Proper burial of the dead: Antigone goes against the law to “properly bury” her brother because she feels she has the right to bury a loved one. He didn’t die doing a necessarily “honorable” thing, (attacking Thebes to gain control of it) but he is family and he cannot be replaced because his parents are dead. This is why she wants to give him a proper burial.
“It was by this service to your dear body, Polynices, I earned the punishment which now I suffer, though all good people know it was for your honour. O but I would not have done the forbidden thing for any husband or for any son. For why? I could have had another husband and by him other sons, if one were lost; But, father and mother lost, where would I get another brother?” –Antigone (pg. 150)
Individual vs. State: Antigone against the law; all of Antigone is a good example of this. Antigone defies the law to give her brother, Polynices a proper burial.
“Gods of our fathers, my city, my home, rulers of Thebes! Time stays no longer. Last daughter of your royal house go I, his prisoner, because I honoured those things to which honour truly belongs.” –Antigone (pg. 151)
“You cannot mean…to bury him? Against the order?” –Ismene (pg. 127)
Hubris: Creon rules Thebes with a great amount of pride. He seems to think that the state is a “one man state” in which only his rulings matter.
“The people of Thebes! Since when do I take my orders from the people of Thebes!” –Creon (pg. 146)
“Why, doesn’t every state belong to its ruler?” –Creon (pg. 146)
Purpose of Prophecy: The purpose of prophecy in the Theban plays is that it tells people of their fates. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus hears from a prophet that his fate is to kill his father and marry his mother. However, he could not keep his prophecy from coming true. His fate was pre-determined and his actions through the story only ensured his fate rather than change the course of it.
Theban Legend “…for Apollo’s oracle had nothing but ill to foretell of him: he was destined one day to kill his father, and to become his own mother’s husband. Could any mortal device be proof against the god’s prediction? Could any mortal be so presumptuous as to try to thwart it it?” Theban Legend (pg. 23)
The Blind See: The only one who seems to ever really know what’s going on is the one who cannot see. The prophet, Tiresias, sees things more clearly than everyone in the plays without the use of his eyes.
“You are pleased to mock my blindness. Have you eyes, and do not see your own damnation? Eyes, and cannot see what company you keep? Whose son are you? I tell you, you have sinned-and do not know it-against your own on earth and in the grave. A swift and two-edged sword, your mother’s and your father’s curse, shall sweep you out of this land. Those now clear-seeing eyes shall then be darkened….” –Terisias (pg. 37)
Loyalty: Antigone is loyal to her brother, Polynices when she goes against the law to bury him honorably.
“Is he not my brother, and yours, whether you like it or not? I shall never desert him, never.” –Antigone (pg. 128)
Free will versus Fate: Oedipus believes that he can change the course of his prophecy and he believes that all the actions he makes will bring him to whatever fate he so chooses. He does not believe that the gods choose fates or that fate is a pre-determined thing for people.
“Cithaeron! Foster-mother! Did you shelter me for this? Could you not let me die that instant, instead of saving me to tell the world how I was got? Corinth, and Polybus, My seeming home and parent, did you think what foul corruption festered under the bloom of your adopted son’s young loveliness?-Now found all evil and of evil born.” –Oedipus (pg. 64)
Ritual: It is a ritual to bury the dead. Antigone performs a burial ritual to honor her brother.
“Go your own way; I will bury my brother; And if I die for it, what happiness! Convicted of reverence- I shall be content to lie beside a brother whom I love. We have only a little time to please the living, but all eternity to love the dead. There I shall lie forever. Live, if you will; live and defy the holiest laws of heaven.” –Antigone (pg. 128)
Integrity: Antigone is a person of integrity. This is because she stands by her morals. She is a girl of morals when she is willing to die for what she believes to be right. This is the opposite of her sister, Ismene. Ismene didn’t want to partake in burying Polynices, but still wanted the credit for it later on and wanted to die honorably with Antigone. But Antigone wouldn’t stand for it.
“Whose was the deed, Death and the dead are witness. I love no friend whose love is only words.” – Antigone (pg. 141)
“It was by this service to your dear body, Polynices, I earned the punishment which now I suffer, though all good people know it was for your honour. O but I would not have done the forbidden thing for any husband or for any son. For why? I could have had another husband and by him other sons, if one were lost; But, father and mother lost, where would I get another brother?” –Antigone (pg. 150)
Individual vs. State: Antigone against the law; all of Antigone is a good example of this. Antigone defies the law to give her brother, Polynices a proper burial.
“Gods of our fathers, my city, my home, rulers of Thebes! Time stays no longer. Last daughter of your royal house go I, his prisoner, because I honoured those things to which honour truly belongs.” –Antigone (pg. 151)
“You cannot mean…to bury him? Against the order?” –Ismene (pg. 127)
Hubris: Creon rules Thebes with a great amount of pride. He seems to think that the state is a “one man state” in which only his rulings matter.
“The people of Thebes! Since when do I take my orders from the people of Thebes!” –Creon (pg. 146)
“Why, doesn’t every state belong to its ruler?” –Creon (pg. 146)
Purpose of Prophecy: The purpose of prophecy in the Theban plays is that it tells people of their fates. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus hears from a prophet that his fate is to kill his father and marry his mother. However, he could not keep his prophecy from coming true. His fate was pre-determined and his actions through the story only ensured his fate rather than change the course of it.
Theban Legend “…for Apollo’s oracle had nothing but ill to foretell of him: he was destined one day to kill his father, and to become his own mother’s husband. Could any mortal device be proof against the god’s prediction? Could any mortal be so presumptuous as to try to thwart it it?” Theban Legend (pg. 23)
The Blind See: The only one who seems to ever really know what’s going on is the one who cannot see. The prophet, Tiresias, sees things more clearly than everyone in the plays without the use of his eyes.
“You are pleased to mock my blindness. Have you eyes, and do not see your own damnation? Eyes, and cannot see what company you keep? Whose son are you? I tell you, you have sinned-and do not know it-against your own on earth and in the grave. A swift and two-edged sword, your mother’s and your father’s curse, shall sweep you out of this land. Those now clear-seeing eyes shall then be darkened….” –Terisias (pg. 37)
Loyalty: Antigone is loyal to her brother, Polynices when she goes against the law to bury him honorably.
“Is he not my brother, and yours, whether you like it or not? I shall never desert him, never.” –Antigone (pg. 128)
Free will versus Fate: Oedipus believes that he can change the course of his prophecy and he believes that all the actions he makes will bring him to whatever fate he so chooses. He does not believe that the gods choose fates or that fate is a pre-determined thing for people.
“Cithaeron! Foster-mother! Did you shelter me for this? Could you not let me die that instant, instead of saving me to tell the world how I was got? Corinth, and Polybus, My seeming home and parent, did you think what foul corruption festered under the bloom of your adopted son’s young loveliness?-Now found all evil and of evil born.” –Oedipus (pg. 64)
Ritual: It is a ritual to bury the dead. Antigone performs a burial ritual to honor her brother.
“Go your own way; I will bury my brother; And if I die for it, what happiness! Convicted of reverence- I shall be content to lie beside a brother whom I love. We have only a little time to please the living, but all eternity to love the dead. There I shall lie forever. Live, if you will; live and defy the holiest laws of heaven.” –Antigone (pg. 128)
Integrity: Antigone is a person of integrity. This is because she stands by her morals. She is a girl of morals when she is willing to die for what she believes to be right. This is the opposite of her sister, Ismene. Ismene didn’t want to partake in burying Polynices, but still wanted the credit for it later on and wanted to die honorably with Antigone. But Antigone wouldn’t stand for it.
“Whose was the deed, Death and the dead are witness. I love no friend whose love is only words.” – Antigone (pg. 141)
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