Antigone Theme and Elements Imagine if you were apart of a family where your dad was the son

of your mom. That is what the family in Antigone faces. Antigone is a play written by Sophocles. The setting is ancient Greece in the kingdom of Thebes. Sophocles uses external conflict, internal conflict, and dramatic irony in order to demonstrate that family should always come first and never be disrespected. The external conflict shows up in the theme because of the huge conflict within the family. The conflict all started when the brothers, Polynices and Eteocles, started a war against each other to win the throne of Thebes. During this war they both die. There was no longer a reign to the throne, so Creon, an uncle of the family, came and took over the throne. He created much more conflict within the family by creating a law. Antigone told her sister the news of their uncles new law. Creon buried our brother, Eteocles, with military honors, gave him a soldier's funeral, and it was right that he should-but Polyneices, who fought as bravely and died as miserably-they say that Creon has sworn no one shall bury him, no one mourn for him, but his body must lie in the fields, a sweet treasure for carrion birds to find as they search for food (Sophocles, prologue). The external conflict, or the conflict that puts one person against another, goes on throughout the entire story. The theme that Sophocles was trying to get across was to cherish your family, fighting with family is never good. The internal conflict in Antigone is shown often with almost every character. Internal conflict is a struggle within a character. There is internal conflict within Ismene when she wishes to take blame for the crime that her sister committed, even though she clearly stated that she did not want to do the crime because of the consequences. Creon has internal conflict when he is alone at the end of the story. Creon says, Let it come. Let death come quickly, and be kind

to me. I would not ever see the sun again (Sophocles, exodos). He knows he will not be able to die immediately; he has to suffer the way Antigone did. There is also internal conflict within Antigone, Haimon, and Eurydice before each of them commits suicide. Killing yourself is a perfect example of internal conflict. Going back to the theme, how is the family staying together if they never tell anyone about the problems they are each facing in life. Dramatic irony shows up in the play Antigone a few times. Dramatic irony is when the audience perceives something that a character does not. The audience can perceive that Eurydice is going to kill herself when she hears about the death of Haimon, her son, and Antigone, her daughter-in-law. As the audience can predict that Eurydice will kill herself. Eurydice leaves without a word after she hears the news. The messenger says, It troubles me, too; yet she knows what is best, her grief is too great for public lamentation, and doubtless she has gone to her chamber to weep for her dead son, leading her maidens in his dirge (Sophocles, exodos). The messenger and Choragos think Eurydice must not want to cry in public, they are wrong and figure this out by finding her dead in her chamber. Creon had a huge role in the cause of all three murders. His disrespectfulness towards the body of dead Polynices caused the conflict. He should have never disrespected his family members the way he did. Respect towards your family members is a must in life. This is the point that Sophocles was trying to get across with the play of Antigone. At the start of this family tree, Lais and Iocaste should have never dropped their son, Oedipus, off in the woods. That is when the family takes a turn in the wrong direction. If Lais and Iocaste would have kept their son and raised him then maybe the horrible curses would be reversed. However, they did not and that was when Iocaste married her son and had four children with him. This all relates to society today in the way of abortion. First Lais and Iocaste wanted to abort and kill Oedipus. Today it seems many

teens that get pregnant want to have abortions. They believe they cannot take care of a child. This is the same thoughts of Iocaste, when really she should have kept her child and raised him. Works Cited Sophocles. Play. Antigone. Applebee, Arthur N., et al. Boston: McDougal Littell Inc., 2006. 1020-1060. Print.