Creon has pity and fear-
In retrospect, Creon causes a larger feeling of pity or fear toward himself, than toward Antigone.Creon is more relatable to a feeling of pity and fear since he is afraid of his own feelings and hides his empathy towards others by being overly demanding and controlling. In the beginning of the book Creon's presents himself as overly controlling. It says on page 68 how he wont be controlled by the people and there belief to save Antigone from a slow painful death. He tries to strike fear into peoples eyes to keep them afraid of him. Then at the end of the book he is overcome with remorse and a feeling of sadness. This is because Antigone commits suicide, then her husband and Creon's son sees her died and kills himself also. In addition, his wife decides to kill herself. Thus he has no more loved ones in his life. This is why Creon greatly resembles pity and fear.
Whitney Marshall

Antigone Metaphor: Character & Theme Development

"And she cried out a sharp, piercing cry, like a bird come back to an empty nest, peering into its bed, and all the babies gone..." (pg. 80, line 471-474)

Birds have various forms of symbolism: the optimistic representations of independence, freedom, and spirit vs. the pessimistic representations of rebellion and bad luck. Antigone, as the protagonist in this tragedy, has a flat and static character. Even though she is the protagonist in that sense, we would expect her to be more of a round and dynamic character. Her fiery personality, her family loyalty, her independence, and her stubborness have determined the relationships she has developed and had and how it has left her character solid in stone, flat, and static. She obviously will do anything to get her way, even if other characters in the tragedy strongly disagree with her opinions and actions such as Creon. Seeing her brother Polynices so vulnerable and abandoned, she felt empathy immediately for him and venerated him as her brother because he deserves such equal rights that any other individual would earn in their death.

A bird has a strong, free spirit that will never change and never give in to any challenges or downfalls in life especially if they know others will discourage their decisions and choices as it is.

Danielle Pallarca

Empathy For Antigone

In the book ,"Antigone" there are two central characters with very different values and beliefs. These characters are Creon and Antigone. Aristotle stated that pity and fear can only be aroused through a character that is similar to you. The character that makes me feel more pity would have to be, Antigone.

This is because of Antigone's beliefs about family and what she stands up for. Antigone is someone who puts the ones she loves and the ones that share the same blood as you above all the stuff related with politics. I personally value family over state and over country, I would not be able to agree on the idea of putting state over family like Creon, and all of Creon's actions are based on that subject. That is why Antigone feels more relatable to me and this feeling causes my empathy for her. Just thinking of being loyal and venerate to her family then being paired with death for the rest of your life for loving the people you grew up with is just not logical to me. This is also very frustrating and I feel sorrow for Antigone; I feel this because I hold my beliefs strong to me, and nothing will change them in the near future.

Spencer Perry

9

(HW)

Sentry Reveals All

In the book “Antigone” there is a governing metaphor that reveals a lot about Antigone herself. The Sentry’s speech is where this metaphor is. This metaphor is on lines 471-472 and says,” and she let out a sharp piercing cry, like a bird come back to an empty nest” this right here can tell us a lot about Antigone’s character. Some of these characteristics include freedom because birds are free and the fly anywhere they want to fly and they can go where they want to go. Also, this passage indicates that Antigone values her family more than anything else. Just like a bird or a Duck they do anything to protect their family and they are extremely defensive. Lastly this metaphor tells us that Antigone is a mother figure and this can represent strong ideas and values that she passes down into her young. In this passage these values would show again when she re-buries Polynices and isn’t scared of standing up to death and being rebellious. This is significant to the development of Antigone because it shows what her true and real charachteristics are under the circumstances of life and death. The themes are even more developed because they go from standing up to what you belive in to not letting death stop you from what you belive in. Death can change peoples values when theretened upon you but this says to keep the same attitude towards your cause.

Antigone and the Sentry

The governing metaphor in the passage is when the sentry says " and she cried a sharp piercing cry, like a bird come back to an empty nest, peering into the bed, and all the babes gone..."  This metaphor reveals that Antigone is a bird, that represents freedom, and her cry's represent the breaking point of the birds spirit.  Antigone experiences hatred and loss when she is referred to as a bird.  This moment is significant to Antigone's character development and to the development of themes in the play because it lets the readers know what type of character Antigone has. It also infers that Antigone will have an unhappy life and possibly a tragic end.  The theme of this metaphor is "You can break a birds spirit if you take away what it loves most.  The topic is Antigone is independent.  Antigone's character is reflected off of a bird because of their similarities.  Both share the characteristics of independence, spirit, life, ego, and most importantly freedom.  Antigone was undermined by a family curse, and her bird like features led her into the trap.

Antigone and the Sentry

During the passage on page 80,the sentry that discovered Antigone references to her with metaphors, such as refering to her as "a bird coming back to an empty nest"(Sophocles pg80). He goes on to say that he and the other sentries "rushed her, closed on the kill like hunters"(Sophocles pg80 which supports that thought that the main metaphor used in this passage is refering to Antigone as a bird, and the sentry to be hunters. this metaphor reveals that Antigone is very respecting and loving of her brother, and is treating his body as if it were a Egg to a Bird, and keeping a close watch on it. This specific moment in the play builds onto her character, making her seem more loyal to her brother than to the state, just as she proves later in the book by going sucicide on page 121, and eventually leads to her commiting suicide, because of being caught mourning her brother. This also leads to the theme of the play being loyalty, to either state or personal loyalty, in which everybody must choose a side.

Antigone SCR- Sentry Passage

Examine the way that Sentry describes Antigone (lines 469-489), and respond to the following questions in a paragraph of at least 10 sentences.
What is the governing metaphor in the passage? What does this metaphor reveal about Antigone's character? Why is this moment significant to her character development and to the development of the themes  in the play?
***

In the Sentry's passage, one sees a governing metaphor in his speech when he compares Antigone to a bird. He compares her character and her emotional reaction to that of a distraught mother bird who comes home to an empty nest. The Sentry describes Antigone as a bird who has "come back to an empty nest, peering into its bed, and all the babies gone... Just so, when she sees the corpse bare she bursts into a long, shattering wail" (lines 470-475). This reflects Antigone's character in more than one ways. The bird represents her free spirit, and the comparison of coming back to an empty nest represents her family that seems to be disintegrating, and the pain she goes through while watching Polynices being stripped of his rights once again. The Sentry goes further to describe how they "closed on the kill like hunters" (line 481), the hunters being the Sentry's group and the kill symbolizing Antigone. This moment is significant in the way that her "shattering wail" gave way to her capture. It changes the strong woman Antigone was into a hopeless and desolate one who ends her own life. Her imprisonment also brings out the theme of choosing love over law or vice versa, where the following events bring out the true colors of each character, including Creon and Haemon. Haemon respects his father but he is also in love with his future bride Antigone, and he chooses his love over law.