Tom Franciskato Mrs. Cohen Honors English 10 Loyalty is in a persons life whether they know it or not. A person can be loyal to family, friends, country, or even just ideas and beliefs. The list of loyalties vary depending on what you value. In TheDailyStar article “Female UAE fighter pilot leads airstrikes on ISIS” and Antigone by Sophocles show prime examples of loyalty. The female pilot challenges the traditional role women have in her country and Antigone challenges the power of the state to interfere with the traditions of her family and culture. Right at the beginning of the play “Antigone” Sophocles demonstrates how loyalty differs from person to person. This is a quote from the play with Antigone and her sister Ismene talking to each other about what to do about their brother Polyneices death and what action they should take. “ 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. ISMENE: Go then, if you feel that you must. You are unwise, But a loyal friend indeed to …show more content…
those who love you.” Ismene is taking her loyalty to the state above that of her family. Antigone would rather bury her brother in loyalty to her family and honor them. Ismene does understand that burying her brother is important to Antigone and it will be done. Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States of America shows his loyalty to a F-16 pilot Maj.
Mariam al-Mansouri of the UAE air force. He explains that she is the first female pilot to attack ISIS militants in Syria. He emphasizes her credibility by saying “She is a fully qualified, highly trained, combat-ready pilot and she led the mission.” The Ambassador is crediting her even though in their nation being a women in the military is not common. This shows his loyalty to her because in his country it is not common for women to do this kind of job. Ismene just wanted to agree with the state and the power of the king. The ambassador did not have to support the female fighter pilot and just claim that women are not meant to do that kind of thing. But he was loyal to her and the values they
share. Islam is often criticised in the news for being a misogynistic practice and not opened to allowing women to take part in anything outside a certain tradition. Ambassador Otaiba goes on to explain how he would rather live in a place where women can go on to do things like fly, become ministers or business executive instead of a place where a woman is beaten, lashed or raped if she is not dressed the correct way. He is showing how he is loyal to a morality that is different from what others might value. He sees certain traditions of ISIS and Islam as “a threat to our way of life.” So he is loyal to a certain way of life that at least he and the Major share. He expects moderate Arab and Muslim nations to take a stand against the threat of ISIS. Here is another quote out of “Antigone” showing that Antigone is willing to break laws out of loyalty to her family. Like the ambassador she is not interested in what other people might think. She is more interested in doing the right thing according to her values. “ANTIGONE: And now you can prove what you are: A true sister, or a traitor to your family. ISMENE: Antigone, you are mad! What could I possibly do? ANTIGONE: You must decide whether you will help me or not. ISMENE: I do not understand you. Help you in what? ANTIGONE: Ismene, I am going to bury him. Will you come? ISMENE: Bury him! You have just said the new law forbids it.” Ismene can not understand how Antigone is ok with breaking the law. Ismene is having a hard time understanding that Antigone has strong loyalty and honor to her family while Ismene is loyal to the state without question. The ambassador defends the female pilot as a worthy defender of their way of life. He explains her qualifications and how people like her need to take a stand for thier way of life against the threat of ISIS. This is kind of similar to the way Haimon defends Antigone. Haimon explains to his father how all the people agree with what Antigone did. He tries to reason with his father and get him to see how Antigone acted in a way to protect “their way of life.” You need to be able to understand peoples motives for doing things and evaluate why they did that thing. I personally need to be able to have the conviction to stand up and be loyal to the people around me that display shared values. The consequences of not being loyal could be the loss of things that you value to others who do not see them as valuable. If the pilot in this article was not loyal to her way of life then the ambassador would not have someone to fight in order to preserve and protect it from people who would rather see it destroyed. Outline for Loyalty I. Loyalty to her as a person Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba defended her credibility “She is a fully qualified, highly trained, combat-ready pilot and she led the mission” “She he first female air force pilot in the United Arab Emirates led airstrikes against ISIS militants in Syria” Loyalty to “our way of life” Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba defended her service as a soldier. “Do you want a model or a society that allows women to become ministers in government, female fighter pilots, business executives, artists? Or do you want a society where if a woman doesn’t cover up in public she’s beaten or she’s lashed or she’s raped? This is ultimately what this breaks down to,” he said. Similarities and Differences Loyalty to as a person The ambassador defends the pilot Haimon explains how he and the people defend Antigone's actions Very similar because the ambassador wants people to know she is a competent soldier and Hamilton wants his father (Creon) to know that Antigone's actions made sense You need to be able to understand people motives for doing things and evaluate why they did that thing. I personally need to be able to have the conviction to stand up and be loyal to the people around me that display values that I share. Work Cited "Female UAE Fighter Pilot Leads Airstrikes on ISIS." The Daily Star Newspaper. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014.
