Antigone, and that is what leads to his downfall. Creon will not listen to logic, even that presented by his son: “My voice is the one voice giving orders in this City” Hubris is his major flaw (as it is in many individuals of Greek plays). It shows up once again when Creon is conversing with Teiresias. Creon mocks Teiresias, saying that he is too old to think of new, original saying and will only depend on old platitudes: “To do what?- Come, let’s have the aphorism!” Creon eventually sobers up on reality when he is called to the grisly death scene of Antigone, and witnesses the suicide of his son, followed by news of his wife committing suicide, too. In a way, Antigone is not the only character whose life is shattered; Creon ends up losing most of the people he loves, and unlike Antigone (who is not directly responsible for her sentence), he must live with his decision, regrets and guilt.

Whether shaped by Antigone or Creon, the ending of Antigone came to an unfortunate end. Families were destroyed and many people lay dead. Looking back at the disastrous events that unfolded, there was only one place where the world seemed to be working in Antigone’s favor: Creon sparing Ismene, though it may have been a curse unto herself, for now she has only one relative left: Creon himself. This tragedy affected not only those who died but also those who lived; overall every character in Antigone was hurt. Tragedies were meant to receive pity from the audience, and Sophocles used every aspect in the perfect way to draw this emotion from his audiences, thus glorifying Antigone as one of the epitome of the tragic play.

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