The Tragedy of Antigone

Sophocles' Antigone is a classic tragedy. The story is based off of the aftermath of Oedipus the King. In the beginning of the play, we learn that Polyneices and Eteokles are dead. They had gotten in a fight and they both ended up dying. Eteokles was buried as a hero, and Polyneices wasn't buried at all. He was seen as a traitor of the state, and Kreon treated him as such. Antigone thought that this was ridiculous, and her loyalty to her brother led her to properly bury him, even though this was illegal and a direct act against the king. She had asked Ismene to help, and she kind of agreed as long as no one knew about it. Antigone followed through this act. When Kreon found out what had happened, he demanded to know who was responsible. Soon enough, Antigone was caught as the perpetrator. Kreon immediately wanted to kill her, being that she did go against the throne. Some people defended her, and others wanted her dead. Ismene came out and admitted she helped. She was trying to sacrifice herself for Antigone, since if Antigone was dead Ismene had no one else she cared about, since the rest of her family was dead. After urging from the chorus, Kreon decideds not to kill Ismene. He decides to ask his son, Haimon, what to do about Antigone, since they were destined to be wed. He says that she should be killed for defying him, and he wouldn't let his possible marriage with the girl ruin his relationship with his father for killing her. Then they got into some sort of argument about the whole situation. So, Kreon decides to kill her, and sends some men to take Antigone in a cave for her to die. Afterwards, Kreon talks to some more people and changes his mind. By the time everyone gets to Antigone's cave, we see that she had already hanged herself (It had only been a short time since they had put her there....she must've been quick to kill herself). Haimon then kills himself, since he was mad at his father and mad about Antigone's death. Next Kreons wife kills herself, since her son had just died. In the end of the play, Kreon exiles himself.

The actions of one man lead to the deaths of three people, similar to that in Oedipus. Maybe that throne is cursed, I don't know, but whoever rules in that chair seems to cause a lot of family problems in the long run. Kreon's decision to kill Antigone destroyed his family and his ruling in a matter of minutes. He loses his neice, his son, and his wife. I found it interesting how all of these deaths were suicides, also. Antigone could have lived if she had only sat there in that cave for a few minutes. These were all self inflicted deaths. However, they were all ultimately caused by Kreon and his decisions. By trying to be a good ruler and following the law he loses the ones he loves. This is where the tragedy comes in. Although we have been learning to see the brighter side of tragedies, to realize that it is not all bad, I honestly cannot see the brighter side of this story. The country loses its ruler, and loses most of the royal family. Ismene is left alone without anyone to rely on, and Kreon has to exile himself. The deaths of this story are truly tragic, and Antigone is another great example of these types of dramatic stories that are incredibly sad, yet we cannot stop reading them.