A very obvious example of loyalty is, Penelope. She is faithful to Odysseus for over 20 years and does not give up for long time. Even when the suitors came to her house and ate her food and overstayed their welcome she did not budge and still stayed faithful to Odysseus for the whole time he was gone. She told the suitors that when she finished her tapestry she would choose who she wants to marry, but every night she would undo a piece of the tapestry just so it would take longer and it would give Odysseus more time to come back just so she would not have to choose one of the suitors.
Not understanding or listening to the opinion of others can frequently have unfortunate consequences and even lead to tragedy. In the play, Antigone, written by Sophocles, the two main characters, Antigone and Creon, both failed to listen which led to the death of several people. It was exhibited how important it is to acknowledge the truth and this was the central theme of the play. The conflict between Antigone and Creon started because they had opposing viewpoints of whether or not Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, should have been buried after he died in battle. Antigone strongly believed that Polyneices should have because it was the law of the gods and they are eternal, while man’s laws are not. However, Creon, on the other hand,
“The strength of a family, like the strength of an army is in its loyalty to each other.” This quote is by Mario puzo, the family. I think the meaning of this quote is “that you can never break up a family. The family is so strong like an army so it will be hard to break them up. This quote can be supported by “Antigone” because Antigone knew both of her brothers died and only one was able to be buried and honored just because he was in the military. Antigone wanted her other brother to be buried to so she did it herself. She did not want her family to be broken up like that. So she was fixing it.
In the play Antigone, both Antigone and Kreon could be considered tragic heros. A tragic hero, defined by A Dictionary of Literary, Dramatic and Cinematic Terms, is someone who suffers due to a tragic flaw, or hamartia. This Greek word is variously translated as "tragic flaw" or "error" or "weakness". Kreon's hamartia, like in many plays, is hybris - Greek for overweening pride, arrogance, or excessive confidence. Kreon's hybris causes him to attempt to violate the laws of order or human rights, another main part of a tragic hero. Also, like all tragic heroes, Kreon suffers because of his hamartia and then realizes his flaw.
Furthermore, Creon is loyal to the state because he follows its laws. When he finds out that his niece, Antigone, is the one who disobeyed his authority and buried Polynices, he follows the law and orders to have her stoned even though she is part of his family and was soon to be married to his son, Haemon. Although it could be argued that Creon did go against his decree and changed his heart later in the play, he was too late because Antigone hangs herself and the consequences of his loyalty to the law had already taken effect.
After her mother committed suicide, her father died and her brothers fought until they killed each other, Antigone projects her strong character with interesting ways of showing it. As the main character with strong values and a stubborn way, she follows the laws of god, without minding the consequences. Antigone is a strong willed woman who wins the respect of the audience by the inner strength and resistance of manipulation she has, showing the potential of human kind. She becomes a heroine with noble qualities of mind, heart and soul because she is willing to sacrifice her life, doing what she believes it is right. With a sense of family ties, she is an ideal for humanity, the issue is that she must burry her brother Polynices with an appropriate ceremony since she believes it is the last right for every human being.
