Antigone Review

Antigone is not your typical Greek hero, mostly because she is a woman, but she shares many heroic characteristics with those classic heroes such as Odysseus.  Like Odysseus, Antigone has nobility, she is courageous, and she has confidence in her own strength.  Odysseus shows his courage by going to war and bravely facing many dangerous situations, Antigone shows her courage by standing against Creon to do what she thinks is right.  Odysseus shows confidence in his strength by being a strong leader for his men and overcoming many trials in his long journey; if he didn't believe in his own strength, he wouldn't have been able to get through the situations they went through.  Antigone knows that if she breaks civil law to do what she feels is divine law and bury her brother that she will be killed, but because she knows her strength and knows what she wants to stand for, she show her confidence in herself and buries her despite knowing the consequences,  

In his funeral speech, Pericles mentions the Greek virtues, which are the power of adapting, versatility, and grace.  I don't think Antigone showed adaptability or versatility or else she probably would have been more obedient to Creon's law that her brother would not be buried.  She would have adapted to that change and went along with whatever Creon said.  While I don't think she displayed either of those characteristics, I think she did show grace as she accepted her punishment, even death, as a consequence of defying Creon to do what she felt was right.

Odysseus, on the other hand, I think showed all three virtues.  Over the course of his journey, he was put in many different situations and he had to adapt and be versatile to use different strengths of his, whether they be physical strengths or wit, to get himself and his men through the situations to get home, and through all these situations, he was still graceful and dignified.