Antigone Paper

Thomas Kendrick

Ms. Peifer

10 IB Hour 5

26 November 2008

Considering the actions he thought up and carried out, it

is clear that Creon is guilty for the deaths of the many people 

close to him. He sentenced Antigone to death, ignored all warnings

of the possible consequences, and was too overconfident in his 

judgement that he hardly even thought about his actions. Creon is

clearly responsible for the tragic events that occurred.

Creon's first mistake was when he decided that killing Antigone

would solve everything. He says it himself: when Antigone asks him 

what he wants besides killing her, Creon responds "Me? Nothing.

With that I have everything" (Sophocles ln. 566). This quote says 

everything: Creon believes that the solution to the whole incident is

sentencing Antigone to death. The very idea is wrong, for Creon 

seemed to completely forget about the potential feelings of others 

close to both him and Antigone.

Creon also showed bad judgement in his response to Haimon's

warning that mabye the death sentence isn't the best idea. For 

example, when Haimon is begging for Antigone's mercy and says,

"Then she'll die–and in her death kill someone else" (859), Creon

mindlessly retorts, "Are you so insolent you threaten me?" (860).

 This is not a very tactful or logical thing for a king to say at all. 

Creon is so confident that his choice is right that he ignores an 

ominous warning, and when his son is begging for him to listen, he

does not listen at all, but retorts a rude comment instead. Finally, 

after Teiresias' even darker prophecy, Creon is finally changes his

 mind. Unfortunately, it was too late.

Creon was definitely responsible for the deaths of those close to 

him. He was not showing good judgement in the first place when 

he sentenced a brave woman to death, even though she was only 

respecting her brother,whom Creon was depriving of sacred 

rituals.  Even when his own son hints at something as terrible as

suicide if Creon doesn't change his mind, Creon was so stubborn 

he returned the request with insults. The result of these actions 

is fitting, in that all the people Creon was close to were so 

horrified by the results of his decrees that they killed themselves.

Therefore, Creon is the guilty one.

Works Cited

Sophocles. "Antigone." Sophocles Antigone. Trans. Ian Johnston.

9 Aug. 2008. Vancouver Island University Malaspira.

26 Nov 2008.

http://records.viu.ca/7%Ejohnstoi/index.htm

LRJ#2 on Antigone

In Antigone, Sophocles uses very vivid imagery to stress

certain ideas in his writing.  For example, when Tereisias is 

speaking to Creon of his vision and the bad things to come, 

he relays his dark omen by saying, "Dark slime poured out the

chambers/oozing from the thighs, which smoked and spat,/

bile was sprayed high up into the air" (Sophocles lns. 1121-1123).

This image creates a crystal clear image in the head of the reader,

as they understand Teirisias' description is an omen of bad things

to come.  Sophocles shows his great command of words in this 

excerpt.

In Antigone, Creon has a very apparent fatal flaw: his 

overconfidence.  For example, after Haimon suggests that the 

execution of Antigone would cause another death, instead of

heading the warning and thinking about the situation, Creon

yells at Haimon. He says, "Are you so insolent you threaten me?"

(ln. 860). this is a very arrogant and rude thing to say to his son,

especially since he is hinting at suicide. The peripeteia of this play

occurs when Eurydice, the last person close to Creon, dies. 

Anagnorisis happens very shortly after, when a messenger burdens

Creon with this unfortunate event.  In response, Creon says, 

"I murdered you. . . I speak the truth./ Servants-hurry and lead me 

off,/get me away from here, for now/what I am in life is nothing" 

(lns. 1319-1322). This line is Creon realizing what he has done: 

caused the death of his family. His self esteem takes a huge plunge, 

as he was king on top of the world and now everyone close to him

is dead.  As the audience witnesses Creon's guilt and self-esteem 

plunge, they can't help but to feel sorry for him. Catharsis occurs.

This catharsis is especially fulfilling for the audience, because 

anagnorisis and peripeteia occur in such short succession.

In Antigone, women are regarded as a possession of the men 

they are close to, and inferior. For example, Creon treats Antigone 

as if she should mindlessly do everything he says. For example, 

Creon states, "Those views of yours-so different from the rest-/

don't they bring you any sense of shame?" (lns. 579-580). This 

quote explains everything. Creon simply believes that Antigone

should not be able to think for herself: that all women should 

think the same way. He seems to be very sexist.

Works Cited

Sophocles. "Antigone." Sophocles Antigone. Trans. Ian Johnston.

9 Aug. 2008. Vancouver Island University Malaspira.

24 Nov. 2008.

<http://records.viu.ca/%7Ejohnstoi/index.htm>

Antigone LRJ Assignment

Traitor Polyneices Buried!

Yesterday around noon a group of sentries

in the outreaches of Thebes noticed that some 

unknown culprit had buried the body of the 

well-known traitor Polyneices in a field.

Most everyone has heard of this traitor to

his homeland, who betrayed Thebes, even 

his own brothers. When Polyneices was killed,

king Creon made it a law that no person who

fought against Thebes shall have a burial, even

his own brother. Polyneices' corpse was going 

to be let to rot forever out in the open, until 

yesterday, when a source who wishes to remain

anonymous reported to the king that the body was

found with a small pile of dust on top of it. This 

isn't the traditional burial right of the Greeks, but 

whoever gave Polyneices this haphazard ritual

was clearly rebellious and unwise. The royal

lookouts hope that the culprit who did this burial

will return today, as they will be watching around

the clock. This disgrace to the state of Thebes will

hopefully be resolved by tomorrow.

Technology

Only very recently did I, Thomas Kendrick, start to discover the 

wonders of technology. See, until I was about eleven,the only 

computer my family ever owned was a rickety old pc that my uncle 

decided he didn't want anymore. He got rid of it for a reason, 

though. The thing was practically ancient, and the only application

my family could even get close to working was the word processor

(and even this took more than a week to figure out). So until about

sixth grade, my technological life was pretty minimal.

Finally, in sixth grade, my family came around and purchased an 

emac, the wonder of its day. We had no internet connection (we 

still don't, in fact), but the new computer was very convenient for 

typing up homework assignments. I still print all my papers off 

this appliance, actually, and it's been very good to me over the years.

Even with this new computer, however, I still didn't spend very 

much time glaring into the screen. There was only one game we had 

that even looked mildly amusing (Tony Hawk), but its time on our 

computer was cut short after my dad discarded it time when my little

brother kept playing it for hours on end when he wasn't supposed to. 

So from that point on the only time I was ever on the computer was 

to type up an assignment for school.

Then, in the summer before ninth grade, an event happened 

that would change my life forever: my dad had received a laptop 

from his work. It is a MacBook, with all the upgraded operating 

systems and everything. I was soon thrilled to find out as well that 

on this technological wonder we could access the internet, using the 

neighbor's wireless outlets. This was one of the best things to ever 

happen to my family tech-wise, as now my father and I are probably 

online almost a combined hour on a daily basis.

Though my house has been home to the wonderful internet for 

over a year now, only the past month have I really taken advantage 

of the new possibilities. I actually got an email account (other than 

the school's which I never used anyways) last month, and now 

check it virtually every night.  Also, two weeks ago I decided to 

finally get a facebook after being encouraged to by friends for about 

half a year.

I continue my new exploits with the world wide web in getting 

this blog. I have never had one before, as you might expect, or even 

read one in the past. I am excited regardless, though, and hope to 

update frequently and have some fun. It sounds kind of cool, 

actually, writing whatever you want and having an audience of 

followers spread out all over the world.