Antigone's Gods

Antigone’s Gods

            The tragic play of Antigone showcases a young woman in a dire situation. Caught between moral rocks, she must make decisions based on what she feels as being right or easy. She shows throughout the play that she is a very strong woman and very religious. The Greek gods play a big influence on the choices she makes, and also shows a big contrast between several major characters in the book.

            In this play the main character Antigone shows much moral courage. The beginning of the play opens to her trying to convince her sister to do something that was commanded by divinity and bury their dead brother so he could move forward in the after live. The issue with this action is that the new ruler, Creon, will shortly be making a proclamation that nobody will give respect to the body of the man and bury him (her brother attacked the city because he didn’t get his year as being the ruler like agreed). This one choice that Antigone has made that gives the tragedy its forward momentum to a tragic end. This one choice to follow the rules of the gods over the rules of man shows much character and religious backbone.

            Some insight into the mind of Antigone can be gleamed from several important quotations. In the very beginning of the play, when she was outside the wall of the city talking with her sister Ismene she stated “I shall be a criminal- but a religious one. The time in which I must please those that are dead is longer than I must please those of this world. For there I shall lie forever.” (85-90) This one quotation sets the premise of every decision she makes throughout the entirety of the play, and also shows how deeply religious she is. This says that she doesn’t care as much what is going to happen in this life because the length of time that she will be here will be small compared to the amount of time that she will spend in the afterlife. It also means that honoring the laws of man don’t mean as much as honoring the laws of the gods because she is going to have to live under the laws of the gods for all eternity.

            Another important quotation from Antigone showing how firm she was in her choice was directed at the ruler Creon after he found out that she had done the deed of spreading the dust, minimalist burial, on the body of her brother. She tells Creon that she doesn’t care what it is he said not to do because he is not god. “Yes, it was not Zeus that made the proclamation; or gave it justice.” (494-495) She goes on in the next quotation to explain further why she committed the act that she did. “I did not believe your proclamation had such power to enable one who will someday die to override god’s ordinances… They are not of today and yesterday; they live forever; none knows of when they first were. These laws whose penalties I would not incur from the gods, through the fear of any man’s temper.”(496-504) Antigone basically sets forth in this statement to Creon that she doesn’t care what he thinks. She won’t deny what she did. She tells him that his words and his human power are not strong enough to merit not following the god’s demand of the honor of burial.

            Aside from just looking at Antigone alone several comparisons can be made between her and Creon and Ismene to exemplify how noble she is in making the choices that she has made to this point. When you look at Creon you see a man that is insecure in his position of power, but he is in a sense a power lover. Although he is family to the throne it is only because his sister was queen and he was the last choice in the line because everyone else was dead. He makes note of the gods, attributing pushing the enemies back in the last battle to them and their will. However he doesn’t make much more note of the gods from that point on, whereas Antigone continues to reference them on and off throughout the whole story. In comparing Creon to Antigone the more that is read and thought about the more he seems like the attribution to the gods pushing the enemy back would be more like telling the story of a family that says grace before a meal, but is completely faithless. He puts up a façade of faith for the people. It shows up when Antigone is speaking to him about how burial was an honor that is commanded by the gods. He, in turn, responded to almost every point she made, but when it came to referencing what she said about the gods, it was as if he didn’t want to answer to it because he knew deep inside himself that she was right. One of the only times that Creon talks about the gods, in reference to Antigone, is when he says “In that place she shall call on Hades, god of death, in her prayers. That god only she reviers. Perhaps she will win from him escape from death or at least in that moment will recognize her honoring of the dead is a labor lost.”(844-848) He is not really being serious when he is saying this. He is speaking with a hint of sarcasm the whole time, and not at all actually believing a god would help her. He is basically saying that when she is locked in the tomb that he is sending her too with little food or supplies she will cry to the god of death for help, but no way in hell will he do anything for her. Maybe she will actually realize following the path she has followed, burying her brother, was stupid and pointless. The only time in the tragedy when Creon seemingly comes close to believing the gods is when the blind seer comes to tell his prophetic vision. This isn’t however following or believing the gods as Antigone does. Creon follows the seer because of a more personal superstition. He has always taken the advice of the seer, so he will continue to take the advice of the seer. One way of looking at it is, Antigone believes in the Gods. She follows the ideology of the gods. Creon puts on a face of believing the gods to win over the people. Deep inside however, he believes more in the power of himself and his rules.

            A second person that is noteworthy to compare Antigone too, is her sister Ismene. This is less of a black and white contrast as Creon to Antigone. Ismene is more of a middle ground between the two of them. When Antigone asks Ismene to help her bury the body of their brother Ismene won’t do it because she is scared of the laws of man. “I will not put dishonor on them (the gods), but to act in defiance of the citizenry, my nature does not give me the means for that”(90-93). Ismene tells her sister Antigone that she does care about what the gods think, but she also cares what the laws of man dictate. It is not something that she could just go break the commandment from a ruler to do something that is morally right in the eyes of the gods. Later in the play Ismene does seem to convert more to how her sister thinks when she hears that her sister has been condemned to death. She wants to die with her sister. It is more out of guilt than actual faith in the gods though.

            This play has a lot of dynamic characteristics. Antigone’s faith in the gods is a major role that shapes the play. All of the decisions that she made throughout are based on the belief in gods. If she were to have taken the easy way out this would have saved many people heartache. As a consequence to following a divine command she dies, her future husband (Creon’s son), and Creon’s wife dies. If I were Antigone and in this situation I would have a hard time making the same decision that she made. I would have followed more in the path of Ismene. It is quite brave and noble to put yourself at risk to honor the dead and follow the commands of the gods. The comfort and the ease of making the choice to leave the body of my brother to rot would be very tempting. It would be a hard thing to do what I knew was right given the consequence of death if I were to be caught burying the body. If I did indeed bury the body, I probably would have been more secretive, and denied ever doing the deed. I’m sure the gods would be more forgiving of lying to spare my life and neglecting the body of my brother.