Essay on Oedipus and Antigone

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In the play Antigone the characters Antigone and Ismene have personalities that

are contradistinction of each other. In the time of the Greece's Golden Age of Drama,

women did not have the ability to speak what was on their minds. Antigone is an

outspoken person," Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way" (l.26). Antigone will

not at all let anyone get in her way to bury her brother Polyneices, not even Creon.

Antigone does not mind her words. "Oh, tell it. Tell Everyone!" (l.76). When Ismene

tells her that she will keep the secret of her burying Polyneices, Antigone reveals that

she wants everyone to know what she is about to do. Antigone knows what she desires

and does not care what others thinks of her. She says, "I am not afraid of the danger, if it means

death" (l.87). Antigone has no fear of death coming in the way of what she wants to

accomplish. On the other hand, Ismene is opposite compared to her sister Antigone.

Ismene has a personality that she will pleases anyone, rather then herself. She cares what

other people will think of her "But think of the danger! Think what Creon will do! (l.35)

She does not believe that her sister Antigone will bury her dead brother, Polyneices. "I have

no strength to break the law that was made for the public good" (l.66). She does not have the

courage to join with her sister Antigone. Ismene is not the muscling person in the play, she has

trouble believing what she things is right. When Antigone is going to be sentences to death, Ismene

says, "What do I care for life when you are dead" (l.156). She comes to her sense that life without her

"armor," Antigone, she is a nonentity in the world. Laws to follow are a main part of the Ancient Greek belief system. Antigone's main goal in the

play is to bury her brother Polyneices. Antigone tells her sister about that "Creon

buried...their brother Eteocles" (l.32), She knows that is the right thing to do. However, Polyneices will

not get the proper burial to go the underworld. Antigon's loyalty to the gods is as strong

as her devotion to her family. When she appeals to her sister for help in burying

Polyneices, she explains the plan she has in mind: "But I will bury him; and if I must die,/

I say that this crime is holy"(l.88). Antigone defends her love to her family and says this comes

before the laws. Proclaiming that she will "bury the brother I love" (l.69) even if it brings death,

shows her strong beliefs. Antigone tells Creon, "That rules the world below makes no such laws"(l.66)

that when death comes, his laws will not be important to the gods. On the other hand, Ismene follows the

laws of the man. She does not have the
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