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An Nguyen

2/17/16
Period 2
Antigones Family
The characters in Antigone either defend and honor or disagree with and ignore their
family members. The different fates of the characters prove that, in almost any case, allowing
your pride to blind you from your family's best interests will lead to a life of loss, regret, and
depression. Therefore, it is important to protect your family by acknowledging that your behavior
will affect them and basing your actions on what will put them in the best situation. This theme
begins to emerge during the argument between Antigone and Ismene about whether or not
Polynices should be buried against Creons law. In Antigones eyes, Polynices is her own brother,
so she needs to show her loyalty by burying him. She told Ismene, Death, so met, were honour;/
And for that capital crime of piety,/Loving and loved, I will lie by his side (Sophocles 3). From
Ismenes perspective, however, breaking Creons law would only lead to their own terrible
deaths. Antigone was sentenced to death because she broke the law, but she died with pride. On
the other hand, Ismene ended up begging Antigone to allow her to also take the blame for the
burial because she regretted respecting the law over her own sibling. Unlike Antigone, Ismene
chose her own pride over staying honoring her own brother and ultimately was left depressed
while Antigone died content.
This familial theme reappeared in the middle of the story while Haemon attempted to
convince Creon to spare Antigones life because the people of Thebes believed she had no
wrongdoing and should not be killed. Even after the senator suggested that Haemon was right,
Creon was stubborn and said, Men that we are, must we be sent to school/To learn discretion of
a boy like this? (Sophocles 27). The king thought that changing his own opinion to match the
opinion of someone younger than him would decrease his power, and consequently lost not only
the massive amount of respect Haemon once had for his father but also his son as a whole after
Haemon resulted to committing suicide. Because Creon did not acknowledge the ideas of his
own son or the fact that killing Antigone would be tearing Haemons wife from his arms, he
wound up without happiness and without his son.
The lesson learned from the theme is clear at the end of the story when Creon finds his
son and wife dead and says, Lead me forth, cast me out, no other/Than a man undone;/Who did
slay, unwitting, thy mother/And thee, my son! (Sophocles 51). His deep regret was shown in
how he wanted to be cast out from the city he ruled because he understood that it was he who
indirectly killed his own wife and son. He realized that, although he acted simply to keep his
own pride, he had ignored his family members in the process, and the results of his actions had
come back around to hurt his family members. He also ultimately had hurt himself because he
would have to live with shame for the rest of his life and none of his loved ones were there to
support him through the tragedy. However, Creon could have kept everything he lost if he had
put his family before his pride.

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