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Loyalty And Determination In Sophocles 'Antigone'

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Loyalty And Determination In Sophocles 'Antigone'
Jevon Mitchell
Ms. Hall
World Lit
13 March 2014
Antigone Character Analysis Loyalty and determination are two great characteristics to have as a person, but they are not so great when they blind you from exactly what you are doing. This is the tragic flaw of the tragic hero Antigone. Antigone is the protagonist of Antigone a tragic play written by Sophocles, one of the great ancient Greek playwrights. In Antigone written by Sophocles, Antigone’s uncompromising pride, loyalty, and determination all directly lead to her downfall. Antigone is a very strong- headed person and she does what she believes is correct in the eyes of the Gods. In this case it’s staying loyal to her brother, Polynices and to the laws of the Gods. To remain loyal to her own flesh and
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Antigone is a very prideful person. Her pride almost comes off as arrogance. She believes that she doesn’t have to listen to man’s law because God’s law will always overrule it. With that mindset she thinks that she can do whatever she wants to as the Gods will set it right in the afterlife. "But I know, I’ll please the ones I’m duty bound to please" (110) Antigone is speaking with Ismene about committing the ‘crime’ of burying her brother and when Ismene says that it is not a good idea to defy Creon’s decree Antigone is basically telling her that she does not have to listen to his rules or please him as long as she is pleasing the Gods. She thinks that they are the only people that she is obligated to listen to and please. “But I will bury him, and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy.” (55-58) As long as she is considered holy for going against the king’s rule and burying her brother she does not care that she has committed a crime. Once again this shows Antigone’s belief that the laws of the Gods overrule the laws of man. All of Antigone’s tragic flaws are powered by pride, which could be both a great and terrible quality to

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