Preview

Breaking The Law In Antigone

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
112 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Breaking The Law In Antigone
What do you think are the circumstances in which the law should be ignored? In the story “Antigone”, Antigone herself gets in trouble by her uncle Creon for ignoring the law and burying her brother, who no one wasn’t allowed by the new king to be buried. The law can be ignored when you are doing it for the right cause and you are not harming anyone by doing so. The conflicts within Antigone shows that when breaking the law for the right cause and you are not harming anyone, then it’s okay to break it. It depends on what the law is and what affect it will cause on other people.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Additionally, violating the law brings harm to others. For example, in Scene 5 it states, "The burden you carry in your hands is heavy, But it is not all: you will find more in your house... The Queen is dead." (Lines 1000 & 1002). Due to Antigone breaking the law it lead to the death of many. Antigone's one decision to bury Polyneices consequently caused a chain reaction of negative outcomes such as harm to others.…

    • 76 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Sophocles' play "Antigone”, the ideas of obeying the law of one’s community and following ones own moral beliefs come into conflict. The plot revolves around two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices having killed each other in an attempted to gain rule and their Uncle Creon gaining power after their deaths. He orders Eteocles given an honorable funeral and Polyneices to be left in the streets to rot. Creon believes that Polyneices' body shall be condemned to this because of his civil disobedience and treachery against the city. However, the dead brothers’ sister, Antigone, believes this unfair to Polyneices and insulting to the Gods.…

    • 103 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Antigone asserts that divine law will always subjugate Creon’s laws. Creon issued a royal edict that declared Polyneices body was to remain unburied and anyone who buried it or performed the burial rites would be stoned to death. Despite the punishment, Antigone asks her…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Antigone believed that not burying her brother Polyneices and burying her other brother Eteocles due to the command of her uncle Creon was a very wrong thing to do and being the loyal person she was she did not accept this law carried by her Uncle and disobeyed him with the mindset knowing burying her brother Polyneices was the right thing to do know the consequences that came with it.…

    • 70 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    All though later punished for her denial of the law, Antigone ultimately made the correct decision. In Ancient Greece, it was a moral code to bury anyone and everyone, friend or foe. In the play Antigone, By Sophocles, Antigone has to choose between following this ancient duty or acquiesce…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Many people in today's time and even in Greek mythology struggle between legal authority and moral law. Example of these are in the plays Trifles and Antigone. Antigone is faced with the predicament of wanting to provide a proper burial and being executed for breaking the law of King Creon. In the play Trifles Mrs. Hales and Mrs. Peters figure out the motive of the woman killing her husband. They, however, do not tell anyone ,including the police, because they found out the husband was abusive towards her. The struggle between what is expected and what is believed the right thing to do is the difficult decision made throughout life.…

    • 194 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Civil disobedience is defined as a rising up against an established law in order to expose the lack of morality in the law. In Antigone it is clear that what the king was trying to do was unjust and unfair. Antigone was arrested for burying Polynices, her brother, after the king refused to bury him. If Eteocles, her other brother, could be buried with full military honors, then why could they not do the same for Polynices. Similarly in 1872 a woman named Susan B. Anthony was arrested because she "defiantly registered and cast a ballot" in Rochester, New York (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia).…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When she was questioned by her uncle why she broke the law she the law was wrong and stated “nor did I think your edict had such a force that you , a mere mortal, could override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakable traditions”( Sophocles ,1117,505). Antigone is saying that burying the dead is an important religious duty that needs to be done to respect but the gods. Creon also is aware of this because earlier in the play when one of his guards suggested that the gods buried the body he questioned why the gods would care about “a corpse” (Sophocles, 1112, 320). The main conflict in this play is the religious duty versus the law of the land. This forces Antigone to either be true to the law or true to her ethical or religious beliefs. Antigone chose standby her religious beliefs and to rebel against the unjust rules of her uncle. This ethical conflict put the whole plays plot into…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Ruby Blondell states, the gratified slogans, “Born to be arrested” and “OBEY ALL LAWS! BE A MODEL CITIZEN!” succinctly encompass the difference between Antigone and her uncle, Kreon. Whereas Kreon believes the pursuit to the good life is akin to following the law of man, Antigone is fully prepared to die for burying her brother, adhering to the law of gods. As Antigone states, “ . .…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first example of violation we see is when Antigone buries her brother, despite Creon’s law against burying a traitor. Antigone violates Creon’s law due to her love for her brother and her respect for the Gods. She knows that she will die if she is caught yet she does not even deny the crime when she is accused. Antigone also violates her sister Ismene’s concerned warnings about the outcome of her actions. Creon is guilty of violation as well. He violates the rules of the Gods by forbidding anyone to bury Polyneices. Creon also violates Teiresias prediction that killing Antigone and…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Violence, greed, and suffering are all great examples of power being abused negatively. When someone has power, they have the decision to either use that power in a positive or negative way. Sadly, some people decide to use their power in a negative way that affects others. Power can have a negative effect on others by using fear and manipulation.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Disobedience In Antigone

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The play “Antigone,” by Sophocles displays an interesting storyline in which the main characters Antigone and Creon undergo various obstacles due to their actions. Throughout the play, Antigone attempts to secure a respectable burial for her brother Polyneices. By choosing to protest and defy Creon’s rule, Antigone unquestionably breaks the law. However, her defiance does not seem like an act of civil disobedience against injustice because Antigone was acting in her own self-interest when considering dying for her brother.…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the case of Socrates I believe him breaking the law was justifiable, although I don’t…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Only Crime Is Pride

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “The only crime is pride” is a true statement. Multitudes of people take much pride in numerous things some being: their job, family, political views, hometowns even in their favorite sports team. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the protagonist, Antigone, wants to give her brother Polynecies the same honorable burial given to her other brother Eteocles. Creon, The ruler of Thebes, makes it very obvious to all the citizens that they are not to attempt to bury his nephew or they will be stoned to death. Antigone deliberately defies her uncle Creon to get her wish and receives punishment as she should for breaking the laws.…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nevertheless, laws seem to be too rigid, too severe, too authoritarian to some extent. Laws usually do not seem to consider enough all the facets and circumstances of tangible life. Such as in emergency life situations, should the law be put above life too? Right from the first phases of human life, rules were made to be broken. Rules are made to be broken but only at some time when drastic changes need to be carried out. Such as when Jesus Christ broke the law and cured penniless on Saturdays, or when Mandela put an end to Apartheid. As time has demonstrated, sometimes, but only sometimes, laws are meant to be trespassed in order to call the attention and emphasize the…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays