Antigone Vs. Socrates Essay examples

Antigone believes that the laws of the gods should supersede the laws of men. Personally, she feels that the consequences of disobeying Creon’s law are inferior to the consequences of disobeying these higher laws. Morality is of greater importance to Antigone than her life, and ironically enough, in the conclusion of Antigone she is sentenced to her death for her transgressions against the law. Consistently throughout the play, Antigone struggles to understand how one could value the laws of men more than the laws of the gods. “How savagely impious men use me, for keeping a law that is holy” (942-943, Sophocles). Rather than succumbing to a law that she knows is not just, Antigone demonstrates kleos by being steadfast in her morality.

The first specification for the tragic hero is one of the few that both Antigone and Creon exhibit; both characters are between the extremes of perfect morality and pure villainy. Antigone’s moral neutrality is illustrated through her noble intentions and the unorthodox way she acts upon them. When she is confronted by Creon and demanded to give an explanation for her disobedience, Antigone says, “For me it was not Zeus who made that order. Nor did that Justice who lives with the gods below mark out such laws to hold among mankind” (Sophocles 207 ll. 450-2). Along with love and loyalty to her brother, Antigone is largely motivated by her desire for justice and appeasement of the gods. While her intentions are noble, Antigone’s actions in the

Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus, the king that married his own mother, Locaste and unwittingly killed his father, Laios. When he learned what he had done, he blinded himself and left Thebes, voluntarily went into self-style exile and died over there. Antigone and Ismene are siblings, the only surviving children of Oedipus. The other two brothers Polyneices and Eteocles quarreled and killed each other in a battle when Polyneices returned to assault Thebes, then Creon, Antigone uncle became the king of Thebes being the only heir in line to the throne. Creon ordered Polyneices be left to rot unburied on the battle field as a traitor but Antigone could not see reason to let her brothers body rot unburied. Antigone

Antigone ignores the idea of civic responsibility and puts her family first. Her family is more important to her than the law because she finds religion more powerful than Creon. “The ancient Greeks were polytheistic, they believed in many different gods and goddesses. The Greeks believed that these gods and goddesses controlled everything, from the waves in the ocean to the winner of a race.” (Richmond)

     Creon and Antigone also demonstrated a similarity in their loyalty to their own views. They both had different views, but they both remained loyal to them throughout the entire play. Creon and Antigone did not give in to others’ views, but relied on their own for survival. Creon was extremely loyal to his laws that he had made, and Antigone was loyal to her beliefs. Nothing was going to change either of them. When Antigone was brought in by the sentry, Creon was disturbed to find out Antigone was the person burying Polynices. He was extremely upset

Humanity is often faced with ambivalence towards law; at once, we find it a necessity in attempting to deal with a world which is constantly in some type of chaotic turmoil, and also as a glaring flaw in our society, which can at times result in more chaos than was originally had. This conflict is no more obvious than in Sophocles’ Antigone. Antigone, the character, represents half of the struggle between what the law says is just and what we inherently deem to be morally upstanding – Creon represents the opposing side which views law and power as the ultimate dictator of life’s unraveling. Though Antigone is ultimately thwarted, she is on the side of justice rather than blindly following the law. Antigone’s empathy while breaking the law

Antigone refuses to let King Creon dictate what she does with her brother’s dead body. Antigone states, “he has no right to keep me from my own” (Sophocles, 441 BC, line 48). Antigone feels that nobody has the right to dictate how she plans to bury her family member. In addition, Creon demands civil disobedience above all. Creon believes that the worst thing an individual can do is act against authority. In contrast, Antigone believes that state law is not absolute. Meaning one should be able to act against the law in extreme cases to honor the gods. Divine law could be proved valid, for example, “the fact that Polyneices’ dust-covered corpse had not been disturbed by animals could be taken as a possible sign that burial was accepted as valid by the gods” (Sourvinou-Inwood, 1989, pg. 142). Sourvinou-Inwood is stating that because the animals had not touched the dead body, it could be a sign from the gods that a proper burial should be in order. That Creon could have been wrong and the gods wanted Polyneices buried. Moreover, the Greeks supported absolute monarchs, however, simultaneously they also believed in divine law and had a profound amount of respect for the gods and their laws.

