Antigone, Antigone...

After reading the first installment of Sophocles’ Antigone, it is difficult to decide if Antigone is an honorable character or if she is simply insolent. In order to formulate an opinion on this matter, one might examine her decision to defy the law by giving a proper burial to her brother, Polyneices. She feels very strongly about doing this, as demonstrated in her conversation with her sister, Ismene, whose outlook is very different. Antigone sees it as a matter of loyalty to and love for her family being more important than the law, saying “I know I am pleasing those who I should please most” (103). Ismene, on the other hand, decides that the burial of her brother is not worth being dishonorably – in the eyes of others – executed for disobedience of Creon’s orders, even though she shows love for Polyneices. Ismene defends herself to her sister’s requests for help, declaring, “I do indeed beg those beneath the earth to give me their forgiveness, since force constrains me, that I shall yield in this to the authorities” (74-77). Despite Antigone’s stubborn tenacity, her passion causes her to emerge as the protagonist. Looking at it in that light, her decision seems to hold bravery and moral integrity. She also believes that her faithfulness to her brother will be pleasing to the gods as she mentions “The time in which I must please those that are dead is longer than I must please those of this world…You, if you like, can cast dishonor on what the gods have honored” (86-89). Even though her argument, at some points, may seem immature, as if she is only interested in getting her sister to be a co-conspirator in this so-called crime of love, it is easy to see Antigone’s actions as heroic, considering her motivation of uprightness and her desire to satisfy the gods. In addition, It is revealed later in the first reading that the action was actually carried out, which provides the audience with even more of a reason to trust Antigone’s veracity, and agree with her choice to bury her brother properly.