There are many instances in the novel “Antigone” that shows the relationship of cause and effect. It is particularly important to recognize such causes and effects for they are simply the highlights of the novel itself. Theses causes and effects are what makes up the novel and without them, the novel will not be worth reading.
First of the most obvious cause and effect is Antigone’s relationship to her sister Ismene. It should be realized that Antigone’s physical appearance and female attributes, though should not be taken for granted, is very much different from her sister’s. Ismene is more feminine than Antigone. Ismene is regarded as more charming that Antigone. The causes of which is the fact that Antigone’s beliefs and philosophies are totally different from Ismene or to any other lady in the castle for that matter. She is boyish, more adventurous and would always seek to go beyond her limits and boundaries. The effect is Antigone not having too many male admirers, unlike Ismene. She even tried to seduce her sister’s fiancé (Haemon) only to fail because she did not even like what she was doing and also because she could not replace her sister’s feminine images in Haemon’s mind.
Second event where cause and effect was highlighted is when Creon sentenced the execution of Antigone. It should be noted that Creon is Antigone’s uncle and he is the ruler in the castle. However hard it was for him to give such sentence, he felt he needed to do that because of his commitment to politics and social order. It was very painful for him to sentence Antigone’s death but he did it anyway. Other members of the family could not understand why it has to be done. They felt that what Creon did was a betrayal of family’s trust. Hence, on the day that Antigone was announced dead, other members of the family committed suicide. In short, Creon’s decision to sentence Antigone to uphold, what he believed was a form of social order, is the ultimate cause of what happened afterwards. Most of the family members committed suicide. The effect is Creon being left alone. He was left with nobody but the guards who do not care a bit towards what had just happened to the family they are serving. Creon has his throne, he thought he was able to maintain social order, but he had no one to share such a feeling of accomplishment. In fact, he did not even feel any triumph, what he did is just to mourn and weep over the loss of his family. He could not erase what he had done and cold not bring the lives that were lost at the expense of his decision.
The above-stated causes and effects happened both at the very beginning and towards the last part of the novel-tragedy. These causes and effect strengthen the story and enable the readers to realize what the real message of the author is. however simple these causes and effects may have been for other readers, it could not be denied that without theses causes and effects, the flow of the story will be totally different.