Have you ever felt so strongly about something, that you would do anything to fight for it or to prove your point. Many laws and or rules conflict with others beliefs and morals. A moral is defined as, “a person's standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do” (dictionary.com). Human beings have the obligation to be disobedient when laws go against their moral conscience. This action is displayed in many works of literature, such as “Antigone”, and In the Time of the Butterflies. In Sophocles play “Antigone”, Antigone strongly disagrees with King Creon's decree to not bury Polyneices. She believes in the laws of god much more over the king's laws. Therefore, Antigone disobeys the king’s law and decides that it is her duty to bury Polyneices: “ But I will bury him; and if I must die,/I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down/With him in death” (Sophocles 55-57). …show more content…
Antigone’s brave action supports the fact that she was obligated to be disobedient because the law went against her morals.
Antigone decided that she had to bury her brother, even if it meant that she would be killed for it. Her morals were so strong that she would virtually do anything to bury Polyneices even though the King’s law forbids it. In Julia Alvarez’s novel In the Time of the Butterflies, Minerva Mirabal takes part in many daring things to fight against Trujillo- a dictator in the Dominican Republic. Trujillo is very powerful and has killed many people so all of the actions that Minerva takes part in are extremely dangerous. Minerva begins to fight against Trujillo by sneaking out of school and going to Don Horacio’s house where secret meetings were being held to discuss the actions of trujillo.Minerva knows that this is extremely dangerous and is putting her life on the line whenever she takes part in disagreeing with trujillo’s ways. However, she does it because she feels it is the right thing to
do. Mate questions Minerva about her actions and asks her why she is doing such a dangerous thing. Mate reveals to the reader in her diary that she was shocked with MInerva’s answer: “ She wanted me to grow up in a free country” (Alvarez 39). I is now confirmed to the reader that Minerva has high morals and will try to do anything to stop Trujillo. Minerva continues to fight against Trujillo and stand up for what she believes in even though it is extremely risky. As displayed in the two pieces of literature, when a person has strong beliefs or morals they let nothing stand in the way of them expressing and demonstrating what they feel is the correct thing to do. Individuals have the commitment to be rebellious when laws conflict with their ethical souls.
In The Time of the Butterflies, chapter six briefly explain why Minerva action against Trujillo led to the sister death. Minerva slapping Trujillo in the face was a sign of bravery that she was not going to let Trujillo dilated her action like he did to a bunch of other women. It was clearly shown that Trujillo wasn’t going to let this slide by, instead build various events to make her suffer, making her commit to this actions which eventually will give Trujillo a reason for murdering the sisters’.“ pg 83-101”. This evidence shows that Minerva is willing to break out from the barriers that society and Trujillo dictatorship is implementing on them, and make a change for the better. “Women hold their beaded evening bags over their head, trying to protect their foundering hairdo after Minerva slap Trujillo”(pg 100). This shows how during the era that Trujillo govern fear was upon every individual that step in the shadow of Trujillo even if you didn 't have anything to do with it. “But el jefe has other plans for me,” A mind of her own, this little cibaeña”(Trujillo), her smirks, rubbing his cheek, then turns to Don Manuel”(pg 101). This evidence shows that Trujillo had other plans to handles his
Antigone remains a static character at stage five throughout the story. Faced with people who do not agree with her decision, Antigone stands tall with what is morally right to her. Kohlberg’s Theory is not only universal but also helps readers understand a character morally. Choosing whether or not to bury her brother, Polyneices, or to follow the law given by Creon, does not derail her moral
In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters' attitudes change from close-minded to open-minded. It is their close-minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultimately to a series of deaths. In the beginning Antigone is a close minded character who later becomes open minded. After the death of her brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. He decides that Eteocles will receive a funeral with military honors because he fought for his country. However, Polyneices, who broke his exile to " spill the blood of his father and sell his own people into slavery", will have no burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon's unjust actions and says, " Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." She vows to bury her brother so that his soul may gain the peace of the underworld. Antigone is torn between the law placed against burying her brother and her own thoughts of doing what she feels should be done for her family. Her intent is simply to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial so that she will follow "the laws of the gods." Antigone knows that she is in danger of being killed for her actions and she says, "I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me." Her own laws, or morals, drive her to break Creon's law placed against Polyneices burial. Even after she realizes that she will have to bury Polyneices without the help of her sister, Ismene, she says: Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of deaths-death without honor. Here Ismene is trying to reason with Antigone by saying that she cannot disobey the law because of the consequences. Antigone is close-minded when she immediately tells her to go away and refuses to listen to her. Later in the play, Antigone is sorrowful for her actions and the consequences yet she is not regretful for her crime. She says her crime is just, yet she does regret being forced to commit it.
