Antigone Essays (1006 words) - Operas, Antigone, Civil Disobedience

Antigone The Missing Dialogue in Antigone After reading Antigone, one might feel that there is lacking a dialogue between Antigone and Haimon before their deaths. Sophocles does not include any direct communication between the two lovers during this drama. The reader might assume that such a conversation could have taken place but was not included by Sophocles; however, it is my belief that if a conversation occurred between Antigone and Haimon prior to their deaths, Sophocles would have made it a part of his drama. Since Antigone is a work of fiction, we cannot assume anything which we are not told. We must take the situation to be exactly as Sophocles portrays it to us. This leaves the reader to determine the importance of Antigone and Haimon not speaking together alone before their deaths. When we look at the nature of the drama, we see that the point Sophocles is trying to make is a political one. The absence of Antigone and Haimon speaking alone together adds to this political atmosphere and does not inject the play with a question of romantic love and/or loyalty. Family bonds and loyalty are the crucial issues instead. The central question of this play is a political one. What should have more power within a society, the divine laws of the gods or the laws of the land and the mortal rulers? Antigone is a representation of the divine laws of the gods, and she remains steadfast to her beliefs that the wishes of the gods should overpower the wishes of the king. Creon, on the other hand, is the representation of the laws of the land and the mortal ruler of society. He, too, remains steadfast (until the end of the play when he realizes the divine laws are stronger) in upholding his laws and trying to overpower the laws of the gods. This political scenario would be somewhat minimized had Antigone and Haimon been faced with speaking to each other. A question of romantic loyalty would have been introduced, and it might have ruined the political point Sophocles was making. When it comes to life and death, we usually try to protect the ones we love and defend them by any means possible regardless of their gu ilt or innocence. Although we know that Haimon does defend the actions of Antigone, he does so outside of her presence. We do not see Haimon telling Antigone that he will help her in any way he can. Nor do we see Antigone pleading for his support for her actions. This absent conversation yields more weight to the stance taken by Haimon against Creon. We know that his attempt to convince his father of his wrongdoing is sincere, rational, and purely intellectual. It is not his feelings of love for Antigone which lead him to support her actions or uphold her innocence. He is not pleading for the love of his life, but rather he is trying to make Creon aware of his faults in a purely intellectual manner. Although Haimon does kill himself due to the loss of Antigone, his love for her was not the sole purpose of his opinion of the situation and whether or not she should have been punished. The rage Haimon develops while talking to Creon is the result of knowing that his father is ruling incorrectly; it is not the result of the ruling being against Antigone in particular. However, had Antigone and Haimon spoken to one another, there would be a question as to whether Haimon was approaching the situation out of full devotion to Antigone or from a belief resulting from intellect and reason. The question of loyalty is also prevalent throughout the works of Sophocles. Although Haimon disagrees with the actions of his father, he states his loyalty to Creon when he says, I am your son, father. You are my guide. / You make things clear for me, and I obey you. / No marriage means more to me than your continuing wisdom (211). Antigone also remained loyal to her father in Oedipus at Colonus. She knows the importance of loyalty and devotion to a father. For this reason also, the absence of a dialogue between Antigone and Haimon is