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Examples Of Authority In Antigone

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What makes authority legitimate or illegitimate?

When putting your life and trust into someone else or a government and submitting to their authority, you better make sure they are legitimate. I believe that authority is legitimate when it is knowledgeable, has the ability to coerce people in unity, and to be morally just when doing so. The Secret Sharer, Antigone, and Gattica all have examples of a legitimate or illegitimate authority. The first aspect of a legitimate authority figure is that they are knowledgeable. Without being knowledgeable, authority could not be legitimate, for it could not know how to lead. We as society look to our authority figures to tell us what to believe and what to do, for example a marine biologist is an authority on what to believe about fish and an engineer is an authority on how to build a bridge. This concept is seen in The Secret Sharer, as the captain is very knowledgeable about directing the ship through waters. Even when the crew questions his leadership and abilities as they sail through an increasingly difficult area, he is confident and knows what to do and pushes on. After …show more content…

If the laws they create and impose are all morally just then there is no problem with citizens following the laws when there aren’t any morally ambiguous laws. Look at the story of Antigone for this concept, in Antigone the king enforces a law that morally does not seem right. Because of this, Antigone refuses to follow the law, and the king even goes through many measures to not punish her. A society with any citizens not following the laws, and the authority not punishing them for that crime means that they are not a legitimate authority. It is not enough for an authority just to be able to get people to blindly follow the laws, but those laws must be morally right and the people in understanding of

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519 Words | 3 Pages

In the Greek tragedy Antigone, Creon is the best example of “unshakable will power” through his efforts to punish Antigone for her attempt to defy the state law. In the story, Creon punishes Antigone for burying her brother Polyneices, whom Creon specifically made a law about, stating that no one shall propose a proper burial for him. Instead of thinking about the situation logically, Creon’s arrogance and ignorance takes over, causing him to be the one at fault by the end of the tragedy. Creon exhibits unshakable will power throughout the story through his abuse of power as a leader and through his determination to kill Antigone. One way that Creon displays unshakable will power is through is arrogance and ignorance as a leader.

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244 Words | 1 Pages

In the past prideful rulers have caused more destruction and downfall than anything. Having pride may be good, but having to much can be the downfall of man. In the play Antigone, King Creon being overyly prideful ultimately leads to the death of himself emotionally. Creon shows a couple of occasions when he has way to much pride; when Antigone and he sister are condemned to death for trying to give burial rights to their brother, but Creon has them arrested and does not care even though he is related to them.

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944 Words | 4 Pages

The establishment of law and order far and wide across the United States, was for one main reason: to maintain the peace and order of this country. Laws are designed to keep us safe not only from each other but from the government as well. It is very important that the laws be followed by each and every individual in society, in order to insure maximum efficiency and security, this however is nearly impossible, due to the variable of human behavior. Laws are designed in the manner to protect from human action or otherwise known (or speculated) natural results. It is a simple way of avoiding cause in order to not deal with the effect of an action.

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992 Words | 4 Pages

Society and government require people to be obedient towards authority, but is it always the best thing to do? During the aftermath of World War II many of the major leaders of the Nazi regime were put on trial for crimes against humanity (History.com). These trials were known as the Nuremburg war trials, were most of the convicted proclaimed that they were “just following orders” (McLeod 584). Being an accomplice to a crime is also against the law. In the Nuremburg trials, those accused were not breaking the law that their government had created, they were actually following it.

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1454 Words | 6 Pages

Is it better to follow laws that are unjust but right, or do the thing that is fair but are against the law? Socrates in Plato’s “The Crito” and Martin Luther King, Jr. in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” answer this question from conflicting perspectives. According to Plato (427-423 BCE), Socrates believed that it is his duty to obey the law of his city, Athens, on all occasions, whereas King (1963) made the argument first put forth by St. Thomas Aquinas that “an unjust law is no law at all” (p. 69). One of these reasons for the differing opinions on this subject is due to the times and places in which these two men existed and came to their views on Civil disobedience.

