As I’ve skimmed over Antigone, I noticed that Antigone is a rather hypocritical character. I am not able to fully analyze the reasons for this but I’m hoping as I write this blog I can gain further insight into this question. Her reasons while trying to persuade her sister Ismene to go against King Creon’s order and bury their brother are contradicted when she is fighting with Ismene again in front of King Creon. Initially, Antigone emphasizes the obligation as a sister to rightfully bury her brother Polyneices just as her brother Eteocles was.
Antigone gives Ismene the opportunity to either become “a true sister, or a traitor to [her] family,” by choosing between burying Polyneices or allowing his corpse to remain unburied and eaten by animals (1326, line 27). When Ismene refuses to help her bury their brother, Antigone immediately criticizes Ismene and informs her that the dead will hate her for betraying her family in this way. Even when Ismene promises not to tell anyone, in an effort to protect her sister, Antigone turns it back around on Ismene and tells her to tell everyone so that “they’ll hate [her] when it all comes out if they learn that [she] knew about it all the time!” (1327, line 70-71). One can respect Antigone’s resolute standing on what should be done in this situation despite her persistent jabs at her sister because of her opposition. Unfortunately, however, she contradicts herself and in actuality acts as Creon did when she criticized him. In this way, Antigone is hypocritical and therefore loses the credibility that she originally had. Once Creon discovers that she had attempted to bury Polyneices, Antigone wants to have all the glory for it and therefore refuses to let Ismene take partial credit. Ismene, on the other hand, is, in a way, doing exactly what Antigone had preached to her in the earlier part of the play: she remained loyal to her sister and was willing to die for her. But Antigone is able to only focus selfishly on being the one sister to die for her blood. Instead of embracing her sister’s loyalty, Antigone responds to her, “You shall not lessen my death by sharing it.” I think it is a shame that Antigone loses sight of her true reasons for burying Polyneices. She starts out with strong ambition and just incentives but ends up treating herself and Ismene in the same respect as Creon does to Eteocles and Polyneices. (413)
4 comments:
Yay first comment!
Great blog! Totally agree with you about her hypocrisy! Definitely in the respect that she devotes herself to a duty to family yet then shuns her sister. I like how you set up Ismene as her foil in this matter, definitely adds a nice touch! Overall, great stuff!
I agree Devin, Antigone is a complete hypocrite, and really good job at finding the instances and proving your point to the dot. It is really ironic that a character so admired throughout history and today is actually so flawed and in a bad way. Thinking about it now, I don’t know if I want to be steadfast like her or more like it, I am sure I don’t. Antigone really fails to see the grayscale on top of her doing exactly what she said she never will.
Devin, Daughter of Steve, Brother of Austin, Daughter of Shawn, keeper and finder of lost things, sheppard of the wanderer and protector of truth.
Your blog is very blogatious. I do enjoy your point about Antigone being a hypocrit, I hadn't really looked at it that way before. I like your use of pointing out irony as well.
I bid you farwell, I very much cherished your blog.
Toe-ring--Good post, good reasoning, and in particular a good comparison of the actions of Antigone and Creon, both of whom are very quick to assume that they, and only they, know how to define what being a "traitor" is.
And when did Robert (or someone else?) come up with the word blogatious???
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