“…a mere mortal, could override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakable traditions…These laws I was not about to break them… and face retribution of the gods.”(505-513) This provides a basis for Antigone’s hubris, her belief in God, standing for what is right, defying man’s rule. As the play progresses Antigone’s hubris becomes more apparent as she claims, “Give me glory! What greater could I win than to give my own brother a decent burial?”(562-563). This pride in committing a moral and God-willed deed reaches a point where Antigone thinks that it is
The character must decide whether or not to allow the employee’s cousin to work in their restaurant. The cousin must provide for his family through the cold winter or they will become homeless. The character also knows that the law requires him to check the citizenship of all employees and forbids him to hire anyone who is in the country illegally.
The opening events of the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, quickly establish the central conflict between Antigone and Creon. Creon has decreed that the traitor Polynices, who tried to burn down the temple of gods in Thebes, must not be given proper burial. Antigone is the only one who will speak against this decree and insists on the sacredness of family and a symbolic burial for her brother. Whereas Antigone sees no validity in a law that disregards the duty family members owe one another, Creon's point of view is exactly opposite. He has no use for anyone who places private ties above the common good, as he proclaims firmly to the Chorus and the audience as he revels in his victory over Polynices. He sees Polynices as an enemy to the state because he attacked his brother. Creon's first speech, which is dominated by words such as "authority” and "law”, shows the extent to which Creon fixates on government and law as the supreme authority. Between Antigone and Creon there can be no compromise—they both find absolute validity in the respective loyalties they uphold.
In Sophocles’ Antigone, the most prominent theme is the concept of divine law versus human law. The play opens with the debate between the sisters Antigone and Ismene concerning which law comes first- the devout obligations of citizens, or civic duty. Antigone requests for Ismene to assist her in burying their brother Polyneices, though the new king Creon, has prohibited burial on pain of death. It can be argued that Creon’s edict, which deprived Polyneices of his funeral rites, is understandable. The young man had been killed perpetrating the most atrocious crime of which a citizen could be guilty, and Creon, as the responsible head of state, naturally supposed that exemplary punishment was the culprit’s right...
Sophocles’s Antigone and Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies are based upon a common theme: rebellion. While reading both pieces in class, the notion of to what extent a rebellion is justified surfaced frequently; however, reading both texts was insufficient in finding a conclusion to this topic, so I read through various poems to aid my deduction. After my extensive research, I came to the conclusion that rebellion can be justified by a rebel’s genuine belief in their cause. The process of justification is based upon one’s personal qualification of what is considered just; therefore, a single belief in the righteousness of any revolt justifies a rebellion.
If you were told not to do something, even if you knew it was the right thing to do, would you go ahead and do it anyway? The Play Antigone was written by the Greek author and playwright, Sophocles. The Story of Antigone takes place in Ancient Greece, about a young woman who has lost her both of her brothers, and is told by her King to not give her brother, Polyneices a proper burial. It is important to follow the laws of government, but sometimes, when you know that something is morally right, just like Antigone did, one must be able to make that decision, even if it goes against the law.
In Antigone, King Creon gives an edict against burying Polynices since he was seen as a traitor. Despite death being the punishment for breaking this edict, Antigone goes ahead and buries Polynices. She feels that, as a citizen and his sister, it is her right and responsibility to do so. Creon was undermining the principles of democracy by taking away peoples’ freedoms based on his personal opinions. In a society that was greatly renowne...
