Ashley Chong

Mrs. Smith

English II Pre-AP 3

12 November 2009

Antigone Mini-Research Assignment

Sophocles displays elements such as violence and strong emotions throughout his play,

Antigone. One example, Antigone knows that if she buries her dead brother Polyneices, stoning to

death would await her. Creon has warned the Chorus to not aid anybody that would disobey his

commands. Punishment for this- death. When the guards bring Antigone to Creon for going against his

command, Creon sees this as defiance to his authority and therefore, charges her for this.

Another use of violence occurs in the scene when Creon's followers examine Antigone's cell on

Creon's command and found that she hung herself and Haemon embracing his love's corpse. Hearing

his father's voice, Haemon targets his anger and despair on his father and attempts to kill him. However

the plan foils with Haemon's recklessness and Creon's flight. Following what he has planned, he draws

his sword upon himself with his arms embracing Antigone. In this scene, Sophocles also uses imagery

to describe Haemon, who became “mad with rage” and whose eyes “resembled that of a wild animal”

( Johns, 1)

Strong emotions- as mentioned before- occur throughout this play as well. First, the strong

sense of hubris that blinds Creon from the truth. Creon blinds himself with his arrogance, refusing to

hear warnings and pleadings of his son, the Chorus, and Tiresias. The king of Thebes has brought the

whole misfortune of his family by not following the sacred laws of the gods but by his own judgments.

Because of his arrogance as king, Creon abuses his power to give unnecessary punishments for

something that he himself went against according to divine law.

 Then the strong emotion of love that Sophocles portrays through Haemon, who goes far beyond

the expectation of his father because of his feelings for Antigone. Although caught in between

remaining an obedient son to his father and risking his life attempting to save Antigone, Haemon's

feelings for Antigone allows himself to follow her into death without any hesitation.

Sophocles also reflects love through the heroine, Antigone. If it weren't for her sisterly love for

her dead brother, she would not have buried Polyneices and therefore, did not have to die. Her love for

her brother causes her to become strong and to stand for what she believes in, even on the account of

death, she prepared herself and in doing so, faced up to death.

Works Cited:

Johns, Walter H. “Dramatic Effect in Sophocles' Antigone.” The Classical Journal. 43.2 (Nov. 1947):

99-100. Rpt. in Drama for Students. Ed. David M. Galens and Lynn M. Spampinato. Vol. 1.

Detroit: Gale, 1998. 99-100. Literature Resource Center. Gale. KATY ISD. 15 Nov. 2009

<http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LitRG&u=katy11187>.