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Imagery in Antigone
Creon: language of power; giving orders; being slaves
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• 'Hardest iron will break
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Haemon: concerned with the rigidity of human character
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bend to preserve branches
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upturned rowing benches
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) Her state of suffering is immediately set out in the
first conversation, when she outlines her family's woes
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• Already decided her fate, and what she will suffer
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)
• Alienates herself from Ismene because she is going to the extreme of defiance, showing the masculinity
in her character
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• The people of Thebes support her (according to Haemon
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Her stance is a justifiable one
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Creon:
• Given more lines than Antigone
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• He has support: Antigone is the only one who rebels against the law
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• Acting for the city, which has just come out of civil unrest
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Creon is honouring friends and not enemies (as was the Theban
custom
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' Loss of support (too little too
late, creates impact on Creon
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• Both are right
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• suffering
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• Sons should agree with fathers view
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• He supports Creon by offering a different opinion
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It is her duty as a female to prepare for burial the bodies of
her brothers
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Antigone rejects this
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• Creon outlines the role of a son as someone who supports his father's friends, and pays back evils to his
father's enemies
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Creon rejects this
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• Creon treating Polyneices as an enemy: attacked the city
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She abides to the domestic role of a woman as preparer of
a body for burial
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• Ismene follows the laws (state
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• Initially, the chorus support Creon (and the state) by condemning Antigone on the grounds of her heritage
(she shares her father's stubbornness
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)
• Creon fully stands for the polis, which he has restored after civil unrest
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• Haemon supports his father when he advises him against his actions, reasoning that a son takes pleasure
in a flourishing father
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He declares that the city is sick, with the alters and
hearths polluted
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Human law:
• Antigone follows the divine law when she buries Polyneices, as she believes that Hades desires the burial
rites
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• The Chorus support Creon's law initially, but appear to shift towards Antigone's stance when they advise
Creon to listen to Haemon
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• Haemon appears to advocate divine law with words strongly reminiscent of Antigone's earlier argument
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• Creon, ultimately, concedes to divine law, but too late
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• Creon abides to the legal structure within the Theban civilisation: laws and punishments
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• Haemon supports divine law
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)
• Tiresias bridges the gap between nature and civilisation with his prophecy that the Gods will condemn the
polis for Creon's actions
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Characterisation
Antigone:
• Gives precedence to familial ties: her first words are in address to her kara sister, and recall their shared
trouble with frequently used dual tense
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Her desire is to fulfil her role towards her
brother (preparing the body for burial
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'
• Stubborn: Antigone refuses Ismene's help when offered (both in the form of silence and hypothetically, if
she goes back on her denial and wants to help
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Imperious to the end, she hangs herself, and therefore regains some kind of
power over her death
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She even goes so far as to
mock Creon's laws in comparison, as they are 'mortal,' and do not have the strength to override the
immortal and unchangeable laws of the Gods
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• Pitiful: her death is isolated both physically (she is alone in a cave) and mentally (she has alienated
herself from her friends and family
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She has suffered other
family tragedies: her father married her mother, her mother killed herself, and civil war
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• She abandons the typical role of the woman (to be subservient) in order to fulfil another aspect of her role
as a woman (burying brother
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Exaggerated reaction foiled by Ismene
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• Knows she is going to face death: courage of convictions
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• Fulfils 'Sophoclean hero' trope: isolated, extreme, and uncompromising
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She, like a true 'Sophoclean hero,' does not yield, and dies for her cause
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No citizen in the audience would hope for a daughter like Antigone
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Indeed, the Chorus remark that she is like her father, Oedipus
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) It isn't the edict that gets a foul reaction, but the fact
that it is framed by Antigone's argument from the oikos
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It is ironic that in
putting the state before his family, he both ruins his family and leaves the state 'sick
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) It
is ironic that his threats of breaking Antigone's stubbornness actually occur to him (his downfall comes
about because of his own stubbornness
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This is ironically confirmed by the 'Ode To Man,' which asserts how a
man is 'without a city' if he does not the revere the Gods
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Victim of shame culture: thinks that Antigone is making a mockery of him, and will not be seen to be
weaker than a women
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In this sense, he is also frightened by any threat to his authority
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Lack of understanding of familial affection: sees an enemy as an enemy, regardless of family connections,
and confuses Ismene's worry for Antigone with guilt
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e
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He breaks up his family: both his wife and son commit suicide as a result of his stubbornness
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' This is an ironic twist given that Creon's opening speech encouraged the
audience to suspend judgement until they saw the result of his actions
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His endeavour to overcome the divine law of the Gods (the need for burial) is
matched with his attempt to overcome another unconquerable divine force, love
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His rejection of love is also shown by his crude language to Ismene when
she ask whether he will deprive his son of a fiancé, and he replies: 'there are other fields to plough
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He is well intentioned, but not an experienced leader: just adopted the position after civil war
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)
He is frightening to his citizens, as Antigone points out (fear clamps their tongues) and is shown by the
speed with which he threatens punishment (the guards, Ismene
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Ismene:
• Confined by both the laws of the state and her status as a woman: it is for these reasons that she does not
join in Antigone's actions
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There is no explicit indication that Ismene does not want to help, just that she is unable to do so
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• Pragmatic: she offers a different argument to Antigone's (that she cannot involve herself in the crime
because it is unlawful and unwomanly); her response is reasoned, balanced, and not influenced by

