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Antigone by sophocles moral decision
Antigone by sophocles moral decision
Sophocles antigone conception of justice
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“To be interested in the public good we must be disinterested, that is, not interested in goods in which our personal selves are wrapped up”(Mead). A constant debate arises between the importance of one’s own good, against the importance of the public good. Every person finds their own way of achieving the good life considering these two sides. Whether private good appears to be more important than the other, or whether a balance between the two must be reached; there is no right or wrong. Between the readings of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot and Antigone by Sophocles, having a balance between public good and private good in life conveys the impression of a typical good life. With that, It is essential to create a balance …show more content…
Always thinking about satisfying private good can start conflicts towards the higher power, or even cause consequences when rules are broken. An example of this presents itself in Antigone. After much conflict and war throughout the city, Creon, the new king, provides a decree for all the people to follow. He administers this decree with no intentions of being harmful, but only to bring peace to a city that has recently suffered. Although disagreement arose from this decree, simply following the rules given would have been more beneficial. Going against public good in this case led to multiple deaths of family members who could have been saved if public good was considered. One person’s selfish actions resulted in more suffering instead of peace throughout the city, when the only intentions of Creon was reconciliation. The benefits of public good continues in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, when the constant reproducing cells of a woman, Henrietta Lacks, became life changing in the medical world and the world of many cancer patients. “...her cells went up in the first space missions to see what would happen to human cells in zero gravity, or that they helped with some of the most important advances in medicine: the polio vaccine, chemotherapy, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization..”(Skloot). In this instance, although Henrietta and her family were striped of their rights immoraly, it resulted as an outbreak for the public good. Sharing these cells with the world has brought a good life to other people fighting cancer, advanced cancer research, and continues to affect the public positively today. The good of Henrietta and her family were dispossessed, nonetheless, the good of the world will prosper forever. Clearly, the value of public good is important when trying to reach peace and when lives are being saved because
In the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the author, Rebecca Skloot, tries to convince the audience that her argument regarding, Henrietta and her cells is worth thinking about. Skloot argues that the woman whose body contained these life-changing cells deserved to be recognized. While trying to prove her side of the argument, Skloot uses logos within the novel to emphasize to the audience just how important her cells are, by providing the science behind the cells and their accomplishments.
Rebecca Skloot’s novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, depicts the violation of medical ethics from the patient and researcher perspectives specifically when race, poverty, and lack of medical education are factors. The novel takes place in the southern United States in 1951. Henrietta Lacks is born in a poor rural town, Clover, but eventually moves to urban Turner Station. She was diagnosed and treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins hospital where cells was unknowingly taken from her and used for scientific research. Rebecca Skloot describes this when she writes, “But first—though no one had told Henrietta that TeLinde was collecting sample or asked she wanted to be a donor—Wharton picked up a sharp knife and shaved two dime-sized pieces of tissue from Henrietta's cervix: one from her tumor, and one from the healthy cervical tissue nearby. Then he placed the samples in a glass dish” (33). The simple act of taking cells, which the physicians did not even think twice about, caused decades
Additionally, Creon was certain that nobody would disobey him, as we see on page 10, and was shocked to hear that somebody buried Polynices, as he says; “What say you? What man dared to do it?” Creon truly believed that everyone would comply, which explains why the punishment is so harsh. However, when Antigone performed the unseen, how could he go back on his word and be looked at as dishonest and biased towards family members?
In the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, Henrietta was a poor, black, woman. Her cells were taken from her without her consent, but became one of the most important tools in medicine. Her cells assisted with gene mapping, cloning, developing the polio vaccine and much more.
Immortality is a term that is rarely used outside of comic books and fiction novels; the term means to live forever (Merriam-Webster). Henrietta Lacks was an American woman from Clover Virginia whose cervical cancer cells were the source of the HeLa cell line. The scientific name for HeLa is helacyton gartleri and is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The HeLa name derived from the first two letters in the name Henrietta Lacks. After being diagnosed with cervical cancer, Henrietta sadly passed away only 8 months later. Henrietta’s cells still live and are growing today and are being used for research purposes.
Inwardly examining his own nature, man would prefer to see himself as a virtuously courageous being designed in the image of a divine supernatural force. Not to say that the true nature of man is a complete beast, he does posses, like many other creatures admirable traits. As author Matt Ridley examines the nature of man in his work The Origins of Virtue, both the selfish and altruistic sides of man are explored. Upon making an honest and accurate assessment of his character, it seems evident that man is not such a creature divinely set apart from the trappings of selfishness and immorality. Rather than put man at either extreme it seems more accurate to describe man as a creature whose tendency is to look out for himself first, as a means of survival.
