Assignment about Close Reading of Antigone
Added on 2022-10-06
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Running Head: CLOSE READING OF ANTIGONE
CLOSE READING OF ANTIGONE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note
CLOSE READING OF ANTIGONE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note
CLOSE READING OF ANTIGONE1
Antigone is one of the beautiful literary creations of Sophocles, written before 441 BC.
This play tells a tale of two brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, killed in the battle of Thebes and
the controversy regarding their burial entwined with the lives of their sisters- Antigone and
Ismene. The thesis statement for this close reading is to analyze two conflicting characters of the
play- Creon and Antigone.
According to Rayor (2011), the plot of the play was the civil war of Thebes, in which
Polyneices and Eteocles were defeated and died. After the battle, Creon ascended the throne as
the new ruler, and decided not to bury Polyneices’s dead body. Antigone one of the sisters of
Polyneices and Eteocles, buried Polyneices secretly violating the edict of Creon. She was caught
by the Sentry and imprisoned. Haemon, the son of Creon urged to spare his fiancé Antigone.
This became the reason behind deteriorating relationship between Creon and his son Haemon. As
a final consequence of this Antigone received a life-time imprisonment inside a cave.
According to Rayor (2011), the lines “with no marriage bed, no wedding song/ not
destined to marry”.........../but deserted by loved ones...../alive I enter the cave of dead”, depicts
the heart-rending pain of Antigone prior to her entry to the cave for a life-time imprisonment.
Like other common maiden, Antigone was also about to Haemon, but a single act of burying her
own brother transformed her position from a woman who was about to enter her married life to a
woman who was about to enter a dense dark cave for lifetime imprisonment. The lines that
immediately follows “What divine law have I transgressed?/ Why should I, ill fated, still look to
the gods?”, reflects Antigone’s commotion developed inside Antigone for not being able to
understand why she had to suffer in spite of following the path of morality. “Still look to the
God” reflects Antigone’s faith and hope and urge to God to be by her side. “What ally can I
invoke/ When I acted piously I was called impious” This evidenced Antigone’s astonishment as
Antigone is one of the beautiful literary creations of Sophocles, written before 441 BC.
This play tells a tale of two brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, killed in the battle of Thebes and
the controversy regarding their burial entwined with the lives of their sisters- Antigone and
Ismene. The thesis statement for this close reading is to analyze two conflicting characters of the
play- Creon and Antigone.
According to Rayor (2011), the plot of the play was the civil war of Thebes, in which
Polyneices and Eteocles were defeated and died. After the battle, Creon ascended the throne as
the new ruler, and decided not to bury Polyneices’s dead body. Antigone one of the sisters of
Polyneices and Eteocles, buried Polyneices secretly violating the edict of Creon. She was caught
by the Sentry and imprisoned. Haemon, the son of Creon urged to spare his fiancé Antigone.
This became the reason behind deteriorating relationship between Creon and his son Haemon. As
a final consequence of this Antigone received a life-time imprisonment inside a cave.
According to Rayor (2011), the lines “with no marriage bed, no wedding song/ not
destined to marry”.........../but deserted by loved ones...../alive I enter the cave of dead”, depicts
the heart-rending pain of Antigone prior to her entry to the cave for a life-time imprisonment.
Like other common maiden, Antigone was also about to Haemon, but a single act of burying her
own brother transformed her position from a woman who was about to enter her married life to a
woman who was about to enter a dense dark cave for lifetime imprisonment. The lines that
immediately follows “What divine law have I transgressed?/ Why should I, ill fated, still look to
the gods?”, reflects Antigone’s commotion developed inside Antigone for not being able to
understand why she had to suffer in spite of following the path of morality. “Still look to the
God” reflects Antigone’s faith and hope and urge to God to be by her side. “What ally can I
invoke/ When I acted piously I was called impious” This evidenced Antigone’s astonishment as
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