Antigone - Play to Film Essay

Rules and order is the main theme of both the play and the film of Antigone​. ​The play

gives more details on why the laws are being put into action and what Creon is trying to do by

putting them in place. The film skips over these features and shows the parts where Creon is

telling the city not to bury Polyneices and expects everyone to obey him.​ Since the play gives

more detail to why these things are happening and how it will affect the overall topic and the

film does not do this, you see two different sides of the rules that are being set and how Creon

gets order in Thebes from it.

In the play on Antigone, Creon is just becoming the king and is making his first speech to

the kingdom of Thebes.​ ​Through lines 148-149 he says “ I am aware, of course, that no ruler can

expect complete loyalty from his subjects until he has been tested in office,” ​this means Creon is

trying to sympathize with the people and let them know that he is cooperating with them. ​This

matters because it shows that Creon doesn’t want to be a total tyranny leader and he wants

support from the city. In the film, however, he does not do this, Creon is already king and is

enforcing the laws that he has made. The film shows that Creon is the new ruler and whatever he

says is what is going to happen, he does not care what the people think about it. ​The play has

more details on the way Creon was going about his way of ruling the kingdom.

The film helps you comprehend that Antigone is being killed because she broke the law

that stated not to bury Polyneices, which she did, however, this is not the only reason Creon

decides to sentence her to this. In the play, it indicates that Creon needed to kill Antigone
because his future as the king relied on what he determined to do. ​In lines 709-710 it states “ If

dirges and planned lamentations could put off her death, men would be singing forever.” ​This

means Creon knows that if he doesn’t go through with the initial plan to punish anyone that

attempts to bury Polyneices then everyone in the kingdom will think that he isn’t ready to be in

charge of Thebes. ​Creon needed to be taken seriously as the new king. With this being known his

final decision was to punish Antigone to death.

The play shows that Creon just wanted to protect his new kingdom of Thebes from the

horrible things that Polyneices did to his own people. ​In lines 164-168 of the play, it says that

Polyneices sold his own native people into slavery and he fought against them and that is how he

died in battle.​ ​This is important because Creon did not want to honor someone who disrespected

their kingdom. ​The film, however, doesn’t focus on this as much, it’s focus point was on Creon

making rules that he needed the city to obey, just because he thought that it was the right thing to

do.

The play and the film are alike and very different in many ways.​ ​The play has more

details to support the main theme of rules and order, however, the film does not give as much

attention to Creon’s main reasons for making the rules.​ ​The play stated that Creon decided to

bury Polynices for certain reasons, the film skips over these details.​ ​The play also says that

Creon needs to kill Antigone for the sake of his position as king, the film doesn’t state this, it just

says that Creon kills Antigone because she broke the law that he put in place. Even though the

play and film are different in some ways in both of them Creon is just trying to get order in

Thebes being that they just lost their king and his two sons, and to do this he had to make rules to

protect them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Antigone - Playl to Film Essay

Rules and order is the main theme of both the play and the film of Antigone. The play

gives more details on why the laws are being put into action and what Creon is trying to do by

putting them in place. The film skips over these features and shows the parts where Creon is

telling the city not to bury Polyneices and expects everyone to obey him. Since the play gives

more detail to why these things are happening and how it will affect the overall topic and the

film does not do this, you see two different sides of the rules that are being set and how Creon

gets order in Thebes from it.

In the play on Antigone, Creon is just becoming the king and is making his first speech to

the kingdom of Thebes. Through lines 148-149 he says “ I am aware, of course, that no ruler can

expect complete loyalty from his subjects until he has been tested in office,” this means Creon is

trying to sympathize with the people and let them know that he is cooperating with them. This

matters because it shows that Creon doesn’t want to be a total tyranny leader and he wants

support from the city. In the film, however, he does not do this, Creon is already king and is

enforcing the laws that he has made. The film shows that Creon is the new ruler and whatever he

says is what is going to happen, he does not care what the people think about it. The play has

more details on the way Creon was going about his way of ruling the kingdom.

The film helps you comprehend that Antigone is being killed because she broke the law

that stated not to bury Polyneices, which she did, however, this is not the only reason Creon
decides to sentence her to this. In the play, it indicates that Creon needed to kill Antigone

because his future as the king relied on what he determined to do. In lines 709-710 it states “ If

dirges and planned lamentations could put off her death, men would be singing forever.” This

means Creon knows that if he doesn’t go through with the initial plan to punish anyone that

attempts to bury Polyneices then everyone in the kingdom will think that he isn’t ready to be in

charge of Thebes. Creon needed to be taken seriously as the new king. With this being known his

final decision was to punish Antigone to death.

The play shows that Creon just wanted to protect his new kingdom of Thebes from the

horrible things that Polyneices did to his own people. In lines 164-168 of the play, it says that

Polyneices sold his own native people into slavery and he fought against them and that is how he

died in battle. This is important because Creon did not want to honor someone who disrespected

their kingdom. The film, however, doesn’t focus on this as much, it’s focus point was on Creon

making rules that he needed the city to obey, just because he thought that it was the right thing to

do.

The play and the film are alike and very different in many ways. The play has more

details to support the main theme of rules and order, however, the film does not give as much

attention to Creon’s main reasons for making the rules. The play stated that Creon decided to

bury Polynices for certain reasons, the film skips over these details. The play also says that

Creon needs to kill Antigone for the sake of his position as king, the film doesn’t state this, it just

says that Creon kills Antigone because she broke the law that he put in place. Even though the

play and film are different in some ways in both of them Creon is just trying to get order in
Thebes being that they just lost their king and his two sons, and to do this he had to make rules to

protect them.