Antigone Paper

Annie Moua
10 IB Prep 5th Hour
Ms. Peifer
26 Nov. 2008

Antigone is an innocent women. Her decision to bury Polyneices followed the law of the gods, laws, which are even higher than the law of the state. There is no fault for her loyalty to her family. Also the death of Polyneices and Eteocles resulted from the greed for power, so their honor and consequence are of the same level. The burial of Polyneices was an action of justice not a crime.

Antigone buried Polyneices for the honor of her brother's soul and as a contribution of respect to the gods. "My honours for the dead/must last much longer than for those up here...for those laws the gods all hold in honour" (Sophocles 92). The laws of the gods are unbreakable and they hold a stronger value to the people than the laws of the state. Even though Antigone did break the laws of the state, she followed the more significant laws of the gods. "The most important part of true success/is wisdom—not to act impiously/towards the gods" (Sophocles 1491-1493). As the ending lesson, the downfall of Creon sets an good example of why one should not underestimate the laws of the gods. He saw his laws more valuable than the laws of the gods.

Antigone views her family as an important part of her life. " I’ll still bury him. It would be fine to die/while doing that. I’ll lie there with him, /with a man I love, pure and innocent,/for all my crime" (Sophocles 89-91). Making sure Polyneices had a proper burial was so important to her that she knew her consequence would be death. She had a strong purpose to bury Polyneices and she saw it as the most rightful thing to do.


She also felt that the fight between Polyneices and Eteocles should not be a reason to bury one with honor and leave the body of the other to birds and dogs to feast on."But the one who died/was not some slave—it was his own brother" (Sophocles 588-589). Antigone felt it was not necessary one of her brother's fault.

As a good citizen, Antigone followed the law of the gods, the most important laws. As a loyal sister, she felt it was her duty to honor her family. Antigone also saw no point to buried just one of her brothers when both of them fought for power. Therefore, Antigone is an innocent person, who stood for justice and honor even when others didn't think so.


Works Cited:
Sophocles. “Antigone.” Sophocles Antigone. Trans. Ian Johnston. 9 Aug. 2008. Vancouver Island University Malaspira. 24 Nov. 2008 <http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/index.htm>.