Philosophy and literature- Antigone by Sophocles - Essay Example

The king decides to give his predecessor a decent burial and formulates harsh law to punish the Polyneices. Where else it is right to accord traitors the harshest punishment so as to discourage others from trying it, according to Sopholes (441 BC), leaving dead bodies to decay without being buried is not acceptable by the gods. The whole story has evidence of the conflict when choosing between the good and bad. Ismene is also faced with a hard decision to make when confronted by Antigone to lend a hand in burying their brother Polyneices.

Unlike Antigone, Ismene decided to stick by the rules of the government, only to latter feel the weight of the cause of action taken by Antigone, which makes her willing to die with her. This conflict begins to manifests immediately after Oedipus, the father of Eteocles and Polyneices leaves the throne and moves out of the kingdom. The two brothers are left behind and they fail to agree on the rightful heir to inherit the throne. Eteocles drives Polyneices out of the kingdom, only to return to challenge the throne with war.

The war results to the demise of the two brothers. King Creon takes over the throne and feels that Polyneices acted out of bad faith and portrayed actions of a traitor when he engaged the king in a battle that resulted to both their demise. As a punishment to Polyneices, Creon decides that his dead body will be left to decay and be eaten by vultures while Eteocles was buried with honor. With the love of a brother and the need to do right, Antigone then decides to go against the ruling of the king and decides to bury her brother.

The main characters are Antigone and Creon. Antigone is committed to bury her brother regardless of the consequences that are set for anyone who will go against the law. She represents the common man who despite the presence of rules and regulations that are set to govern them, at one point