Antigone represents the archetype of the rebel or the defiant individual.
The universal theme in this passage is the conflict between individual will and state authority.
Antigone's archetype reveals the theme by embodying the individual who is willing to challenge and defy the state's authority in order to honor her personal beliefs and values. She is willing to face the consequences and even risk her own life to bury her brother, despite the state's decree. Antigone's defiance represents the struggle between personal morality and obedience to societal rules.
Antigone and Ismene heard with horror what Creon had decided. To Ismene, shocking as it was, overwhelming her with anguish for the pitiful dead body and the lonely, homeless soul, it seemed, nevertheless, that nothing could be done except to acquiesce. She and Antigone were utterly alone. All Thebes was exulting that the man who had brought war upon them should be thus terribly punished. "We are women," she told her sister. "We must obey. We have no strength to defy the State." "Choose your own part," Antigone said. "I go to bury the brother I love." "You are not strong enough," Ismene cried. "Why, then when my strength fails," Antigone answered, "I will give up." She left her sister; Ismene dared not follow her.
–“The Royal House of Thebes,”
Edith Hamilton
What archetype does Antigone represent?
What is the universal theme in this passage?
How does Antigone’s archetype reveal the theme?
1 answer
1 answer