Betrayed by doctors broke Henrietta’s heart. The novel, The Immortal Life of henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot explains how Henrietta got betrayed. In the novel the character Henrietta Lacks got cancer and died, but right before she died she got her cells taken away without her knowledge and without her permission by scientists in 1951. The cells were bought and sold by the billions, and people never knew who she was or where the cells came from, she remained virtually unknown. Years later when Henrietta’s family found out that they had taken her cells away they were very disappointed specially her daughter who never knew her mother. People attack the Lacks family wanting questions answered about Henrietta because nobody knew who she was. The
In the story of Antigone, Oedipus has already died, his two sons. Polyneices and Eteocles, left to contend for the throne of Thebes. In their contention for the throne, the two brothers slay one another, leaving Creon once again to be the acting regent of Thebes. With this power, Creon declares that Polyneices must be left to rot on the battlefield, the highest disgrace to any Greek. Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, is left torn between state of family, and in the end, chooses family over state. Disregarding Creon 's edict with grave danger to herself, Antigone ventures to bury the body of Polyneices, and thus begins her adventure. Antigone is truly a tragic hero, marked by her station as son of Oedipus, and her proud and perhaps arrogant
“When I looked around, I saw and heard of none like me. Was I then a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned?” (Shelley, Frankenstein 109). In Frankenstein, the Monster receives a life in which he cannot control the outcome, even though he tries to. While the Monster deals with fate, Antigone in Antigone exhibits full use of her free will. The two characters possess free will and both of them can claim victim to fate. However, the Monster has more of a right to make the plea of destiny while Antigone should own up to her deliberate actions. The Monster’s denial of acceptance by both his creator and society as well as his responding acts of violence can claim to exist as results of fate while Antigone’s actions exhibit free will from her decisions to break the law and act upon her pride.
The credibility and trustworthiness of a person can be achieved through their achievements and titles. Writers have the ability of achieving this by appealing to the rhetorical strategy ethos. Rebecca Skloot’s inclusion of her knowledge in science to provide her credibility and numerous information of all her characters in the novel helps develop the rhetorical strategy of ethos. Skoot’s implementation of appealing to ethos aids in emphasizing on the credibility of both herself and all the other characters in the novel. She demonstrates this rhetorical strategy by indicating titles and achievements her characters in the novel. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot develops the rhetorical strategy of ethos through the use of her characters in the novel consisting of Skloot herself, George Gey, and the virologist Chester Southam.
Antigone, the main character in the film Antigone, has been caged due to her gender inferiority
After reading, “ Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr., “On Morality”, by Joan Didion, and “Where I Lived, and What I l Lived For”, by Henry David Thoreau, readers can have a better perspective about the different kinds of life. Other books that will help to understand the main points in this essay will be “History will absolve me”, by Fidel Castro and “The little Prince” by Antoine de Saint Exupery. When readers analyze all the readings together and from the same viewpoint, can arrive at the conclusion that each of them adopts a different position, yet brings a common point that connects all of them: morality. Morality is, “A word that is distrust more everyday,” according to Didion. This expression about morality is what has made many people succeed or fail whose experiences are publicly lived. In this case, Dr. King decided to adopt a public life fighting for freedom and justice in America. On the other side, Thoreau decided to have his own priva...
Private good prevails over public good, as people tend to act in their self-interest. They want what they think will propel their life forward. Private good only gives us a temporary pleasure that influences us to want more. On the other hand, public good generates a sense of contentment to the individual, which can spread to the rest of society. Ideally, public good should be more pursued for an individual to embrace a good life as it encompasses happiness that private good cannot produce. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” and “The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses” demonstrate how people make choices for their own benefit, one where a family’s privacy is violated and the other where bribery reigns. Both readings also illustrate that interest in the public good would help maintain a good life and the outcome of the choices would be favorable to the majority.
Feminism: the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. It has been a major topic around the world for hundreds of years. Feminists generally seek to bring about change by fighting for what they believe in, and are often considered to have personal strength and integrity. Although women have gained most rights they did not have before, there are still some drawbacks to our special rights that make us weaker than men. For example, men's products are cheaper than women's products at most drugstores. Also, men are paid more in their minimum wage amount than women. In this play, Antigone has many qualities of feminist literature due to her belief in the way she was treated and her actions.
The play Antigone is often thought to be a Greek tragedy because each of the tragic heroes is neither extremely good or bad, their fortunes change from good to bad, their misfortunes do not result from their own wrong doings, and they arouse pity within the audience. Antigone and Creon are the two tragic heroes of this play; however, I believe Creon to be main one.