In “Impossible Mourning Sophocles Reversal” By Fanny...

In â€Å"Impossible Mourning: Sophocles Reversal† by Fanny Soderback, she introduces the concept of a Sophoclean reversal at the heart Antigone. To introduce her argument, Antigone is associated with the private realm and divine law, and Creon is a representative of human law and politics. Soderback bases her understanding of Antigone on the work of Hannah Arendt, who argues that the Greek public realm is distinctly separated from the private realm, which rebuts most claims of how family and state were closed interconnected in Greek culture. This allows the readers to have a different interpretation of Antigone. Throughout the story, the idea of a Sophoclean reversal suggests that the relationships between the representative of the private and†¦show more content†¦However, the argument is further emphasized when Antigone challenges Creon’s authority after burying Polynices, supposedly two times, and induces him to reverse the consequences of disobedience agains t his rule near the end of the play, he changes his method of execution â€Å"I’ll take her down some wild, desolate path/ never trod by men, and wall her up alive/ in a rocky vault, and set out short rations, /† (Sophocles 871-873). Since Creon tries to show piety towards Antigone because he did not directly kill her and refused to take responsibility for his actions, he found himself placed within the private realms in the Arendtian definition once again since he tried to make Antigone disappear without any involvement of the outsiders amongst the public. After making private decisions and going against his own word as king, Creon’s actions displayed the actions attributed to an individual who belongs in the private sphere. Throughout the play, Creon tried to rule over Thebes with authoritarian tendencies or as a dictator through actions of violence, later condemned by Tiresias, leading to Creon’s impotence and ultimately his profound reversal of fate, where he is surrounded by his dead loved ones consumed by uncontrollable grief. However, right before he receives the fate of the Gods, Creon already displays the characteristics of an individual in the private realm due to his fall from his pedestal. This is