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The importance of justice in antigone
The importance of justice in antigone
The importance of justice in antigone
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"There is nothing shameful in burying my brother (Plato,72). Antigone's morals are still unable to see her tragic flaw. With Antigone’s death it is viewed by her insolence toward Creon, but by her failure to reason with her emotional values. Antigone impels Creon by defying his order which causes the fate of her life. Instead of obeying to Creon’s verdict this overcomes her
In Antigone, Creon is the king and wants to keep Thebes in control since it is a mess and has a law where one does not bury an enemy “Aren’t you ashamed to differ from them? So disloyal!” Antigone thought that was wrong because everyone deserves to rest in peace “Wasn’t Eteocles a brother too cut down. Facing
Around 441 BCE, the ancient writer Sophocles wrote the tragedy Antigone, a play about loyalty, betrayal, and pride. Throughout the scenes of the play, calamitous occurrences take part, mainly involving the two main characters: Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, and Creon, King of Thebes and uncle of Antigone. Antigone, an independent, uncompromising young woman, simply wants to bury her deceased brother who was recently killed in battle. However, Creon, seeing Antigone’s brother as nothing but a traitor to his country, enforces a law which makes it illegal to give a burial to the remains. Not only does Creon’s unyielding decision cause conflict between himself and Antigone, it will also prove to be a fatal decision.
Family is like an army; in an army there needs to be loyalty like how in a family there needs to be loyalty. A person should be more loyal to their family than to their state due to family being there for them, and they themselves should always be there for their family as well. Antigone is loyal to her family the entire time, unlike her sister Ismene, but in the end Ismene fixes her wrongs, and they are both there for one another other even when it comes to death. No one backs out and chooses the state; they choose each other, which is what family does. Antigone went to her sister Ismene for help to bury Polyneices body.
In the scene in which Creon will not allow her brother to be buried. This goes against her personal beliefs she confronts Creon when she says “if I had allowed my own mothers son to rot, an unburied corpse that would have been an agony.” Creon wouldn’t allow Antigone brother to be buried even tho Antigone felt it was the right thing to do. Antigone is talking to Ismene about burying her brother but Ismene tells her to keep the idea a secret but Antigone disagrees and says “But I know I’ll please the ones I’m duty bound to please.
Creon ignores the advice of his fellow political officials when issuing a royal edict regarding Eteocles’s burial. Eteocles, Antigone’s brother, is entitled by the gods to be granted a proper burial, however Creon’s pride drives him to outlaw the burial, thinking Eteocles is a traitor simply because he owns a legitimate claim to the throne of Thebes. Like Agamemnon, Creon constantly makes decisions and conducts himself while influenced by his own hubris. This ultimately leads to the detriment of Antigone’s relatioinship with the king. Antigone defies Creon’s newly issued burial edict and does what she thinks is right: granting her brother Eteocles an honorable burial.
“…even if she were closer than my sister’s child, closer than any who shares my family’s chapel, she and her sister will not escape the worst fate” by saying that, he believes she will stop with the arguments and simply follow his laws however, it’s quite the opposite what happens next. She mocks him even more by questioning, “Do you want something more than killing me?” Later on into the scene, they start discussing the death of Polynices and Eteocles, while Creon believes that Polynices shouldn’t deserve to be buried and that the gods wouldn’t like him because he is bad person. “The good don’t want to share honors with the bad” However, in the other hand Antigone replies by saying that both of them should be buried, this causes Creon to enrage and exclaim “No woman will rule
The two are bound to two opposing sides of the law with family stances being most prominent reason for their divide. Through the characters of Antigone and Creon, Sophocles and Anouilh prove that duty is bound to family loyalty, regardless of how polarizing the reactions may be. This is shown through Antigone and Creon’s actions and decisions, determination and persistence,
Antigone, My heart turns into a calmly erupting volcano at your thoughtfulness, my dear sister. Your audacious determination to live by “the laws of the gods”(Antigone, line 65) is the of the utmost admirable. I understand you perceive the burial of my very soulless body against the words of our own blood, Creon, and city to be a “crime that is holy”(58) in both the eyes of the gods and your own. I can not express the very fondness I feel for you as I helplessly watch over you in the underworld of Hades.
Thought the play “Antigone” written by Sophocles, the two main characters seem to display conflicting family values. The character Antigone strongly feels that the Gods should be respected always especially in the matter of family. When Creon orders that no one shall bury Antigone’s brother, Polonieces because he had disrespected the people of Thebes she was outraged. She failed to comprehend how could this man, who enforced the laws be so cruel to someone who has died. Antigone’s belief in “the sacred laws that heaven holds in honor” (Antigone 78), lead her to disgrace the law and gave her brother a proper burial.
The Importance of Family in Antigone Following one’s heart does not always mean following the law. Civil disobedience is justifiable when dealing with family. Devotion to family is significant, especially in Greek culture. The play Antigone by Sophocles, stresses the importance of family and how the disturbance of traditions may lead to conflict.
In the play Antigone, Sophocles demonstrates the conflict between family and God through the characters of Antigone, Ismene and Creon. Antigone being ambitious and strong willed throughout the play, fights for his brothers honor and proper burial while Ismene on the other hand, is more timid fears the consequences that may occur if the laws are broken. For Creon he is the King and holds most power, until the Gods feel he is incapable. Antigone, Ismene and Creon all use logical and emotional appeals to achieve a compromise to either bury Polynices or not.
Antigone sees this pride as damaged, and believes that he does not use logic in his reasoning. The logical way to handle the situation, from Antigone’s point of view, would be to bury Polyneices because doing so would please the gods. Antigone is not afraid of Creon because she recognizes that Creon’s order is coming from his disillusionment of the power he holds. This magnifies Antigone’s determination to resist Creon’s decree. On the other hand, Antigone knows that the gods are not prideful.
The drama Antigone places the culture of Greece on display by showcasing the many values that this culture held in reverence, including remaining loyal to family, honoring the dead, and honoring the gods. In Sophocles’ renowned drama entitled Antigone, one of the main values that Antigone chooses to honor is loyalty to family, even when that means that she has to forgo loyalty to her city and community. Even though her uncle the king, Kreon, forbade anyone to bury Polyneikes’ body because he had been on the opposing side in the battle, Antigone felt a duty to her brother to bury him. When speaking with her sister, Antigone says that Kreon’s command “…threatens our loved ones / as if they were our enemies” (Antigone 14-15).
Antigone: Hero or Criminal? Two brothers fighting for their beliefs on opposite sides of a War, die in combat leaving their two sisters behind. One is allowed to be buried and the other is not based on his beliefs. The two sisters mourn for the death of their brothers praying for justice that never arrives. The justice they desire is Equity.
