Creon's Demise

Roberto Sande Carmona
10 IB English Hour 5
Ms.Peifer

The struggle of morality has always sparked human interest. The infrastructure of Antigone is made up of a particularly eristic moral debate, that of weather to side with state or kin; it is what fuels the work and what raises the question of Antigone's chastity.
There is a triad of points which ascertain her innocence. First, she only set out to do what was dictated correct by the gods, and their omnipotent authority. Second, the mandate that was set down was done so by an arrogant king, with whom the people were dubious of he, his decree, and the reasoning behind it. In defying the law she remained loyal to something more important than to a bias king- her family. Lastly, she accepted the consequences of what she set out to achieve even before she began her venture. She saw it not as something to waste energy on escaping, but as something that she would have to endue to fulfill what she and various others believed; albeit this is not proof of her innocence, it is not generally behavior displayed by the guilty.
As the reader can discover throughout the playwright's work, there are instances were it's stated that the proper burial of Polyneices is will of the gods, that it is what their laws that govern all man dictate, and that is the righteous thing to do. Antigone expresses her thoughts directly stating to her sister Ismene, "..if thou wilt, be guilty of dishonouring laws which the gods have established in honour"(Sophocles par.17). This expresses to the audience that this is the absolute law of the gods; which to the Greek religion is more important than any law any mortal could establish.
Later we even see Choragus, who resides as an adviser to Creon in the story, masquerading his suggestion in the form of a question, inquiring, "O king, my thoughts have long been whispering, can this deed, perchance, be e'en the work of gods?"(par.61)
The Leader tells that he has thought this for a period of time, not simply at that moment, revealing to the reader his, and possibly the people's, true feelings, hidden in a cloak of fear, cast by Creon; this leads to the second point.
Could it be that the Choragus's words represent the people and their reactions to this? In the story there are a couple clues such as this one that show how the majority of the populous is against Creon in this stand even if they do not say so outright. An exemplar other than the one stated previously is a small message, but it carries a monumental meaning; the Guard states in reference to Creon, "Tis sad, truly, that he who judges should misjudge" (par. 73).
It is strange that a guard whom up to this point seemed petrified about the idea of speaking to Creon and delivering bad news would insult him so, but this was no blight act by the writer. It was put in place to again assert the fact that Creon's thought went against the people and that it was the correct thing for Antigone to remain loyal to her brother and to the gods.
Antigone's purity is expressed in her posture and acceptance throughout the story. She does not take all this in panic, she thinks of the deeds presented as something that must be completed. She is fully aware of what will happen and comes to terms with it, some may even say welcome it. This citation compacts this and her thoughts of Creon;

Not through dread of any human pride could I answer to the gods for breaking these. Die I must,-I knew that well (how should I not?)-even without thy edicts. But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain: for when any one lives, as I do, compassed about with evils, can such an one find aught but gain in death? So for me[Antigone] to meet this doom is trifling grief; but if I had suffered my mother's son to lie in death an unburied corpse, that would have grieved me; for this, I am not grieved. And if my present deeds are foolish in thy sight, it may be that a foolish judge arraigns my folly.(par. 104)

She states how she would rather "die in honor than live in shame." This is the very definition of virtue. It clearly represents her righteousness and incorruptibility. It is her acceptance speech for the ill-assigned punishment, without any attempt to evade, which can be agreed is not generally guilty behavior.

This shows the irrefutable innocence of Antigone. She was the only that stood for the man who could not do so for himself, her brother when he was in dire need.In her rebellious acts to the king, she remained loyal to the gods' maxims, remained loyal to her kin, and gave hope to the people that they could confront their ruler when they saw it fitting.

Sande 2

Works Cited

Sophocles. “Antigone.” The Internet Classics Archive. Trans. R. C. Jebb. 04 Oct. 2000.
Classics.mit.edu. 21 Nov. 2008
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LRJ #2

Roberto Sande Carmona
10 IB Hour 5 Ms. Peifer
24th of November, 2008 LRJ #2

Repeated Image

One repeated image that is crucial to the structure and basis of the work is that of the idea of proper burial rights, or to be more explicit, that of Polyneices's burial rights. This is, of course, portrayed throughout the entirety of the writing, but that could be a reason of why it would be challenging to find exactly what it stands for.
The direct meaning is the identity it has as the problem, the disagreement everything meditates around. However, it can also be seen as a sign for love, agony, and morality. With these aspects converging and diffusing into one another the reader finds loved ones of the deceased like Antigone expressing outright her actions and love for her brother whilst the other sibling Ismene conflicting over what is the correct thing to do. Pondering the morality, and the age-old question of whom or what to choose in the battle of kin or law.

[Antigone to Ismene] I shall rest, a loved with him whom I have loved, sinless in my crime; fro I owe a longer alliance to the dead than to the living: in that world I sahll abide for ever. But if thou wilt, be guilty of dishonouring laws which the gods have established in honour." ( Sophocles par. 17)

This summarizes the three points well; one can see the will and love of Antigone evident in the way she carries herself, the inner conflict of Ismene is shown, and the morality aspect is also acknowledged.

