Antigone - Paper 27
Antigone
It takes a lot of courage to stand up and defend an action or idea that is forbidden by society. This is what Antigone does in Sophocles' story Antigone. She clearly disobeys King Creon's order that no person should bury Antigone's brother, Polynices, which is punishable by penalty of death. In this case, though, is Antigone's decision the correct one? Her actions affect many of her other countrymen negatively; they cause problems within the royal family, disagreement among the people and directly relate to the death of three people including her own.
By burying her brother Antigone knowingly and willingly went against royal orders and in doing so chooses her own death. She knows as well as anyone in the town that death would come to all that disobeyed Creon's order. Antigone says to this "no one will ever convict me for a traitor (page 61)," and decides to bury the body, this is quite ironic because by burying her brother a traitor is exactly what she is convicted of being. Antigone's activities were traitorous against her homeland, Thebes in that she acted for herself instead of for the good of the country. Creon had declared that "Our country is our safety. Only while she voyages true on course can we establish friendships truer than blood itself. Such are my standards. They make our city great (page 68)." He says this meaning that if everyone acted as a whole they would always prosper. If someone were to go against go against the laws and ideals put forth by Creon it would only cause dissension. When Antigone did go against the law this exactly what happened. Chaos would not have ensued if she trusted her king to be right in his decision, just as all the townspeople and her sister Ismene did.
Creon also had stated that one should not place a friend, in this case a brother, in front of one's country. One could say that Antigone is selfish in her pursuits of doing so, for although Polynices was Antigone's brother, he was planning to loot
It takes a lot of courage to stand up and defend an action or idea that is forbidden by society. This is what Antigone does in Sophocles' story Antigone. She clearly disobeys King Creon's order that no person should bury Antigone's brother, Polynices, which is punishable by penalty of death. In this case, though, is Antigone's decision the correct one? Her actions affect many of her other countrymen negatively; they cause problems within the royal family, disagreement among the people and directly relate to the death of three people including her own.
By burying her brother Antigone knowingly and willingly went against royal orders and in doing so chooses her own death. She knows as well as anyone in the town that death would come to all that disobeyed Creon's order. Antigone says to this "no one will ever convict me for a traitor (page 61)," and decides to bury the body, this is quite ironic because by burying her brother a traitor is exactly what she is convicted of being. Antigone's activities were traitorous against her homeland, Thebes in that she acted for herself instead of for the good of the country. Creon had declared that "Our country is our safety. Only while she voyages true on course can we establish friendships truer than blood itself. Such are my standards. They make our city great (page 68)." He says this meaning that if everyone acted as a whole they would always prosper. If someone were to go against go against the laws and ideals put forth by Creon it would only cause dissension. When Antigone did go against the law this exactly what happened. Chaos would not have ensued if she trusted her king to be right in his decision, just as all the townspeople and her sister Ismene did.
Creon also had stated that one should not place a friend, in this case a brother, in front of one's country. One could say that Antigone is selfish in her pursuits of doing so, for although Polynices was Antigone's brother, he was planning to loot