ANTIGONE

Antigone is a model of honor and sacrifice for the sake of familial loyalty. She cares for her bereft and guilt-ridden father, and then she insists on burying her slain brother in the face of an unjust law and likely death. The tragedy does not depict a reward for her valor, but readers appreciate (or at least debate) her honorable actions. The gods and magical items are not significant players in this political and social drama; the focus is on Antigone and her moral choices.

The theme of family loyalty arises throughout the Greek myths, but in this story, we see how far a character will go to defend it. Other times someone has died or risked death for a family member or a lover; Antigone acts in a way similar to Theseus and Perseus. Her actions do not take her on wild adventures, like these other heroes, but she does achieve a heroic, sacrificial status nonetheless. The Greek myths clearly support family loyalty, and this tale stands as a prime example of how the stories were used to convey moral messages.

This myth also brings the myths rather far from the tales of gods into the world of human culture and politics. Antigone is caught up in the middle of political and ethical battles fought on human terms and in light of competing human values.

In Antigone, the question is asked, which law is greater: God's or man's. Sophocles votes for God (or more appropriately, the gods, since the early Greeks were polytheistic). He does this in order to save Athens from the moral destruction which seems eminent.

In Antigone, God's judgment of man plays a key role in the battle between human and divine law. Though Creon, the king of Thebes , renders judgment on Antigone because she violates the state's law against burying her brother, God's justice proves to be much more powerful when Creon backs down at the end of the play and admits that his law is unjust.

To understand Antigone, it's important to know some basic beliefs of Hellenic people. When a corpse was not buried, but instead left uncovered to be eaten by birds and animals, the gods were insulted and made angry, since this was thought to be a supreme insult to the body's family. This is why Antigone feels it necessary to bury the body of her brother, who is considered a traitor to Thebes , but her blood nonetheless.

Also, the lesser theme of God's judgment being passed on through the generations of a family is revealed in Antigone. Indeed Antigone suffers not only because she elects to stand up for an ideal, but because her disastrous destiny is predicted by fate. Oedipus' sin has now haunted his daughter as well.