Devotion of the Family in Play "Antigone"

Life is seen to be long but actual short. Therefore, people must live valuable and dedicated to life, so that they will not regret anything in the future. In Sophocles’s play Antigone, devotion of the family is a voluntary love that sacrifices one’s own happiness to make others better, and those who sacrifice feel proud because that is what they pleading not to ask for anything in return. In the following essay, the viewpoint is developed in more detail by communicating through the characterization of Antigone as a devoted member for Polynices, the conflict leads to contradictions and the resolution of her decision to end the tragedy.

First of all, the author uses characterization to portray the relationship between Antigone and Polynices, who knows as her brother and dies in the battle.

In the beginning of the play, Antigone is strongly determined to bury her dead brother’s body when she argues with her sister Ismene:

“... You must be as you believe.

I will bury him myself.

If I die for doing that, good

I will stay with him, my brother:

And my crime will be devotion

…. “ The fact that Antigone attempts to inter her dead brother by herself illustrates how she is devoted over the lives of her family. The author points out her speech into promising that she would “ die “to stand by her brother. The word “ devotion” also emphasize how caring and deep Antigone is, to begin with. This can be compared to people who allocate their whole life to give an appearance of being loyalty.

Additionally, Antigone who is the most highlights the climax of having the contrast idea with Ismene. This can be shown when Antigone mentions:

“ ….Talk like that, and you will make me hate you

And he dead will hate you,

And rightly, as an enemy

Leave me alone, with my hopeless scheme

I am ready to suffer for it and to die.

Let me. No suffering could be so terrible as to die for nothing.”

Antigone begins to give orders with all the negative actions. The repetition of the noun ' die ' implies how much she how he suffers deeply inside how others affect her actions. This feeling is compounded by the fact that she feels tremendous pain and thinks about ' die ' to get rid of it. This signifies her struggle to overcome the devotion and to accomplish her will even though it is a despairing plan. Instead of having a superior life from the new king, Antigone desires to prepare to stand alone with her devoted love. Both her actions paint a firm picture of Antigone.

Second of all, Sophocles employs conflict to indicates how Antigone takes over her devotion. The conflict between Antigone and Kreon tends to the climax when she says:

“ …There is nothing you can say I would like to hear, and there never could be.

And there is nothing about me that could please you neither ….”

The speech of her determination is the result of her devotion, which against Kreon’s scheme leads to her ability to make her own decision. This quote denotes how stable Antigone is expressed both inside and out. The adjective ' nothing “ illustrates that she keeps devoting a lot for the rest of her life. Because of losing her brother, she is stuck with a lack of love and being portrayed as a stubborn woman, who is ignoring the King’s law and would never listen to obey. At the same time, Kreon devotes for his law of the land and Antigone devotes for her belief in family. Furthermore, Antigone has a conflict with Ismene when she attempts to save her life :

“ You will not die, not with me you wont.

You had nothing to do with this, don't try to claim you had,

I will die, and the dead be served well.”

Antigone practically pushes her sister away in order to keep she alive when Ismene realizes that Antigone is about to die alone in the jail. The fact that Antigone suffers deeply inside day by day, but she hides the pain and pretend that she is fine with being satisfied. The negative verb ' don’t ' clearly illustrates that she attempts not to let anyone harm her family again. As a devoted person, she sacrificed a lot in her life until the last minute and hoped all her suffering would be deserved better. Someone truly love family would devote everything to keep the authority safety. Her devotion will eventually spread into other areas of his life.