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Ethics In Antigone

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Introduction Antigone is one of the three famous plays written by the great ancient Greek tragedians, Sophocles. The play starts at the end of a gory battle between Eteocles and Polynecies, Antigone’s brothers. The king of Thebes, Kreon comes to the conclusion to bury Eteocles with honour for fighting for Thebes, however he believes that Polynecies fought against Thebes and therefore he should be left unburied. During this time, the Greeks believed that a body left unburied was a forum of punishment. Furthermore, this type of punishment could occur in the afterlife without a legitimate burial. Kreon establishes a strict law that forbids anyone to bury Polynices because of his “quote” to Thebes. Moreover, Antigone believes the law is unjust …show more content…

In addition, the reader learns Antigone’s views on Thebes’s laws versus the laws of justice. Antigone is a courageous hero in the play who as an obligation to the gods over her responsibility to the state. Furthermore, Antigone is willing to suffer extensive consequences in order to do what is morally right, whether it is going against Kreon’s wishes. In this paper, I will determine how Antigone and Kreon are both destroyed by the power of law and how Antigone attempts to get around the Kreon’s rigid laws. To establish this, first I will examine Antigone’s view on the laws Kreon’s laws and the divine laws throughout the play. In addition, I will explore how she suffered severe consequences to do what was right. Secondly, I will analyze Kreon’s view on the law and how he was a bad leader in a bad situation. Finally, I will compare and contrast Kreon’s and Antigone’s conception of the law and defend Antigone. Antigone and the Law The major theme in the play, Antigone, is the two contrasts between divine and human law. In the beginning of the play, Antigone’s two brothers, Polynecies and Eteocles kill each other in a battle to become the king of

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