Antigone: Creon

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Others consider her a woman of innate nobility and idealism, unwilling to compromise the truth as she sees it, who suffers a cruel and undeserved punishment. In either case, it is important to realize that Antigone is driven by her principles and a reasoned analysis of the situation.
The positions of Antigone and Creon are opposed, but both possess the same stubborn belief in their own righteousness. Thus, on the issue of the burial one is right and one is wrong, but to an extent both share the blame for the tragic and of the play.
There are many excellent minor characters in this play and the psychological authenticity of the conversations (e.g., the political argument between Creon and Haimon with its undertone of father and son rivalry) has often been praised. The choral odes and Antigone's, lament are all of high poetic quality. The first stasimon is particularly renowned because of the similarity between its expression of traditional Greek religious thought and the ideas ...

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accuses the soldier of having accepted a bribe to neglect his duty and threatens to execute him if the rebel is not found.

Comment

Creon's opening speech to the assembly of Thebans solidifies the essential conflict of the drama. Creon views the laws of the state as the highest laws. Consequently, since Polynices had deliberately attempted to destroy the state, Creon orders that his body be defied as an example to anyone else who would intentionally revolt against the state. Creon's action is for the benefit of public welfare; Antigone's defiance is for her concept of religious duty. For Antigone, religious laws are superior to the laws of the state.
In the first appearance, we see ...

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