Piety In Antigone

Crystal Green
Dram 105
Dr. Rodda
October 7, 2010
Sophocles’ Antigone
Sophocles’ Antigone brings to life the underlying culture flaws in the Greek city-states by showing how the idea of filial piety and divine law undermine each other and were used as a means to justify the ends. Athenian citizens enjoyed a wide range of powers of self-governance: citizens elected military leaders and held judicial authority. Every male citizen enjoyed these rights. Women were not considered citizens; they were the wards of their closest living male relative. In Antigone, Sophocles clearly defines Antigone as the exact opposite of what any Athenian woman was expected to behave; obedient to man and state. Sophocles fashioned King Creon with an undoubtedly
Even the chorus was telling Creon to listen to his son. Creon refused to listen to anyone. He proclaimed his law is just because he is a man although his rule is supposed to be Divinity. He continuously ridiculed his son for being swayed by a woman.”You’re a woman’s toy!” Creon completely ignored his filial obligations to his son, and daughter-in-law, and remained solidified in his rule to have Antigone put to death for disobeying his non-divine law. The Greeks believed under Divine Law the deceased should be buried in a certain manner and returned to the Gods. Creon’s edict clearly is in conflict with this ideal as he strictly forbids the burial of Polyneices. The king was someone who ruled through the Gods, not an actual God himself. His only defense was he was a man, a ruler who is more intelligent than he? Antigone has Creon’s son, and the Gods, speaking to Creon about his unjust judgment, but still Creon insist his judgment was
The conflicts underlying Antigone is the conflict between human law which makes sense at the moment, and divine law, which is true for all time. Antigone acted upon the moment, a moment when her actions were just. Her defiance of the state sets in motion a series of events that test the bonds of filial piety and what it means to live under divine law. Haemon loved Antigone and wanted to marry her. When his father condemned her to death and would not see the error, he committed suicide. Upon learning about her son’s death, Creon’s wife commits suicide. Creon was not loyal to his family and disobeyed divine law. Creon betrayed every facet of the foundation of Greek beliefs. The only facet he held loyal to was under-valuing the power of a woman. His inability to get past Antigone being a woman long enough to hear out his son, or the Gods, ultimately led to the state losing everything. Women were an undervalued part of the Greek city-states. If there was an issue with divine law that intruded upon the foundations of natural law or a citizen’s obligation to family, it was not heard of. A government is ruled by man is the ultimate point in Antigone. Creon’s betrayal to both God and family leads to the fall of his hierarchy. Sophocles successfully intertwined the Greek beliefs of divine law, divine purpose and filial piety and showed how “It’s deadly for bad judgment to embrace a