'And must go the way that lies before me. No funeral hymn; no marriage music; No sun from this day forth, no light, no friend to weep at my departing. (741-744)
             The play Antigone, written by Sophocles, tells the story of Antigone and Creon, and their continuing conflict between what is right and what is wrong. Antigone tries to play the role of a lonely martyr, and ends up causing unnecessary deaths where lives could have been saved. While Creon, the king of Thebes, tries to right his wrong, Antigone becomes stubborn, proud of her wrong, and is killed because of her continuing need to be right. It is my opinion that since Antigone was trying to play the role of a lonely martyr, choosing to be stubborn and blind to those who were trying to help her, she could have instead accepted help, and saved her own life, including the lives of Haemon, Eurydices, and whoever else died as a result of her ignorant actions during the subsequent play.
             Antigone was a martyr; plain and simple. She possessed all of the qualities that a martyr is supposed to have. She was stubborn when people tried to help her. 'Whose was the deed, Death and the dead are witness. I love no friend whose love is only words.' (459-460) 'You chose; life was your choice, when mine was death.' (472-473) 'No, no. You live. My heart was long since dead, so it was right for me to help the dead' (476-477). In those quotes, Antigone is refusing her sister Ismenes' plea that she helped bury Polynices. Antigone is stubborn at the same time that she is being kind and merciful. If Antigone had just complied with Ismenes' statements, Ismene would have shared the punishment, which was death, and Ismene would have been blamed for at least part of the crime. Antigone however, would have none of that. She wanted to be the sole guilty party, and be viewed in the future as a heroic martyr, who was kind and merciful to her sister. To...