The play Antigone is a Greek mythology written by Sophocles and is widely read by students and adults across the world. There are many different version of this tragedy with one of them being by the Arthur Jean Anouilh. Antigone is the subject of the popular story where she attempts to have a respectable burial for her brother, Polynices, who was killed in a battle between him and his brother Eteocles even when he is seen as a traitor. Creon is the uncle of Antigone and also the ruler of Thebes; he is the main force that tries to stop Antigone from burying Polynices. Although Sopocles and Anuouilh basically has the same characters and plot, he rewrites the story in the 20th century with a different emphasis. Both plays have Antigone fighting …show more content…
All of his family members died brutal deaths and couldn't escape their destiny. The tragic hero went past his ordinary behavior and thought and therefore punished for deifying the decrees of fate made by the gods. Antigone, however is adulated for sacrificing herself to perform the burial rites for her brother, saying that the state can not overrule the religious law. This can be shown when she tells Creon "I have not sinned before God. Or if I have, I shall know the truth in death. But if the guilt Lies upon Creon who judged me, then, I pray, May his punishment equal my own." (line 725) and when she tells Ismene "Apparently the laws of the god mean nothing to you."(line 63). Sophocles ultimately has God as a decider on …show more content…
They proclaim that Creon has violated laws of the gods and this brings corollary to the human world. Antigone stands for the religious law and people love her for it. She points out Creon's mistakes and dies a heroine for defying his decree. Anouilh however, doesn't include the character of Teiresias: the seer who is a mouthpiece of the gods. In his play, it is life itself that is fated, making it more tragic because people like Creon will outnumber individuals like Antigone. The tragedy according to Anouilh is the limitations of life itself, there are no gods in the first