Governing Metaphor

The governing metaphor that is shown in this section of the book is, "...She cried out a sharp, piercing cry, like a bird come back to an empty nest." It is showing Antigone's pain at seeing her brother as a mother bird returning and finding out her babies are not there. This reveals Antigone's love for her brother. She risked her life to bury him, but in the end he was unburied and laid out naked for the wild animals to come and feast on him. This is a big part in her development because it is what causes her to unravel in the end and hang herself. She realizes how truly cruel the world can be. This scene helps to develop the play due to the fact that her reaction to this makes Croen's son and wife kill themselves. This again shows how one choice of free will can set the course of another person's fate. This is why Antigone was compared to a lonely mother bird. All because of her love and passion for her family.