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Essay of Antigone by Sophocles drama
Analysis on antigone based on Sophocles tragedy
Analysis on antigone based on Sophocles tragedy
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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 …show more content…
the burial of a man, and not just any man, her own brother, Pollenysius. In this case, practically anyone would have to agree, that religion and human morality are two of her strongest safeguards. The two strongest of all of her arguments. If she had disobeyed simply to disobey, to prove to herself and others that she had no intention of obeying any monarch whatsoever, we could say that she was perfectly in the wrong. However, it doesn't seem that this is the case, but, in order to prove that she is in the right, you must first prove that her intention is right In order to assert that her intention is right, we will start with her arguments.
Her strongest two arguments are Human Morality, and Religious law (which includes custom's). First, Human Morality. Human, according to the dictionary means 'of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people' . Morality, according to the same dictionary means 'conformity to the rules of right conduct; moral or virtuous conduct.'.In other words she is saying that in burying her brother she is acting in conformity to the rules of right conduct according to people. The Second stronger argument is Religious law. In order for a soul to pass the river Styx, it was obligatory that their body be buried properly. According to the Greeks, a Hero was supposed to be buried properly and paid the rights which were his. Creon, by refusing to allow Pollenycius to be buried, was, in fact disregarding the ancient laws of the Gods. Did Creon's law even have a right to contradict this? So far it looks as though Antigone was perfectly right, as deep as her arguments can attest. However, these were not the only arguments she
offered. Antigone offers several arguments that don't seem to be as valid as the other two. She gives us Honor and the fact that Pollenycius was her brother and was irreplaceable. In her first argument Antigone could have had two different reasons by her argument of Honor. Either she had the honor because she followed the laws of the gods before the laws of man, or she had the honor for disobeying Creon in his unjust humiliations of her family. In the first meaning she would be justified in having this as her argument. In the second, she cannot be justified at all, honor's law is not higher than the state law, and if this were her excuse it would have been preferable if she had allowed the humiliation to continue on. Finally, the last argument I will bring up in this essay says this, Polenycius was her brother and irreplaceable. This argument, of all of her arguments, happens to be the least applicable to her state. Before she was on safe ground with religious law and moral law, even honor, in a way, excused her actions. In possible defense, family may be of greater importance than the state, caring for the family may be higher than the State. But neither of these were her arguments, her argument was that he was her brother, and since her mother was dead, was irreplaceable. She completely crushes the argument for herself by saying that if he had been her husband, she might have obeyed Creon, since she could marry another husband. However, even though this argument is bad, it does not result in all her arguments collapsing, it just gives her only three legs to stand on. Honor, Religion, and Morality. But even these could be crushed, if Creon's intention was just.
During this argument they get on the subject of divine authority and they say "ANTIGONE: That may be, but Hades still desires equal rites for both. CREON: A good man does not wish what we give him to be the same an evil man receives. ANTIGONE: Who knows? In the world below perhaps such actions are no crime." What Antigone is saying is that she believes that to the gods her burying her brother is no crime and that she will follow the gods laws because they are more important and powerful than human
Antigone is the niece of a king and goes against her uncle’s command when he says that Polyneices isn’t allowed to have a soldier’s burial and his body must be left in the desert to rot. Antigone decides to bury him anyway because she values god’s law of burial over her uncle’s rule. Antigone tells her sister “Ismene, I am going to bury him. Will you come?... He is my brother. And he is your brother, too… Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way” (Sophocles 694). Antigone values her brother over her uncle & she believes in god’s law over Creon’s decision. King values equality and common law. He dictates “It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the
At the start of Antigone, the new king Creon has declared the law that while Antigone’s brother Eteocles will be buried with honor for his defense of Thebes, however the other brother, Polynices will be left to rot in the field of battle for helping lead the siege of the city. Antigone discusses with her sister Ismene that she shall go and pay respects to her now dead brother, and give him the burial that she feels that he deserves. Her sister tries to persuade her otherwise, but Antigone claims she is going to follow her determined fate, not the law of ...
Antigone had good reasons for her actions. She did obey the rules of her gods, which were that any dead body must be given a proper burial, with libatations. This would prevent the soul from being lost between worlds forever, along with wine as an offering to the gods (page 518- side note). Nor could Antigone let Creon's edicts go against her morals (lines 392-394). She chooses to share her love, not her hate (line 443). She couldn't bare to see one family member be chosen over the other because of what a king had decided was right, which she contravened. Why condemn somebody who stood up for what they believed in and is now dead for it anyway? Bringing homage to the family was very important to Antigone (line 422-423).