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946 Words | 4 Pages

In today’s age, there are many laws in America that aren’t right. They demean another person’s rights, while some put people’s life in danger. It’s unsure why certain ones were created, but once the public realizes they aren’t necessarily helpful, they attempt to get rid of them. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” a letter written to clergymen by Martin Luther King Jr. he addresses the laws in which he and many other people are oppressed. He makes many points and examples as of how the laws are unfair.

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681 Words | 3 Pages

America’s tumultuous history resulted in an unprecedented and vast compilation of controversy. Such disputes, now generally resolved, prove to be valuable topics in the chronicles of literature. Accordingly, author Mark Twain, makes various attempts at satire in his novels, with the purpose to advocate his perspective of the aggressive, unrelenting discourse during pre-Civil War America. In his novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain exemplifies the critical use of satire to expose the contradictions of human nature and society, and proves his novel to be an indispensable article of history.

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694 Words | 3 Pages

In other words, society resides in justice to distribute good; justice is always seen as virtuous no matter how fairness is dispersed or obtained, society will always believe it is just. Whether certain laws may seem unreasonable or questionable, law abiding citizens would still follow the regulations because it is the appropriate thing to do. To society, justice is a significant social structure where people are given equal rights and liberty as a construct of fairness. In some manner, justice has a way of keeping order and limit people from carrying out unacceptable behavior that could negatively impact citizens and their safety. However, justice is not always just, as mentioned before; some forms of justices/regulations are extreme and

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482 Words | 2 Pages

If one breaks the laws, there are consequences that they face. If there were no laws, then freedom would exist. The general public does not have the right to define freedom because the ruling class owns and defines what freedom is. Freedom is neither tangible nor obtainable because according to B. F. Skinner he stated that “People identify the state of absolute freedom as one in which aversive control is absent: that is, if there is no apparent oppression, then people imagine themselves free”. I agree with Skinner because the general public is nothing more than “Happy Slaves”, we are molded by hidden controls (laws) and don’t even realize it.

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1224 Words | 5 Pages

The search for justice is never ending. Justice may be delayed, denied, or postponed, however, the search is timeless. To be just is to argue for fair rights for all. It is to be someone that will help the people of the community. However, many times justice is not sought and not given to those who need it most.

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984 Words | 4 Pages

Power is present in all role of the story and the character who symbolises it is Créon. But power of goods are omnipresent as well, represented by Antigone, and there is a confrontation between both of them. Following examples of passages of the book are presented to evince the presence of the authority and power in the play. Starting from the beginning, even if is not represented in the play, the first power conflict was between two brothers. Polynice betrayed his brother Eteocle when he did not want to cede the throne of Tebas, they died fighting each other and Creón became king of Tebas.

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495 Words | 2 Pages

The Torah’s moral responsibility is reflected in today’s world. In our modern American society, the same inferences that historians deduced can be determined with documents such as the U.S Constitution. For example the Bill of Rights, displays a drastically improved tolerance for people of diverse ethnicities, genders, religions, etc. This assists in explaining how our community is much more in accordance to morals as well as considering of the well-being of every citizen. In closing, laws are an important key to recognizing a society’s ways as displayed with Hammurabi’s code and the Hebrew

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621 Words | 3 Pages

An unjust law would be considered the opposite, and go against any morals while also giving people in power the ability not to obey the law. “An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself” (King, 1963, p.

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1078 Words | 5 Pages

Genograms are a great way to organize different subtypes of your family. You can organize a genogram with generations, authority, power, and age. When I organized my family in these groups I realized that age sometimes does not correlate to how much power the family member may have. I thought I knew everything about my family members and their roles but, after doing this assignment it made me make better conclusions why some people have more say than other do in the family. Genograms also helps make connections why you are not as close to some family members but closer to others.

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1333 Words | 6 Pages

However, if anyone does not follow these laws, he or she falls behind with the rest of the population. This case can lead to a social sanction, but it does not mean that someone has authority over

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