Antigone Paper

Olumide Ige
Ms.Piefer
Antigone Paper
Antigone has been put in an awkward position. In one case she can leave her brothers body be, but in the eyes of the gods, be judged guilty of not honoring his body and giving him a proper burial. Her other option is to be judged guilty in the eyes of her king for going against his commands.
In the case of Antigone being guilty in the eyes of the gods, she is stuck with two unpleasant outcomes. The first possible outcome is she will be respected for obeying the king’s commands in such a personal situation. The downside to this is that she will feel no pride within herself and have no self respect. When the king stated, “He’s to have no funeral or lament, but to be left un buried and un wept, a sweet treasure for the birds to look at, for them to feed on to their hearts content.”(Sophocles line 35 – 37), Antigone realized this would be most disrespectful to her family which is against the law of the gods.
In the case of Antigone being guilty in the eyes of the king, she meets her end. This act of punishment is not exactly justified though. All but King Creon seem to see Antigone doings as proper. This is expressed in Haemon’s statement to his father, “Your gaze makes the citizens afraid. They can’t say anything you would not like to hear. But in the darkness I can hear them talk. The city is upset about this girl. They say of all women here, she’s least deserves the worst of deaths for her glorious act.”(Sophocles line 783 – 788). This statement shows that Haemon has listened to the people of the city and they all agree that Antigone is not guilty.
The people and the prophet have deemed Antigone innocent. She is only judged guilty by the king, who in turn, changes his mind to agree with Antigone being innocent. It was only after Creon had lost his son and wife did he truly snap out his ignorance and stubbornness and realize Antigone did nothing wrong, but rather made the right choice. Antigone is innocent for choosing to obey the law of the gods over the law of her king.