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Quotes Of Disobedience In Antigone

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The Evil of Disobedience Disobedience of the law leads to punishment if a person is caught. When people do not do as they are told, things tend to turn out differently than if they had been done like they are supposed to. In the play Antigone, by Sophocles, the protagonist Antigone plays a major role in the events that take place when she disobeys and commits her crime against the state. Antigone is to blame for the madness that occurs after burying Polynices because she knowingly defies Creon’s orders and disobeys the law of the land. Antigone plots the burial of her brother in a conversation with her sister, Ismene. She continuously tries to sway Ismene to help her and is adamant that she will bury her brother, no matter the consequence. …show more content…

Creon talks to his son about his obstinate bride. His son, Haemon, tries to sway his father, but it is no use. Creon tells him that, “No evil is worse than disobedience. This one thing destroys cities, turns homes upside down, it leads to the rout of allied armies;” (684-686). Turning houses upside down is exactly what it did. Antigone's actions turn Haemon against his father and puts Creon’s household to be at odds. Creon further explains Antigone’s disobedience when he says, “You see how, in the winter storms, the trees yield that save even their twigs, but those who oppose it are destroyed root and branch” (724-726). If Antigone had been flexible like a tree and gone with his orders, she would have been saved, but instead she chose to go against him and will now be punished for her actions. Antigone is also the main reason for Haemon’s demise. Creon is made aware of this when one of his guards tells him, “Haemon is lost. His blood was spilled by a familiar hand” (1181-1182). The conversation continues and the guard says that the familiar hand was, “Himself, angry with his father for the murder” (1184). Creon loses his son and later his wife, angry over Haemon’s death. If Antigone had followed the law, she would have prevented the deaths of Haemon, Eurydice, and herself. Due to her stubbornness, Creon loses his family and she loses her own

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