Character Analysis: Antigone

Having a hard head and a strong heart can lead people into doing something either extremely brave and heroic, or drive them into madness and stupidity. Knowing what you want isn't always a bad thing; it's what you want. Wanting something for the good of others is considered to be morally good... until that moment creates tension and potentially hatred between the people who are programmed to love you most.

But it's not always those who love you who seem to get under your skin. Everyone has met someone who must always be in control; who must be in charge; who must always be the center of attention. Maybe you are that person that always feels the need to know what's going on. We've all heard the saying "some are born leaders, others have leadership thrust upon them". Those people, although occasionally pushy and slightly annoying, were born to show us the way that things should be.

Sophocles plays tend to focus on moral issues. Antigone in particular is about the difference and importance of following gods law before mans law. Antigone says something that (summed up) means: I'll only be here for a while, but I'll be in the underworld forever.

Sophocles' "Antigone" is a story about love. A story about how nothing in the world, even the threat of death, can deter this young girl away from what she believes is true. The bond between family is suppose to be strong, but this blood is thinner than water. It seems as though no matter what, hardly anything concerning family will surface for the King; two brothers kill each other in cold blood and jealous rage; an uncle forbids for his nephew to be buried and let his soul leave this earth. Possibly the only true sign of love, is Antigone, the entire world seeming to stand against her, and her husband-to-be Haemon, who took his own life when his beloved decided that the hardships of this earth were too much to bare.

Anything can seem to hinder our hearts or tear away at our strength, until it just seems like nothing can hold you together anymore. But if a person can act anything like Antigone, strong in everything they do, almost nothing can truly deprive your soul of what it deserves. Everybody dies but not everyone lives.