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Imagine someone in your family just dieda member you are very close to. This relative of yours is hated by your entire family because they thought this person displayed selfish and duplicitous behavior. Instead of sympathizing for their relative’s loss, they express feeling of antipathy, wishing the worst for this person in the afterlife and expecting you to do the same. You want to honor your loved one’s memory by throwing a memorial service, but your family forbids it and threatens to cut all ties with you if you choose to do so. Given this difficult situation, what do you feel is the right thing to do? Sophocles attempts to approach these issues of right and wrong and human morality through the characters in his play Antigone. Since there are many different takes on moral obligations and they alter between different principles of religion, civic duty, family commitment and commitment to loved ones, we learn there is no right or wrong behavior, just what we believe in our own minds to be justifiable or what is favored by society at the time.
So what exactly is morality and why does it pose such a complicated question? In the book Western Philosophy by David Papineau, it discusses the many different approaches to moral beliefs. Illustrious philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle’s take on morality are one’s personal behavior and set of inner values. Morals can also derive from a social standpoint, where the popular belief rules over all others; if most believe it to be true, then it must present itself as being true. But as stated in the book, even these interpretations can be “very narrow view[s]” (134). Morality also stems from a religious standpoint. Religion has perhaps had the biggest impact on people’s lives and the way ...
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...erent moral understandings. This often happens when a person holds strong to what they cherish, whether it be family, religion, laws, or loved ones. There is reasoning behind everything we do. Maybe our actions do not appear righteous to others, but in our own minds, we are heroes. Who cares if everyone else fails to see it?
Works Cited
Antigone. Dir. Yorgos Javellas. Prod. Demetrios Paris. By Yorgos Javellas. Perf. Irene Papas and Manos Katrakis. Kino Video, 1961. DVD.
Kruger, Chaddie. "Winning Mount Olympus." Calliope 23.3 (2012): 2. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
Papineau, David. Western Philosophy: An Illustrated Guide. London: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.
Walker, Kathryn. "Between individual principles and communal obligation: ethical duty in Sophocles's Antigone." Mosaic [Winnipeg] 41.3 (2008): 199+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
Brad Moore, a famous athlete once said, “Pride would be a lot easier to swallow if it didn’t taste so bad.” In Sophocles’ well known Greek tragedy, Antigone, the main character undergoes immense character development. Antigone transforms from being stubborn and underestimated to courageous and open-minded. In reality, it is Antigone’s insular persistence that leads to her ultimate decline in the play as well as others around her. After the death of her two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, Creon becomes the new ruler of Thebes. With this, he grants Eteocles an honorable funeral service for his brave fighting. Claiming that Polynices was a traitor, he shows complete refusal to grant Polynices a respectable and worthy service. Clearly disagreeing with Creon’s inexcusable demands, Antigone declares she will bury Polynices herself so that his soul can be at peace. Entirely aware of the consequences and dangers of this action, which include death, she goes forward vowing her love for her family. Antigone shows strength and determination towards her brother. However, her growing sense of pride leads to her downfall as she sacrifices everything for her family. Antigone develops into an admirable character in which she portrays her defiance and courage, pride and open mindedness, and sense of moral righteousness to show vital character growth as the play progresses.
Antigone, The Brave Antigone, a story written by Sophocles, is about a young woman, Antigone, choosing whether she will not bury her brother, Polyneices, to not break the law or disobey Creon’s law and bury him; however choosing to bury her brother does not derail her moral development. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development is three levels consisting of two stages in each. Kohlberg’s Theory explains how a human’s mind morally develops.
Sophocles play titled Antigone, embellishes the opposing conflicts between Antigone who stands for the values of family, and Creon who stands for the values of state. Sophocles explores the depths of Antigone’s morality and the duty based on consequence throughout the play, as well as the practical consequences of Creon who is passionate and close-minded. Although Antigone’s moral decisions appear to be more logical and favorable than Creon’s, a personal argument would be that both characters’ decisions in society can be equally justified.
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...
In the struggle between Creon and Antigone, Sophocles' audience would have recognized a genuine conflict of duties and values. 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.
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
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.
Sophocles provides a setting in his play, Antigone, where the honor code of rules and principles that govern the Greek community, are based upon Creon’s patriarchy of immoral natural law. Where the worst death is a ‘clouded’ (97) one whose foggy setting brings dishonor upon the individual, and his family. Polynecies is an example; Sophocles uses to highlight the significance of a burial, in the Greek society. Polynecies is a victim of Creon's code of honor, which through grotesque diction, Sophocles describes his body as being immorally exposed the “vultures” left “unwept and unburied’ (29) after miserably fighting turning against his brother in a battle for Thebes, in which he turned against him. Causing him to ’[die] outside the law’ (59) bringing great dishonor to the corpse as it is with a lack of respect, left unburied due to tyranny, but also damns it for all time and dishonors his family.
Sophocles. "Antigone." Pike, Ana M. Acosta and David L. Antigone. Ed. Joseph Terry. Trans. Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. 2nd Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc, 2014. 474-488.
Segal, Charles. Introduction. Antigone. By Sophocles. Trans. Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.
“Do what you believe is right.” This is a phrase common to us all, brought to our attention by parents, reinforced by teachers, and preached by leaders. But how does one define what is right? Is it what we believe in our hearts, or is it what we know is acceptable? This is a predominant dilemma that can be traced throughout society, and is the main focal point of Sophocles’ play Antigone. Written in 441 B.C., Antigone is one of the earliest records of the conflict between Natural law and Positive law. Sophocles deftly exposes these two philosophical standpoints and their respective moral and political aspects by way of the two main characters, Antgone and Kreon. Antigone is a champion of Natural law, while Kreon practices the Positivist approach. Both characters deem their behavior superior towards the other, and both assume religious justification for their actions. Sophocles ultimately proves that with so much support for each philosophical standpoint, a solution to the dilemma is hardly in sight.
In the play Antigone written by the playwright Sophocles, Sophocles has different views of how the authority of the state over an individual should be. Sophocles attitudes of these views are shown in the Antigone, states have authority over their subjects and the subjects should obey them no matter what, regardless if what the ruler orders is right or wrong and that individuals should follow god’s law over the ruler or state’s law.
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.
Antigone, is a play written in 441 B.C. Set in the town of Thebes, two opposing sides fight for what they believe is right. The play illustrates a battle between brothers that results in death. The brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles kill each other, with their own bare hands while battling over who will be the next King of Thebes. This leads to the main conflict of the play which centers around the distinction between law and moral justice. In this prominent interpretation of Greek tragedy, the reigning King of Thebes, King Creon makes it known that Polyneices is a traitor and will be not be buried, he will be left in the field for the vultures. Whereas the brother Eteocles will receive a proper burial. Their sister Antigone is not okay with