In the story of Antigone, Eteocles and Polyneices are both fighting to be the king of Thebes. They both die in the fight but Eteocles is buried while Polyneices is left to the vultures. Antigone is both Polyneices and Eteocles’ sister, With both brothers dead the throne was given to their uncle Creon, who believes Polyneices is a traitor and should not have a burial. Antigone strongly disagrees with Creon, thus sneaking out and giving him a proper burial. This action was considered punishable by death.
Are there any circumstances in which you should ignore the law? In Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone ignored the law to do what’s right. Yes when there’s a situation in which people feel as if it’s the right thing to do or if it’s what they believe in. They gotta ignore the law and do it.
After her brother’s death, Antigone wanted to bury his body since no matter what her brother had done, he was still her brother. However, if she did bury him, it would be breaking the law King Creon had set up. Ismene kept telling and trying to persuade Antigone not to bury him but Antigone calmly tells her, “I will bury the brother I love. (Prologue, 69)” Even though Ismene told Antigone about the consequences of her planned action, Antigone was completely fine with
One could argue that Antigone did not act for the benefit of her society. She ignored Kreon’s proclamation that prohibited anybody from burying Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, challenging his authority, and was more focused on doing what she believed was right, burying her brother and giving him the proper burial rites, and relinquishing herself of any possible guilt for not doing so. However, one can further argue that, even though Antigone’s primary intention was to revere her brother, she did act for the benefit of her society, as she indirectly fought to preserve her society’s value of honoring the dead. Antigone does realize that she has the people’s support for her actions, as she says, “my action pleases all of them, if fear did not lock up their tongues” (Sophocles 40). The latter part of Antigone’s statement suggests that people do not reveal their disapproval of Kreon’s proclamation, due to his authority and power.
In Antigone, Antigone stands up against a law that defied her beliefs pertaining to the treatment of her brother’s dead body. Although the king, Creon publicly announced, “Polyneices, I say is to have no burial,”(Sophocles 169-170) the statement infuriated her. Her immediate reaction demonstrates how strongly she believes in her religion. She immediately defies the law the way she sees fit and buries Polyneices so he can have the opportunity to face rightful judgment. Similarly, In “The Speech to The Second Virginia Convention”, Patrick Henry speaks up and illustrates his ideas and beliefs.
Due to the fact that she is burying the body of Polyneices, it shows she values the ideas of respect for family and after life. Antigone feels it is morally unethical to leave a body for “bird feed” and feels the need to give her brother a proper burial. This is exemplified when she states to Ismene, “And now you can prove what you are: A true sister or a traitor to your family” (Sophocles 190). This proves Antigone’s right to be pardoned because she is showing her loyalty to her family and respect for the life after death. Also, Antigone deserves the right to be pardoned for burying Polyneices because it shows that she possesses a selfless personality.
Antigone a relative of Creon wants to go and bury her brother, she wants to do what she believes is the right thing. “Is to have no burial:
To continue, Antigone is faced with a lot of pressure and disapproval from other people after she went against the law to bury her brother. When Creon questioned Antigone asking, “So you chose flagrantly to disobey my law?” Antigone responded explaining how she knew about the law but felt it was wrong to not bury her brother. She then stated, “For this, I have no twinges of regret,” (Sophocles 210). Through Antigone’s confident thought through response to the king, readers can infer that unlike Creon, Antigone is proud of what she did.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone are very different people and they have quite similar aspirations. Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. had ambitions of fighting injustice, and they tried to achieve them by standing up for what they believe in. Antigone uses more of her religious views to help her case, while Martin Luther King Jr. uses more logic and allusions to help his case. Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. speeches use great words to help justify their beliefs; however, because of their different time periods, they use different types of references to help them obtain their goals.
”(Sophocles Pg 4) Antigone is going to bury her brother but Ismene thinks it’s a bad idea and tells her to keep it on the low but Antigone thinks she is going to please the ones who agree with her.
When Antigone attempts to bury her brother, according to Creon’s laws, she had committed treason. He states, “Let’s lost a man at least! Is a woman stronger than we?” (Sophocles 792). His egotistical refusal to relent and mercifully let Antigone grieve her brother, was his initial mistake (Bloom).
Sophocles’ Antigone committed civil disobedience by burying her brother, Polynices, against King Kreon’s order. Antigone’s defiance was solely based on her religious views. Furthermore, Antigone knew that her disobedience would lead to the
Antigone thought it was unjust to let her brother go without a proper burial. She took the power of freedom and her free will and made the situation “just” in her eyes.
Arguably she made a heroic decision, but deciding what her intent was behind those decisions is questionable. Undoubtedly one of Antigone’s motivations was to be certain that both of her brothers were resting
Antigone refuses to betray her brother and thus breaks the law by burying Polyneikes. In doing so, she steps past what was considered normal
