Reading Journal: Oedipus

What caught my attention in this chapter was Creon’s , who is the King of Thebes characterization because he seems to be selfish and bitter. He does not want to anyone to bury or show grief towards Polynice because he was opposing what was occurring in the city. The part that shocked me was the extent of the punishment– if someone buries or grieves Polynice, they would be put to death, “death is the price” (Antigone, 221). Which conveys that Creon had a lot of tension towards Polynice, and leads me to think that maybe there is a deeper meaning why we hates Polynice so much?

Creon shows more of his resentment when he expresses “leave his course disgraced, a dinner for the birds and for the dogs” (Antigone, 205-206). This caught my attention because Creon is being very selfish and harsh in the way that he is only putting rules by thinking about his desires and not everyone else’s. In other words, Polynice has family that cares for him and would not want this to occur to their own relative, which means oppositions can transpire. This leads to Antigone wanting to at least bury her brother, because she cares about him and does not want to just leave him exposed for animals to feed on him; so she is willing to risk her life for her brother. Antigone states “will you take up that corpse along with me? I never shall be found to be his traitor… its not for him to keep me from my own” (Antigone, 43&45&47). This portrays that Antigone is brave and a family person, because she is basically putting her life on the line to make sure her brother gets to rest in peace. In comparison to Polynice’s other sister Ismene who seems more afraid and cautious about burying her brother because of the outcome that can occur due to Creon’s rule. For instance, ” to bury him you mean, when its forbidden? O reckless one, when Creon spoke against it” (Antigone, 44 & 47). This shows how Antigone is against Creons belief and she will convey it without being afraid for the sake of her brother, meanwhile Ismene cares about her brother but she is still afraid of what Creon can do to them because they achieved something he went against.