Antigone Essay

Sabena Ruzmetov 11-13-2019 Antigone Essay I sympathize most with Antigone because even though both Kreon and Antigone were trying to do what is right in their eyes, Antigone gave up a lot more for what she believed in by burying her brother and Kreon was wrong for not trying to even see it her way and killing her instead. He never tried to see anything her way, he did not care about anyone’s opinion but his own. It took hitting the wall for Kreon to realize he was wrong, he had to lose his son to finally see his wrongdoings. He refused to see things in any other way but his own, by the time he realized what happened it was far too late. Seeing both Haemon and Antigone dead is what finally made him realize. Antigone on the other hand went through a lot and gave up her life for what she believed in, she might have gone about the wrong way of doing it but she sacrificed a lot more than Kreon, she sacrificed her life. It is truly inspiring and sad at the same time seeing how much Antigone loves her family. She puts her family and everyone she loves before anyone else and refuses to disrespect them after they have passed away. It is pretty hard not to sympathize with someone who is willing to give up their life and sacrifice literally everything to prove what she believes in is right. Kreon might have believed that what he was doing was truly right, and for the best even if it is unethical, but he did not even try to see it any other way. On Page 40, Kreon found out Antigone had buried her brother and he refused to care when Antigone just wanted to bury both of her family members, family is family after all. He could have at least tried to be a little open-minded and understanding of her situation. They could have come up with a way to compromise where they both agreed to a conclusion that would not have ended up hurting anyone in the end. For family, Antigone was willing to give up her life just to bury her brother in the ground. No matter what kind of man her brother was, he was still her brother. She loves both of her brothers equally and wanted to show them equal respect by burying both of them and not leaving one out to just rot. Kreon was not even remotely close to trying to be understanding of the situation, he obviously did not realize what love could do, or how much family really means to Antigone. Kreon only cared about how people would look at him and just about the right thing, he did not care about how his family felt even for a second. Only after Haemon died, he finally started caring but before then his son’s opinion did not matter at all. But Antigone did not give up, she made herself be heard and she proved how far she was willing to go and the sacrifices she was willing to do. Her sister was not even willing to do the things that Antigone was willing to do for her brother. That is respectful, it is just sad that Kreon could not see it in that way. Things could have turned out different and with much less conflict and pain if Kreon had just been a little more open-minded and willing to see things aa bit more differently. It’s not to say that Kreon did not care at all about his family, that is simply not true, he cared a lot about his son, Haemon. It is also wrong to say that every decision he made was bad, that is not true either. Everything that Kreon did was entirely for his family and while making his decisions he truly believed in his head that what he was doing was right, and that is respectful. What is not respectful is that he simply refused to listen to anyone but himself, including Haemon who came in to talk to Kreon on Page 46, Line 630, where they had a whole argument when Haemon was trying to best to save Antigone’s life, but nothing he said mattered to Kreon, it was like one ear and out the other. Everyone was telling Kreon to spare Antigone but Kreon did not want to listen to anyone’s opinion but his own and that is truly stubborn. And it was not until Kreon stepped in and saw both Haemon and Antigone dead, and that Haemon killed himself because of what Kreon decided to do that he finally took a step back and realized what happened and where things went wrong. Both Antigone and Haemon did not have to die for all of this, all she did was bury her brother after his death. It is obvious that Kreon did not want his son to die, but he obviously did underestimate the love that Haemon had for Antigone and he even underestimated the love that Antigone had for her brother. It is not the end of the world and there was no reason to kill her just because she loves and values her family so much. It is hard not to sympathize with someone who loves her family as much as Antigone loved hers. The punishment of death is going too far, she did not deserve to die just for burying her brother. The fact that she was willing to give up her life for what she believes in really shows how far she was willing to go. She sacrificed her life just to try to equally show both of her brothers love after their deaths. It is very clear that both of the characters are very stubborn and will see things only their way until the end. They both believe they are in the right and that the other is in the wrong and they do not want to see it in any other way. The difference was simply that whatever Kreon believed was right was more unethical and less reasonable than what Antigone believed was right. Antigone is a character that loves very hard and will do anything to prove her point when it comes to love, she refuses to disrespect her brother after his death, because she loved both of her brothers equally and wants to treat them the same way after their death. Antigone’s actions are based off of her emotions while Kreon puts his feelings and emotions aside while making decisions. That hurt him in the end as well, it seems like Kreon does not learn until hitting the wall and literally seeing right in front of him the mistakes that are happening. He had to hit the wall and find out that his actions were the reason that Haemon went and killed himself, and that is what caused him to realize that he was wrong, but that realization came a little too late. The characters do things and make decisions differently and it shows all of their perspectives and their mindsets when they make these decisions. There are a lot of internal and external conflicts that all the characters go through to achieve the good life, but the conflicts that each character goes through is different. In the end, things did not work out well for anyone and everyone ended up suffering in one way or another. Everything could have been avoided had both characters been a bit more willing to listen to the other but that is not what ended up happening and Haemon and Antigone had to die for Kreon to learn his lesson. But the truth is that without those deaths he would have never realized that what he did was wrong and that he should have considered more than just his feelings.