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Antigone

Antigone When reading anything it is usually to the benefit of the reader if the author leaves the ending of the story at the end. So when I started to read Antigone and figured out right away that she would die I wondered what purpose it served to read the rest of the play. Had I not finished the play, however, I would not have ever known how Antigone was to die. Nor would I have know if Ismene would also die or if Polyneices would ever get a proper burial. Needless to say I finished the play. Following the story line I was extremely impressed by what I thought was courage and family loyalty on the part of Antigone to risk death just to bury her deceased brother. I wondered if I, faced with the same situation, would choose the same. I tend to think that I would be more like the timid Ismene who did everything she could think of to dissuade Antigone from what she was destined to do. I can't be sure though because I don't believe in or worship the same gods Antigone did. Continuing on I started to glean more of Creon's personality. I learned that he was not the humble and merciful person I thought he was but rather he was a prideful and maybe even a tyrant king. I say this because why else would you leave someone that has already been defeated and is dead, left unburied and then threaten death to anyone who tries to bury him? To mean this personifies cruelty and yet I can see that maybe he had a hidden agenda in doing this. This act, instead of being used as an unjust punishment, might be seen as a tool of deterrence. I certainly wouldn't want to be killed just to bury someone else. Further on in the play, through Teiresias, I started to realize that Creon's ruling would backfire on him in a most fitting way. I don't wish death on anybody but isn't it justice served that Haemon should die because of Creon's killing Antigone. No one can say that Creon wasn't warned, both by Haemon and Teiresias. However, the deaths didn't stop there because after learning of Haemon's death Eurydice kills herself and so Creon is hurt twice over. After a while all this death gets depressing and I started to wonder if anyone would be left alive by the end of the story. At the end of the play I am left both depressed by the outcome and a bit intrigued by the closing words of the Chorus. Is wisdom the true key to happiness followed by reverence towards the gods. In my life it is quite the opposite, reverence to the one true God will ultimately bring happiness and wisdom. It is the same in that you must follow God (in their case gods) to reach happiness or wisdom. As for old age teaching wisdom, I think that age brings wisdom but not all old people are wise (I'm still trying to figure this one out). I enjoyed Antigone from the standpoint of it made for interesting reading, however, it left me feeling depressed (I guess that is why they call it a tragedy). For the most part I followed what the characters were saying although sometimes I was lost on what the Chorus was trying to portray. I would recommend this book to mature readers who have an understanding of Greek tragedy, enjoy the writings of Sophocles, and don't mind a less then happy ending. As for me I'd rather read a horror novel that ended with the guilty being killed then a tragedy where everyone but the guilty dies. All in all I gives this book a satisfactory rating but it is not something I would choose to read for myself on a cold afternoon curled up in front of the fireplace. Bibliography:

Word Count: 648