emotion, as Antigone's is
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It also adds to the dramatic structure of the play: Antigone's death
would hold less pathos if she was joined by her sister
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• Supports Antigone's argument: uses language reminiscent of her argument when he says that Creon is not
respectable for trampling on the Gods' laws
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This superlative language shows the strength
of the community's support for Antigone, though only in the shadows
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Warns him not to be too stubborn with the imagery of (1) trees
bending in the river, (2) a ship's sail
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' (86-99)
Ismene (86-99)
• 'You will be much more hated for your silence': immediately rejects her offer to help by being silent, and
says that she will be more hated for it
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• 'I shall stop only when I do not have the strength': the implication is that even if it is not possible, she will
try to bury her regardless
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• 'You will be hated by me': repeated threat that creates an irony in that by placing the familial ties to her
brother above the law, she is rejecting those to her sister
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Further insult to injury
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this terrible deed': bitter sarcasm conveys her mockery of Ismene's warning
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• 'You are still dear to those who love you': Ismene's comparative kindness, although she disagrees with
what Antigone is doing, creates a juxtaposition that worsens Antigone's portrayal
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Her rejection of even hypothetical help underlines how she actively isolates herself from her sister
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Athens
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This
suggests that Ismene knows that she is in the wrong, and is trying to cover her own back (that she can't
disobey the city is just an excuse
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Creon (beyond section):
• 'I admit that I did it': open about her disobedience of his law
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This belittles the king's
authority, as she does not care to overstep his law
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This
reduces the king's power once more, as he is not her point of authority
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Can override the unwritten and unchangeable laws of the Gods': creates a clear distinction between her

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loyalty to the all powerful Gods and Creon's mortal laws
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Disagrees with Creon's self portrayal, city not the most important thing
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) Shows her arrogance
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This mocks Creon's threat
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Makes a snide comment at Creon
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) It also provides a contrast with Creon's long soliloquy before it, and so
mocks his exertion of wisdom/power (indifferent to his words
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my words are displeasing': acknowledgement of opposing sides
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'How could I have won a more glorious reputation
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Again, this reduces his power
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': appeals to Theban crowd with the suggestion that they
are on side (Haemon echoes this sentiment when he claims to hear what is spread under cover of night
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'Tyranny is prosperous': serious insult to Creon
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'It was not some slave who died, but his brother': openly contradicts Creon's view that Eteocles should be
unburied because he is a traitor
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)



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