Dear Diary,
Ever since the fight for the throne between my two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices , nothing has been right. They fought for the throne, but the outcome came to be that they killed each other and the throne was left to my uncle, King Creon. My uncle is a selfish man who only cares about himself and when he became king of Thebes he got to do whatever he wanted to. My uncle ,King Creon, decided to have a burial for only one of my brothers ,Eteocles and did not want to bury my other brother Polyneices. He gave Eteocles a soldier’s funeral because he thought that was what he deserved and believed he has military honor for fighting for his kingdom. My uncle said that no one was allowed to bury Polyneices though and that “his body must lie in the fields” for the “carrion birds to find as they search for food.” My poor brother Polyneices, who fought just as hard, was looked at as a traitor in Creons eyes because “he attacked his hometown kingdom.” Once all this was issued, King Creon created an edict that forbid anyone to bury Polyneices, and if they do they will be stoned to death.
He ultimately did this because he thought that he can’t bury a hero and a traitor at the same time, that would just be wrong. As soon as I heard about this law I wanted to go talk to my sister Ismene, and see what she thinks and if she will come with me to bury him! When I went to talk to my sister Ismene, she thought that I was crazy because there was a new law that forbid it. I told my sister that “he is my brother, and he is your brother to.” He deserves to be buried as well as Eteocles. Ismene wanted no part of it and told me that “the law is strong” and “we must give in to the law.” She also said that “we are only women, we cannot fight with men” because we are too weak. I was so annoyed with her and frustrated because he is our brother and deserves to be buried, but she doesn’t see it this way. I was so aggravated that I finally told her that “I should not want you, since the laws of god mean nothing to you.” To me it seems that she is selfish and doesn’t care at all, she is giving me any excuse just so I listen to her and not bury my brother. “This is not following the laws of god” I kept thinking to myself and I didn’t know why she had to be so selfish! Maybe it is not right of me to call her selfish, because she just didn’t want to get caught, so she was afraid but she was stubborn and didn’t want to bury her brother so that his soul could be at peace! This was just selfish to me because I didn’t think this was right to our brother! I realized that I was going to do this myself and risk my own life because I love my brother and I wanted to be loyal to him. So I went to sprinkle dust on my brother because I felt that this was as close to burying him as I was going to get without getting caught. So I sprinkled dust on my brother once, but after I did this, I realized that I need to go do it again because the wind was probably going to blow off the dust, so I wanted to go back and do it a second time.
The second time that I went back I brought more dust and “sprinkled wine three times” on my brothers body, I was caught by the sentry! The sentry was sent there to find the person who sprinkled dust on my brother the first time! I was taken at once but I “was not afraid.” When I was brought in front of Creon, I confessed it and “denied nothing.” I asked “Creon, what more do you want then my death?” I asked to die because it was for my brother, and I think he deserved a proper burial no matter what he did. I told my uncle that “I should have praise and honor for what I have done.” My uncle liked to tell me that I “am alone in that opinion”, and I replied that everyone agrees with me and supports me but they are just too scared to speak against you. Once we argued on this, Creon asked that Ismene be brought before him as well because he thinks that she is the sister of Antigone and she must have something to do with it. My sister Ismene told our uncle that she was guilty. No matter how annoyed and frustrated I was with her, I was not letting her be guilty because she didn’t help me. I acted alone on this and I was not going to let her join my punishment. I refused her to do this, even though my sister said she would with me because it was her fault to. Sometimes I don’t know if this was right of me to refuse her guilt but I just couldn’t let her do this, when she did nothing. My sister tried to save me but her plan fails and our uncle, the king, says that the thought of marriage of his son to a traitor is repulsive. The guards are told to take them away and put them in jail, and prepare them to die. Honestly I am okay with this because I love my brother and thinks he deserves a burial, what I did was right in my mind. I believe that I was following the laws of god and I don’t care if I went against my uncles law, I feel as if I did a noble deed by honoring her family. Polyneices is my brother just like Eteocles, he is just as much of a nephew to my uncle was Eteocles, why was he doing this! I just didn’t understand.
Now that I am in jail and preparing for my death, my heart is distraught! I know that this was good because I love my brother and want to be loyal to him. Now my uncle does not know what he was to do with us. He finally says that he is going to just let me die and not Ismene. My fiance Haimon vows that if his father buries me, he will never been seen again! If I am to die, my fiance says he will kill himself as well! He fights with his dad and defends me. My uncle says that he is going to “lock” me up alive “in a vault of stone.” I will have food but I will just be left there to die. I am not going to fight about this, I believe that is right that I must die, but I am okay with dying for my brother because I love him and I will know that I died for my brother because he deserved to have a burial just like Eteocles, and I did a noble deed for my family and people will think of me as a hero and remember me. I don’t really understand why everything has to happen this way, but in my heart, I know I what was right to me.
Sincerely,
Antigone