Fatal Flaw

Although a reader could discover flaws for various of the main characters, it is most portruding in that of Creon, the (revered) antagonist. Through a legion of instances, one can find his flaw. He has a sort of arrogance, which would not be dificult for someone of his power to attain, and an ignorant outlook. For somebody to be prosperous him or her must be a good listener, especially to those whom he or she disagrees with, and the failure to do so on Creon's part is the spark of his collapse. It is apperant that any idea he asides with is immediately seen as blasphemy, shown in the following exerpt:

[Leader]O king, my thoughts have long been whispering, can this deed, perchance, be e'en the work of gods?//[Creon]Cease, ere thy words fill me utterly with wrath, lest thou be found at once an old man and foolish. For thou sayest what is not to be borne, in saying that the gods have care for this corpse. (par. 61-62)

Creon's dismissal of this and numerous other ideas in the story are result of his fatal flaw; and this is tragic story's tying notion. His clashes with the other persona are the locomotive of this writing, and they provide a gritty, real-world view even if for us today the setting of life is so unimaginably altered.

Anagnorisis, Peripeteia, and Catharsis

While the writing is titled Antigone, the tragic essence of it is actually Creon. Antigone did lose her life, but it was always what she had expected, stripping it of its grim characteristic. It instead made her a martyr, whereas Creon really took the place of the tragic hero.
Anagnorisis takes place after Creon finishes his conversation with Teiresias, and takes the advice from the Choragus to bury Polyneices and free Antigone, in his realization of his faults, in paragraphs 307 to 313.
Peripeteia happens at the exact moment the king goes to free Antigone and she had already committed suicide. It was at this point, where the "beginning of the end" is shown that Anagnorisis and Peripeteia come together that Creon's fortune reverses.
In the very last scenes the reader finds Catharsis; when Creon's demised future comes from his own mouth, and the reader feels pity for him, although up to that point of frailty, he is the antagonist.

Portrayal Of Women
Very early one finds that the status of women is stated to be one of stereotypical proportions, specific to the time of the play. In Ismene's dialogue the woman herself states "we were born women, as who should not strive with men" ( par. 16).
But through the actions of Antigone the work shows the exact opposite, that a woman can defy authority when not even a man would venture to. The audience can sense the powerful will and set mind of Antigone, which is much more powerful than anything a character could simply state.

Letter to Antigone

To Antigone,

My dearest sister, I have reflected upon your plant to go against our uncle's will and bury our brother Polyneices and everything else you had told me.

It was not an easy choice to make when I told you I did not want to help, and now, a wave of regret has come upon me. I have realized that what i said was both cruel and disloyal to the memory of my sibling, and if you would be willing to accept it, I would like to help you, and I make an oath to you that my mind will not falter and I will do everything I possibly can to aid you in our brother's rescue.

Our brother Polyneices loved Thebes, although he waged war against it , I now realize he only chose to do so because he truly believed he would be a better ruler and bring more prosperity to his people. He deserves to be properly put to rest, to properly live in the after world.

I hope that you will allow me to pursue my altered decision, because I, my dear sister, love my brother, and you as well. Please forgive my previous ignorance, although I know I do not deserve pity.

Your loving sister,

Ismene

LOL

I have had an epiphany! Not really...just something I believed to be mildly interesting. Texting one of my close friends (name disclosed for privacy purposes), I have realized that the sophisticated acronym L.O.L . has ripened drastically. Laugh Out Loud- a pop culture icon; used by someone in every culture, race, country, and social class has gone from being used for something that is genuinely sidesplitting, to various morphed evolutions. It has been used to lighten the tone of a comment, as to abstain from sounding melancholy, furious or dreary; to becoming one of the answers of monotony, making the "I don't really want to talk right now" responses a trio of awkward-turtles; yes, no and l.o.l. It has even gone as far as to become to wax into a piteous space-filler; vacant conversations of l.o.l. this and l.o.l. that; whilst everyone knowing the person isn't truly laughing out loud time after time.
now the few happenings were ONE truly l.o.l have to be expressed in a way akin to "LOL LOL LOL!"
then again all of this could just be me. :p

WHY?!?!

Why is it that every time I have to turn the volume up, turn on, turn off, or change the channel on the t.v. and can't seem to locate the blasted remote, I attempt various different contortions and bends and twists to avoid the strenuous act of lifting my body from the couch and shuffling to the t.v. while being fully aware of the fact that it actually takes more energy and time??? It seems that that small fact always lapses my mind at the instant when it would be useful. I'm tired of my brain automatically turn into a complete ignoramus of itself whenever this happens and I have to deal with one of my nuclear family members gazing at me as if I am some sort of Cirque-du-Soleil reject while I strive to reach for the remote with my left foot. I still feel the pain of tumbling of the couch onto the surprisingly painful edge of my metal-edged table at the interm I was reaching for the oh-so-distant, swaure POWER button.
To me this is one human err that must be revamped as quickly as possible.

I'm Foreign

As many of you may now know, due to Jake's ingenious  comment; I'm foreign. I actually don't feel at all offended as some of you might have expected, I am extremely proud of my heritage.  My family is divided into two main backgrounds are: Mexican, from my mom's side of the family and American from my dad's side. I was born in the U.S., but I was raised and lived in Mexico for about nine years. I am so proud in fact that i changed my setting so my blog would be in Spanish, believing it would only change for me, now there's a slight problem since I can't change y blog page to English and most of you can't read it. 

Bloggus

I have been pondering whether or not to begin writing my own blog for some time now. I read some scattered blogs across the Internet and thought about writing something myself, but i was quite skeptical. I felt that i wouldn't have anything to write about, that it would be a waste of time, or sometimes i even thought it to be too strange; to write my thoughts on the internet, for anybody to see.
Now I have luckily been pushed into creating a blog, and i feel that after I actually get through he initiating processes, it will actually be something interesting.