Themes in Antigone Play by Sophocles

1.
Pride
Pride is the characteristics of the characters in Sophocles’ plays due to which the main
protagonists get punishment from the god without any mercy and have to face the deadly fall. In
the context of Antigone, Creon is given the dangerous pride which influences him to make a new
law that substitutes the divine law. He is so blind in belief that the law he has made is the same
divine law, but he has forgotten the fact that none can make the law equal to divine law or
greater than divine law. His punishment law that he has made for Polynices is against gods’ law.
He is reminded by the blind seer that the gods are with Antigone, but still he does not feel fear of
the gods because of his pride that whatever he is doing is right. Because of the same pride, he has
to lose all his family members. He is ruined with the excess pride he carries with him.
He accepts Tiresias only when it dawns upon him that he will have to suffer more.
2. Blindness in a real or metaphorical sense is the major theme of various Grecian plays.

Oedipus mocks the blindness of the seer Tiresias, who responds by telling Oedipus that he
(Oedipus) is blind to the corruption in his own life, and soon will be literally blind, too. Issues of
blindness and sight aren't quite as obvious in Antigone, but the same basic tension is there.
Tiresias gives the current king, Creon, a warning, and the king is unable to see the wisdom of the
seer's words. Creon is blinded by pride—his unwillingness to compromise, to listen to the
opinions of his people, or to appear to be defeated by a woman. The blind Tiresias can see that
the gods are angry and that tragedy will strike if Creon doesn't rethink his decision and change
his mind. Creon lacks the insight to see this. In that sense, he is blind. And although he does
eventually change his mind, and come to see the error of his stubbornness, it is too late—events
have spiraled out of his control, and he now must witness the destruction of his family.
3. Rivalry between Sisters

Antigone and Ismene are daughters of the doomed Oedipus. While Ismene seems reasonable and
coward in the face of the mounting pressure, Antigone seems more confident than her sister. She
has sensed that Creon’s legal thrust can be blunted with divine legitimacy and public morality.
This rivalry, in the end, wins Antigone a good place as a heroic figure
The two sisters Antigone and Ismene are projected as foils and rivals. The main female
character Antigone is thin, moody, stubborn, bold and manly. But opposite to her, her sister
Ismene is reasonable, timid, obedient, plump and beautiful in looks. When Antigone proposes a
plan to bury her brother Polynices against the decree of the dictator, Creon, Ismene cannot take a
strong position. She fears the man-made law and cannot give full support to the moral duty of her
sister Antigone. Her timid nature and feminine quality dominate her and she steps back. But, as
Antigone is bold and stubborn in her decision, she takes her stand for the sake of her family and
she does not fear the man-made law but the divine law. Because of this reason, the two sisters
now become rivals in terms of beliefs and supports to the laws.
4. Gender: the Position of Women

The position of women from the ancient time is always thought to be the lowest. In the case of
Greek women, the freedom is limited and there are set rules and regulations for them to behave
in the society. In such confined society and time, Antigone takes a strong stand for a good cause
challenging the then social values and rules. Her rebellion is threatening as it is against the
gender role set by the men and the hierarchy made by the same men in their favor. She rejects to
be passive and follow whatever the men say. Her rejection of the law, especially the man, Creon
has been problematic. Antigone’s sister Ismene is timid and for her men are stronger so they
must be followed. She represents the typical Greek women who are passive and does not bother
to take any risks for the good cause and does not have any sense of freedom. Creon has a mindset
that even if he was wrong, he cannot be defeated by a woman, so anyhow he has to defeat
woman.
5. Natural law
as head of state and lawgiver in Thebes, believes in obedience to man-made laws. But in defying
Creon's command that no one bury Polynices, Antigone appeals to a different set of guidelines—
what is often called "natural law." Whether its source is in nature or in divine order, natural law
states that there are standards for right and wrong that are more fundamental and universal than
the laws of any particular society.
Antigone believes that the gods have commanded people to give the dead a proper burial. She
also believes she has a greater loyalty to her brother in performing his burial rites than she does
to the law of the city of Thebes that bans her from doing so. The wishes of the gods and her
sense of duty to her brother are both examples of natural law. To Antigone, these outweigh any
human laws. In Antigone, Sophocles explores this tension and seems to suggest—through
Antigone's martyrdom, the people's sympathy, and Creon's downfall—that the laws of the state
should not contradict natural laws.
6. Citizenship vs family loyalty

In the play, Creon has a strict definition of citizenship that calls for the state to come first: "…
whoever places a friend / above the good of his country, he is nothing: / I have no use for him."
From Creon's perspective, Polynices has forfeited the right to a proper burial as a citizen of
Thebes because he has attacked the city. In attacking Thebes, he has shown his disloyalty to the
state and has ceased to be a citizen. In fact, Creon is more devoted to his laws than he is to even
his own son Haemon's happiness, refusing to pardon Antigone for burying Polynices even
though she is Haemon's fiancée. Antigone, on the other hand, places long held traditions and
loyalty to her family above obedience to the city or to its ruler. In doing so, she makes the case
that there are loyalties to both the gods and one's own family that outweigh one's loyalty to a
city.
7. Civil Disobedience
Creon says that the laws enacted by the leader of the city "must be obeyed, large and small, /
right and wrong." In other words, Creon is arguing that the law is the basis for justice, so there
can be no such thing as an unjust law. Antigone, on the other hand, believes that there are unjust
laws, and that she has a moral duty to disobey a law that contradicts what she thinks is right. This
is particularly the case when the law of the city contradicts the customs of the people and the
traditional laws of the gods. Antigone's decision not to follow Creon's decree against giving
Polynices a proper burial is therefore an example of civil disobedience, or a refusal to obey the
law on moral grounds.
8. Fate vs free will
The ancient Greeks believed that their gods could see the future, and that certain people could
access this information. Independent prophets called "seers" saw visions of things to come.
Oracles, priests who resided at the temples of gods—such as the oracle to Apollo at Delphi—
were also believed to be able to interpret the gods' visions and give prophecies to people who
sought to know the future. Oracles were an accepted part of Greek life—famous leaders and
common people alike consulted them for help with making all kinds of decisions. Long before
the beginning of Antigone, Oedipus, Antigone's father, fulfilled one of the most famous
prophecies in world literature—that he would kill his father and marry his mother (these events
are covered in detail in Sophocles's Oedipus Rex). Despite his efforts to avoid this terrible fate, it
came to pass. When Oedipus learned what he had inadvertently done, he gouged out his own
eyes and was banished from Thebes. Before dying, he prophesied that his two sons, Polynices
and Eteocles, would kill each other in the battle for Thebes (see Oedipus at Colonus). This, too,
comes to pass.
Yet when the prophet Tiresias visits Creon in Antigone, he comes to deliver a warning, not an
unavoidable prophecy. He says that Creon has made a bad decision, but that he can redeem
himself. "Once the wrong is done," Tiresias says, "a man can turn his back on folly, misfortune,
too, if he tries to make amends, however low he's fallen, and stops his bullnecked ways." While
Oedipus never has a choice—his fate was sealed—in this case Creon seems to have more free
will. He chooses to remain stubborn, however, until it's too late and he is caught in the grip of a
terrible fate that he can't escape.

Themes in Antigone Play by Sophocles

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1.

2. Blindness in a real or metaphorical sense is the major theme of various Grecian plays.

3. Rivalry between Sisters

4. Gender: the Position of Women

6. Citizenship vs family loyalty

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