Antigone

Antigone Creon’s hypocrisy in Antigone In Sophocles, Antigone, there is a new king of Thebes, no longer Oedipus, but Oedipus’ brother-in-law Creon, who is now the current leader and king of Thebes. The opening of the play is a private discussion between Antigone and Ismene, daughters of the exiled King Oedipus who have been entrusted to the care of the protagonist, Creon. Oedipus not only had two daughters, but he had two sons as well, Polynices and Eteocles. When the play begins Oedipus’ two sons have already been killed. Polynices and Eteocles act as the focus of the central conflict throughout the play. The controversy in Antigone is over the dead, and the rights of the dead. The conflict begins when Creon gives Eteocles proper burial rights, and refuses to bury the other son, Polynices. Creon not only refuses to bury Ploynices but also sets a decree to forbid anyone from burying the body. Antigone, sister of both Eteocles and Ploynices, disobeys Creon’s ruling to not bury her brother all the while knowing that the penalty is death. Creon sentences Antigone to death in a rocky vault below the ground for creon, antigone, polynices, dead, bury, play, tiresias, death, creon’s, thebes, son, rights, living, king, kill, haemon, eteocles, body, two, own, one, oedipus, mind, made, decision, change, burying, brother, below, before, already, alive, world, vault, therefore