Creon?s regard for the laws of the city causes him to abandon all other beliefs. He feels that all should obey the laws set forth by him, even if other beliefs, moral, or religions, state otherwise. Antigone, on the other hand, holds the beliefs of the gods in high reverence. She feels that the laws of the gods should be obeyed above all others, especially when in respect to family. Her beliefs in ?The sacred laws that Heaven holds in honor? are for more important than those set by the king (Antigone 78). The king cannot, and should not in the gods? eyes, override her belief in the

The Greek play Antigone displays human spirit through Antigone when she believes that moral beliefs are greater than law. In the beginning of the play, Antigone is fighting with her sister, Ismene, about burying their brother Polynices. Ismene decides that she will not help Antigone bury the body. Antigone says, “No; then I will . . . to lie beside a brother whom I love” (58-63). This foreshadows the conflict that is moral v.s. state law with Antigone. Antigone wants to bury her dead brother, Polynices, however it is against the law because he was an enemy against the Theban empire.

In Plato’s Crito Socrates argues that it would be wrong for him to escape from prison. Speaking to his friend Cirto, Socrates explains that escaping from prison would go against many of his beliefs. Socrates believes in seeking the truth, not repaying a wrong with another wrong, and obeying the laws of the state. He also states that escaping from prison would ruin his reputation and is in best interest for everyone. Crito brings up many arguments to Socrates trying to convince him to escape. Crito tries to appeal to Socrates in many different ways and bombards him with many arguments. Every argument that Crito brings up to Socrates, he answers with carful thinking and analysis. Crito appeals to Socrates emotions by stating that his friends and family will be lost without him. He

On a more ethical level, Crito presents two reasons for why Socrates should escape prison. Crito thinks that it is not just for Socrates to give up his life when he can save it. If he stayed, he would be aiding his enemies in wronging him unjustly, and would thus be acting unjustly himself. Secondly, accepting death means that Socrates is showing no concerns for his family’s fate, and by escaping, he could live in exile and raise and educate his sons. Those reasons are what made Crito believe that Socrates should not give up his life and should escape and live in

Around 442 BC in the city of Athens, Greece, Sophocles wrote the greatly admired tragedy, Antigone. Antigone includes many themes such as Freedom, Protection of Personal Dignity, Obedience to Civil Law, Protection of Community/Nation, Loyalty/Obligation to Family, and Observance of Religious Law. Many of the Greek tragedies that have been written include a tragic hero that has his/her tragic flaw. In Antigone there are two main characters; Creon, the tyrant king of Thebes, and Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. One of these main characters must be chosen to be the tragic hero in the story. Creon and Antigone are almost polar opposites when it comes to views of society, but their attitudes are almost identical.

Antigone’s situation exposes a problem that has plagued societies to this day. The problem being religion and state. Religion and state is a very controversial topic and is quite difficult to navigate through. This philosophical issue raises moral dilemmas that can cause great divides among parties due to where the values of said parties lie. For example, an individual who was raised with nationalistic ideology that stressed the importance of being devoted to one 's country, rather than personal religious views would side with Creon. On the other hand, an individual who is god-fearing and puts their personal values above their country would not think twice about obeying divine laws and putting the laws of man aside. This is the mindset that Antigone possesses. Therefore, she is justified in her actions due to divine law reigning supreme. “ Nor did I think your edict had such that you a mere mortal could override the gods the great unwritten unshakable traditions”(Antigone 82). Antigone was honoring and being obedient to the decrees of the gods.

Sophocles believed that it was significant that the law of a persons conscience supersedes the law of the state. Antigone overlooks the law of the state and follows her heart to do what she knows is morally right, opposed to a law created by a human with high authority. She understands that the consequences are heavy for the act, however, she courageously concluded that the importance of the act was greater than the consequences.

Antigone's predicament coincides in many ways with Socrates' ethical dilemma in Plato's "Apology" and the "Crito." Socrates has argued that one must obey one's superior, someone who is relevantly wiser than oneself, the god in ethical matters, in any situation in which one's only reason not to obey is that obedience puts one at risk of death. He has not said at all that one must obey anyone in authority, no matter what they command. Socrates has been ordered to philosophize by Apollo, his superior in ethical matters. He knows himself that doing philosophy every day is the greatest good. Hence he knows that not to philosophize would be wrong. Then the court orders him to abandon philosophy on pain of death. But the court is not his superior