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Antigones Theme
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Antigone's Theme
The main theme of Antigone is the moral contradiction between doing good and bad. Meaning, you can still do bad when doing something good. An important ideal in Ancient Greece was the belief that the government was to have no control in matters concerning religious beliefs. In Antigone's eyes, Creon betrayed that ideal by not allowing her to properly bury her brother, Eteocles. She believed that the burial was a religious ceremony, and Creon did not have the power to deny Eteocles that right. Antigone's strong beliefs eventually led her to her death by the hand of Creon. Never, though, did she stop defending what she thought was right. As Creon ordered her to her death, Antigone exclaimed, "I go, his prisoner, because I honoured those things in which honour truly belongs." She is directly humiliating Creon by calling his opinions and decisions weak and unjust. She also emphasizes "his prisoner," which tells us that Creon's decision to capture Antigone was his own, and was not backed up by the majority of the people. She feels that Creon is abusing his power as king and dealing with her task to a personal level. Creon's actions are guided by the ideal that states "Man is the measure of all things." The chorus emphasizes this point during the play by stating that "There is nothing beyond (man's) power." Creon believes that the good of man comes before the gods. Setting the example using Polynices' body left unburied is a symbol of Creon's be...
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