The crux of the play, the causal factor to all the following events is how the new King Creon deals with the dead traitor Polynices, brother of Antigone. The decree not to bury the corpse must be considered from the viewpoint of a 5th Century Athenian, watching this play. The Antigone was written during a time of great strife for the city of Athens and they were in the middle of their conflict with the Spartans. At a time such as this , concern for the city was foremost in a citizen's mind. Creon's decree not to bury him at this stage then is right. Essentially not burying a body, any body, is an offence to the gods, and the persons spirit will not be able to go down to the underworld and cross the River Styx and Archeron. However, the Greeks believed that for some the sentence was deserved. The sentence of non-burial is appropriate in this case, as the Greeks believed that "those convicted of sa...
Creon’s ruling and application of his law in regards to Antigone should remain, because going back on his word would lead to anarchy, Antigone needs to be taught to obey law to preserve order, and the Creon is not disrespecting the gods as he is allowing them the final decision. To begin with, if Creon were to go back on his ruling and “bend” as his son, Haimon, recommends, then he would be endorsing the principle that laws have exceptions. Antigone went strictly against his predetermined wishes that no one was to bury Polynices; by absolving her, he would be saying that his laws are not final. Creon declares, “This [anarchy] is why cities tumble and great houses rain down… We keep laws then” (Sophocles
From the Greek point of view, both Creon's and Antigone's positions are flawed, because both oversimplify ethical life by recognizing only one kind of good or duty. By oversimplifying, each ignores the fact that a conflict exists at all, or that deliberation is necessary. Moreover, both Creon and Antigone display the dangerous flaw of pride in the way they justify and carry out their decisions. Antigone admits right from the beginning that she wants to carry out the burial because the action is glorious. Antigone has a savage spirit; she has spent most of her life burying her family members.
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.
Envision a sibling of yours imprisoned for a blasphemous reason. There are only two paths left for your sibling, life in prison or demise. Would you labor tirelessly for their freedom in the sacrifice of yours or forsake them for your own liberties? Well, that depends on your morality. Morality has been around for many centuries, but only recently have two theorists, Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan, been able to define morality. Kohlberg’s scale has six stages that primarily focuses on justice and fairness, while Gilligan’s scale of three stages is based upon care and social relationships. My moral judgment is an embodiment of both of these scales and more as I consider morality to not be confined to subjective scales, but boundless. Remember the question imposed above? Well, in the play “Antigone” by Sophocles, Ismene is living exactly through that. Even more, she challenges the limits of her morality to question her ability to save Antigone from Creon’s clutches. Ismene displays the most change in a character’s morality according to Kohlberg, Gilligan, and my personal scale, while attempting to extricate Antigone, which results in Creon becoming the tragic hero.
Having already been through public disgrace, when her own father, Oedipus found out that he was to fulfill a prophecy; he would kill his father and marry his mother, and this caused Antigone to be full of resentment toward her city. Both of her brothers die in a battle and, Creon, the king of Thebes forbids the burial of one of her brothers, Polynices. This must have driven Antigone to follow her moral law. Considering the love she had for her family as well as her God, she felt that you react upon morals not upon the laws of man. That morale law was to honor her brother and give him the respectful and proper burial that he deserved just as her other brother was given. The love she had for her family was the only thing she had left to honor. Ismene, Antigone’s sister was more fearful of the king’s law then the way her heart was leading her. Her values were slightly distorted.
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.
Antigone welcomed death at the time of burying her brother; she was not concerned with the consequences. She saw her actions as being true to the gods and religion. “I myself will bury him. It will be good to die, so doing. I shall lie by his side, loving him as he loved me; I shall be a criminal but – a religious one.” (Antigone, lines 81-85) To Antigone, the honor of her brother, and her family was all that was important. She may be going against Creon, but if her actions were true in her heart then the gods would see her in a good light.
Antigone was not about to simply obey Creon’s absurd decree. She felt that her personal responsibility was to the gods and her family rather than the king. She then asked Ismene, her sister, to assist her with the burial, but was denied any help. Ismene justified her decision by telling Antigone that they were already punished and that there was no need to make matters worse for the two of them by defying Creon’s law.
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?
In Antigone, her brother Polynices, turned against his own city by attacking his own brother just so he could become king. On this day, both brothers died. One, Eteocles, was given funeral honors, but the other, Polynices, was not. This decision was made by Creon, Antigone’s uncle and the current King of Thebes. Creon said “He is to have no grave, no burial, no mourning from anyone; it is forbidden.'; (Pg. 432; l. 165) He also announced that anyone who should attempt to bury him would be put to death. After hearing this decision, Antigone said that Creon couldn’t do that and that the Gods would want Polynices to have a proper burial, therefore Antigone promised to her sister Ismene that she would be the one to defy Creon and bury her brother; and she didn’t care if the whole city knew of her plans. After being caught in the act, she was taken to the palace and when asked by Creon why she did it. Knowing the punishment that would come from it, she replied by saying that she didn’t think Creon had the power to overrule the u...