Antigone - Play to Film Essay

When most stories are written they have morals or themes which the writer wants the

reader to take away from. The story “Antigone” tells about a royal family were two brothers kill

each other and battle and a new king takes the crown. Getting farther into the story one brother is

buried with military honors and the other brother is left on the battlefield to be untouched. Later

into the story, their sister tries to bury the unburied brother to show him respect, but later is

caught defying the laws of the king and is sentenced to death.​ ​In the story and in the film of

“Antigone,” Sophocles finds multiple ways to compare and contrast multiple themes in the story.

Out of all the multiple themes that are generated throughout the story, the most important and

implied theme throughout the story is rules and order. When comparing and contrasting the

“Antigone” film and the written story, in the film and in the story multiple main characters talk

about following the laws of man and the laws of the gods, in the film and the story they compare

how important the laws of the gods are compared to the laws of man (Creon), and Creon is a

strict ruler in both the film and the written play.

​The first reason supporting that the film and the written story support the theme ,rules

and order, is when the main characters in the film and in the text talk about the laws of man and

the laws of the gods. ​A quote from the written story is “Since apparently the laws of the gods

mean nothing to you” said Antigone (Sophocles 62).​ ​Another quote from the article states, “You

will give no support to whoever breaks this law” said Creon (Sophocles 182)​. ​These two quotes

mean that in the time period that they currently live in they take the laws of the king, Creon,

serious and there would be severe punishments if they are broken and that to follow the laws of
the gods is holy and mean a great matter to certain characters in this story.​ ​This matters because

it supports the idea that in the story the laws Antigone follows and the laws Creon follows

become an important part of their lives. This connects to the film of “Antigone” by showing

Creon’s power by enforcing his laws towards Antigone with the element of film of costumes.

The costumes in the film represent how serious Creon takes the law and how much it means to

follow them.​ ​These two quotes from the passage and the element of film show rules and order

because of how serious they take their kingdom.

The second reason is the film and the passage compare how important the laws of the

gods are against the laws of man.​ ​In the passage of “Antigone” it states “I dared. It was not god’s

proclamation. That final justice that rules the world below makes no such laws” said Antigone

(Sophocles 357-358)... But all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal unrecorded

laws of God” (Sophocles 360-361).​ These two quotes from the passage represent that the laws of

God are more sacred to the Thebes and no matter how many laws Creon makes they can never

compete against the rules and order the gods have set into place in the lives of these main

characters.​ ​When this is compared to the film, the film uses the element of theme of symbols to

represent that the actions Antigone takes are because of the rules of the gods. This matters and

supports the theme because both the film and the passage represent that rules and order play a

role in the punishment of Antigone and play a role of why Creon and Antigone took the actions

they did.

The third reason is that in the film and in the written play Creon is enraged by Creon.

This supports that rules and order is the theme because Creon is enraged by Antigone not

following his rules that he strictly set for all the people of Thebes.​ In the play “Antigone” it
states “Go join them, then; if you must have your love, find it in hell.”​ This quote represents that

in both, in the film and in the play, that Creon is enraged and does not care about the feelings of

Antigone when she broke the law.​ ​This supports the theme, rules and order, by showing when

Antigone broke the law Creon became enraged and caused severe punishment for breaking the

law. Thi8s relates to the theme by showing that Creon takes laws and order serious in their time

period in Thebes.

In conclusion, the film and the passage both compare and contrast a major theme in the

storyline which is rules and order. Rules and order is one of the important themes in this story

because it plays a role in the way the Antigone and other characters talk about and show their

respect for the gods and it shows how the rules of the gods play a major role in their lives and

that the laws of the gods are more sacred than the laws of man.