Themes Essay, Research Paper

The three major themes are love, loyalty, and irony; the most major theme

being irony.

Antigone’s love for her brother, Polyneices, was so strong, she died for

him. Haemon’s love for Antigone was so strong, he died with her death.

Eurydice’s love for her son, Haemon, was so strong, she died with his death.

Creon’s guilt and love for his wife and son was so strong, he felt he should not

go on living after their death. “. . . I speak for you, for me, and for the spirits of

the dead. . . The dead? Precisely–you’ll never marry her alive. . .Well then,

dead–one death beckoning to another. . . ” This is part of a conversation

between Creon and Haemon while Haemon is standing up for Antigone. Love is

constantly being shown through the book. Another quote from the book is said

by the Strophe I: “. . . Love, unquelled in battle, Love making nonsense of

wealth, Pillowed all night on the cheek of a girl, You roam seas, pervade the

wilds, And in a Shepherd’s hut you lie. Shadowing immotal gods, You dog

ephemeral man–Madness your possession. . . ”

Another theme is loyalty, which is mostly the same as the theme of love.

By loving someone, therefore you are also loyal to them. It follows the same

cronilogical order as the theme of love: Polyneices’ death brings out Antigone’s

loyalty, which brings upon her death, which then brings out Haemon’s loyalty to

Antigone, which brings upon his death, which shows Eurydice’s loyalty to her

son, which brings about her death, then finally the guilt and grief of Creon.

Also, Antigone had to choose which family member to stay loyal to: Creon, her

uncle, or Polyneices, her brother.

The major theme of the story is irony. Irony is when the meaning of the

speakers words are opposite of his actions, which is exactly what is portrayed in

this story. To further explain the theme, I will take quotes from the book, and

explain them as I go along. The first quote is from Creon. “. . . You wait and

see! The toughest will is the first to break: like the hard untempered steel which

snaps and shivers at a touch when hot from off the forge. . . She and her sister

will not now escape the utmost penalty. . .” There he is contradicting himself by

saying people should bend and be lenient, but he won’t even give his niece her

life. Her sister and future husband, which is Creon’s son, all try to convince him

to let her go, but he won’t bend. The second quote is from Haemon. “. . . But a

wise man is flexible, has much to learn without loss of dignity. See the tree in

floodtime, how they bend along the torrent’s course, and how their twigs and

branches so not snap, but stubborn trees are torn up roots and all. In sailing too,

when fresh weather blows, a skipper who will not slaken sail, turns turtle,

finishes his voyage beam-ends up. . .” His words are trying to tell his father that

he must bend the rules, and let Antigone go free, and hinting at some

consequenses.