Antigone acts the way she does because of all the grief they have suffered because of the curse of Oedipus and her brothers’ deaths. She believed that his brother Polynices was not a traitor, and he didn’t deserve to be left out on the field to be eaten by carrion birds. Antigone feels that it is unfair for one brother to get a befitting burial where he was buried like a soldier with military honors and the other to be left in the field even though both fought so bravely. Her greatest motivation is to bury her brother even though it is forbidden.
In my opinion, it is worth losing her life over her brother’s death. Sometimes in life, it is right to stand for what you believe in even if you stand alone (Gilmartin). Even though her sister Ismene was afraid and thought her sister was unwise and tried to discourage her, Antigone never feared to do what she believed was right. Not even death scared her because she knew that she would die with honor, and the brother would be happy for what she did when they met again in the end.
In her situation, I would do the same. Polyneices is a brother that she dearly loved, and as much as what happened in their family was wrong. He deserved better even in death. When you have siblings you love, you will go above and beyond to protect their honor even when you are threatened by death. Antigone has shown that she is a very loyal person and is not afraid to bend the rules to fight for her beliefs.
Work Cited
Gilmartin, Sarah. “Our Top Ten Greek Tragedies in Writing.” The Irish Times. The Irish Times, 2018. Web.