Antigone and Hobsons Choice - 835 Words

Although Creon and Henry Hobson may have attained their good lives by only adhering to themselves, both demonstrate the destructive consequences of when one puts selfish intentions above all else. Creon’s downfall is contributed by his pride and unwillingness to listen to others. He realized his fault too late and ended up losing the ones closest to him. Henry Hobson was enveloped in his business and accumulating wealth, without acknowledging the hard work of his daughters or Willie Mossop. The result was having lost control of his life to Maggie. The reason for Creon’s behavior is that he inherited a city that experienced destruction among the people and he felt it was his responsibility to restore it. He attempted to maintain stability while keeping a higher status. He first came into conflict when Antigone believed that no human law could supersede the divine law created by the Gods. Creon decreed that Polyneices was to remain unburied in order to punish the enemy of city and give a sense of justice to the mayhem caused by the civil war. She decided to disobey his edict and to defend her actions in front of the chorus and the city of Thebes. Creon did not accept the validity of her decision and was offended by her disrespect. He sees her impudence as treason and states â€Å"If you must show them friendship, go and do so down below! But while I live a woman shall not rule† (Sophocles 41). His sentence for Antigone’s death goes beyond her breaking the law, it was meant toShow MoreRelatedAntigone and Hobs ons Choice Compared820 Words   |  3 Pagesinterpersonal relationships, as demonstrated in Sophocles Antigone, and in Harold Brighouses Hobsons Choice. In Antigone, Kreon makes an attempt to uphold his beliefs and values to obtain what he views as the good life, and it costs him his family, while in Hobsons Choice, Henry Horatio Hobson attempted to maintain a certain standard of living so he could have a good life for himself, and it came at the cost of his daughters. In Antigone, Kreon is struggling to fight for the good life in the wayRead MoreThe Cost of Prohibiting an Individual from Pursuing Their Own Good Life?756 Words   |  3 Pagesare equal and opposite reactions, in this case, a consequence. As seen in Sophocles’ Antigone and Harold Brighthouse’s Hobson’s Choice, the consequence that Kreon and Henry face for prohibiting individuals’ pursuit of the good life is isolation from loved ones. Sophocles’ character Kreon faces the ultimate price of isolation for interfering in the pursuit of Antigone’s good life as depicted in the play Antigone. Antigone’s view of building the good life was to honor the Gods and what they wishedRead MoreThe Cost of the Good Life for Women in Patriarchal Society1075 Words   |  4 Pagesseems to frequently triumph over its counterpart. This trend is refuted, however, by two distinctive women from Sophocles’ Antigone and Harold Brighouse’s play Hobson’s Choice. Although these works occur in separate time periods and in different societies, the struggles that both women encounter are similar. By being self-sufficient and rejecting self-preservation, Antigone and Maggie epitomize the attributes that women in a male dominated society should uphold in order to attain the good life.