The notion of honor and justice is prevalent throughout all types of literature. In Greek culture, honor is essential for creating a solid foundation within a society and family. Honor will follow you until the day you perish, and beyond. The honor for men in Greece is spiritual in that loved ones show respect to the deceased by giving them a proper burial. Nevertheless, when a man acts upon betrayal of the city, that man looses the privilege to die in such honor. This is evident in the life of Antigone when her two brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, both die at each other’s hands at war when deciding the ruler of Thebes. Polyneices cannot have a proper burial, because the new king, Antigone’s uncle, Creon created a law that decrees that anyone who tries to give Polyneices a proper burial will have a dire consequence: death. In Sophocles’ Antigone, the quest that Antigone endures to stay true to her pure intentions of honoring Polyneices by giving him a proper burial is in juxtaposition with the fact that her defiance towards Creon is not only to do with Polyneices, but also to show appeasement to the gods.
Sophocles' Antigone, in its later phases is no longer about the conflict of law; It is about stubbornness and self will, about the sin of refusing to listen; about a man who has never been told.
Sophocles’ play Oedipus and Antigone have many parallel themes and conflicts. Certain characters and events are mirrored and go through similar sequences in both plays. One conflict that is prevalent in both plays is the idea of loyalty. In Oedipus, many are loyal to Oedipus, including the city of Thebes itself. In Antigone, there is much strife in the relationships as well, and the idea of loyalty arises.
Political power results from the fear of force. The individual acts out of a fear of consequences of disobedience and in accordance with the desdire for self-preservation. Political Authority results from a belief in the moral correctness of the organization in question. The individual acts of a sense of obligation and acknowledges the right of the ruler, morally, to rule and the moral correctness of the laws are accepted. The laws are obeyed for their own sake.
afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of
In the beginning lines of Sophocles’s Antigone, Antigone pulls her sister outside the gates “where no one else can hear” when she declares that she will defy Kreon’s orders to not bury Polyneikes (l. 25). She illustrates an innate knowledge of the power that her words carry and the danger that is inherent in the possibility of her bold statements being overheard or repeated. Similarly, in Shakespeare’s King Lear, Cordelia expresses a similar knowledge when her father, King Lear, asks her to profess her love and she refuses because she loves him “according to [her] bond, no more nor less” (1.1.102). Cordelia responds to Lear with silence because she understands that the spoken word carries power, which can significantly influence the
Being a good citizen often involves doing something out of the ordinary to help others. Sometimes, that involves going against the will of others to do what the good citizen might think is best. Although this is traditionally the case, the biggest factor in being a good citizen is great respect for the nation in which one lives. If one wants to be a good citizen, he or she might go out of his or her way to help others, however, must do so within the rules of the nation. In the Greek Drama by Sophocles, entitled Antigone, the hero, Antigone, shows, what I would call, bad citizenship. How is this? Why is she being a bad citizen?
Antigone offers several justifications for disregarding Creon's law concerning her brother's burial. A few of them are considerably substantial arguments, others are not. For instance, her arguments on Human Morality, and Religious law, are perfectly valid. However, her arguments on Heroism and, since he is her brother and not replaceable, seem, not quite so valid. But, even if we don't consider Antigone's arguments in this matter, is her action right? After all, she completely disregarded and disobeyed Creon's law in this matter, and afterwards, defied him to prove that she was wrong. Usually, disobeying state law has every right in being punished justly. Speaking rudely to any court official, judge or monarch, can earn trouble. For instance, in Antigone's case, it only served to hasten her youthful death. However, the particular law, she disregarded, was
Throughout the course of our lives, there are many people we meet and befriend, and many loyalties and obligations we come to possess. We have religious obligations, governmental obligations, familial obligations, and many more. One of the hardest things to do in life is to prioritize our loyalties and determine who or what is most important to us. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, Ismene’s internal conflict between her loyalty to the government and her loyalty to the gods and her family illustrates the importance of following intuition over the rules of man.