Following Creon's rise to power, he makes an edict. He declares that Eteocles will be "given full military honors," while for Polynices, the edict "forbids anyone to bury him." (Antigone, p. 659) This is the edict that Antigone wants to defy. Many people might say that Antigone is wrong is defying the law, but I do not. Here in America, we have essentially two sets of laws. One is the laws that are passed be Congress and the state governments. The other law is the Constitution of the United States. Which do you think is the higher law? The Constitution answers that question for us. It says that it is that highest law, and that no other law can defy it. Also, we have our own moral laws that we use to make everyday decisions. In ancient Greece, they had a system of laws very similar to today's system.
A crucial question in Antigone is, "When someone makes a law that is known by the public to be morally wrong, should the public break his/her law? Or should they collaborate with that person by obeying? Antigone felt that the law (no one was supposed to bury her brother Polyneicies) should be broken so she took what she thought to be appropriate measures. This is called Civil Disobedience. Another question is "Is Civil Disobedience morally and ethically correct?" The Nazis say one thing, and the Vietnam war veterans say one thing. The Nazis did not believe that Civil Disobedience was ethically or morally righteous, because of there inhumane acts upon the Jews in the 1940's probably led some Nazi officials to think about Civil Disobedience, after all the were told to do a job and if they didn't they would have been killed. As Adolph Hitler showed the world, just because one idiotic person thinks something is right that doesn't make it right. The Nazi officials parallel Ismene, because there is a law that they both knew to be wrong but they are so afraid to step up that they just collaborate with it. Another parallel is that the Jews and Polyneicies' soul. The Jews were caught up in the middle of the officials, the liberating nations, and Adolph Hitler. As was Polyneicies' soul caught in between Creon, Antigone, and Ismene. Also, in that they both had to undergo extreme pain, torture, and horror. Lastly the invading nations parallel Antigone in that they both fought against the law in both their times. Antigone fought to save her brother's spirit, and the invading nations fought to save the Jews. Civil disobedience is wrong even though it might not go with any religious beliefs, but for Christians, laws are established by governments, governments are established by God, so what is there to go against besides God's own law? Laws are made for the communities own safety, or own good. If a law was passed not to stay outside because of serial killings how many would stay outside late at night, not to many. A law was passed not to steal, how many people are arrested and convicted every week because they stole something. So laws are for the benefit of that area, in order to uphold that law there must be a price of punishment.
Possibly the most prominent theme in Sophocles' "Antigone" is the concept of divine law vs. human law. In the story the two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices have slain each other in battle. The new King Creon, who assumed the throne after Eteocles' death, decrees that because Polyneices committed treason against the king, he shall not be buried, but instead "He shall be left unburied for all to watch
In the play Creon goes against the Gods by making it illegal to bury Polyneices, Antigone’s brother because he is deemed a traitor. The burying of a dead body is seen as a necessity by all of Greece as it is an unspoken law of the Gods. Antigone goes to bury her brother so his afterlife will be better. She does it in spite of the law that Creon has made. “It is the dead, not the living, who make the longest demands” (192) She tries to explain to her sister, Ismene, that they must bury Polyneices, but even that close relationship has trouble because of the law. Ismene is unwilling to suffer the consequences of the law, to save her brother’s soul “Forgive me but I am helpless: I must yield to those in authority” (192) Even the two sisters who have just lost both of their brothers have different views on the matter. One will not stray from the law and what is deemed right by their king, while the other will accept any punishment, even death just to do what she believes is right.
Natural law can be considered the ‘morally correct’ approach to authority and justice. It is the idea that one should make decisions based upon what they deem morally appropriate within themselves. Antigone’s support of this approach is apparent in her refusal of Kreon’s order when she buries Polyneices anyway. She loves Polyneices and believes in her heart that there is no other alternative. She is aware that by burying him she would be breaking the law and risking her own life for it. “I will bury him myself. If I die for doing that, good: I will stay with him, my brother; and my crime will be devotion” (87-90). To her this is the only morally acceptable solution. Her support of Natural law resolves her to perform what she believes in her heart to be right, casting aside any social and political upholding that prove to be opposition.