Antigone vs. Socrates Essay examples

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

One has the capability to determine from right and wrong and having the determination to stand up for what one believes in, no matter what the price is. In Sophocles’ Antigone, a written dramatic play, Sophocles portrays the theme that at times of one’s life, it is necessary to follow moral law and ignore political law. In the play, a determined and courageous woman named Antigone is loyal to her beloved brother by granting him a proper burial and having to suffer the consequences for revolting. Throughout Antigone, several incidents occurred where the political law was of no importance to the individual. Conflicts between Antigone and Ismene and then with Creon and Antigone are examples of the theme. The theme also ties with the

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.

Law, principles, and regulations are established in a community in order to create peace and order for the people. But is every law placed- morally correct? Is there anytime when breaking an unjust law is acceptable? Through Sophocles novel, Antigone, he illustrates to his audience regarding to breaking an unjust law and that no matter how high a ruler might see himself as, the Gods will always be stronger and higher than the mortals. He designs one of the first examples of a conscientious objector, Antigone, one who breaks a law that is, to her, unjust. Defying Creon’s law with her beliefs that god's law overrules man's law, she goes against him by burying the body of her deceased brother, Polynices. In spite of the fact that Antigone knew the consequences that had the power to threaten her life, she still decided to honor her brother’s memory and satisfy the gods. When being captured by the guards she had not deny the fact that she was indeed burying Polynices, in fact she stated that she did and took the consequence, even though her life was at risk. To her burying her brothers body meant more than her own life, restoring moral balance and satisfying the gods led her to disregard a law created by man. Many should consider that breaking an unjust law is not wrong, a law that is morally unjust. The law was created to protect the people and their beliefs, yet as we see through the three Theban plays we learn that one's beliefs and morals go against the law, but it's not the

Antigone is the sister of Eteocles and Polyneices. Both Eteocles and Polyneices agree to jointly rule Thebes as mutual kings. After one year, Polynices distrusts his brother, resulting in Polyneices fleeing from Thebes, only to later return with an army. In the battle, both sides are massacred. Eteocles and Polyneices kill one another, consequently giving their power up as king to in Creon, Antigone’s uncle. As acting king, Creon orders that, “Eteocles who died as a man should die, fighting for his country, is to be buried with full military honors, with all the ceremony that is usual when the greatest heros die” (Sophocles, line 160). As for Polyneices, Creon passes a law for Polyneices to be left unburied, to rot for every citizen to witness. Antigone viewed this law as immoral and unjust, for one brother to be buried with military honor and not the other. Antigone, expressing her love for Polynices, rises against Creon's higher authority command

More importantly, Socrates’s relationship to the state is made clear during the dialogue with his friend Crito, when speaking as if Socrates is the state himself. When asking how important the state is, the law asks; “Is your…country to be honored more than…all your ancestors…that it counts for more among the gods and sensible men, that you must worship it…?” Rather than a statement, Socrates makes his point that the law must be upheld, even in his case of a death sentence. It is important to note that Socrates accepted his fate, even though he felt the accusations against him were false. Yet, as if speaking on behalf of the law, recognized that escaping would only turn those untruthful indictments into the truth, and as a destroyer of laws; “You will strengthen the conviction of the jury that they passed the right sentence on you.” By the definition of the word martyr, as one who dies for a cause, in this instance the laws of the state,

The practice of philosophy by Socrates is seen as unjust and impious, contrary to Socrate’s own personal beliefs. To Socrates, practicing philosophy was the only way that he could live his life. In these acts of defiance, Antigone and Socrates disobeyed the rules of the state. Although the burial of a brother and practicing philosophy appear to be different acts, for Antigone and Socrates, they meant the same thing: living “the good life.” Both acts represented what Antigone and Socrates saw as pious and just.

To Socrates laws only have meaning because the people give them meaning and only by following the laws do we see the actual value of them. According to Socrates the relationship of the people and the states are like that of a child and their parents. He claims that state raises the people by guiding them with laws giving them order and educates the people of what’s right and what’s wrong. Socrates does not believe in disobeying the law to set examples as you would not disobey your parents just to prove a point. Socrates is appreciative for what state has done for him and feels as if it is his duty and obligation to repay them or show gratitude to the state by following its laws.

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.

Socrates explains that if he escapes prison, it will ruin his soul which make life not worth living. Likewise, Socrates explains that there will be negative consequences for the state of Athens to follow. For example, Socrates explains that he will be destroying the laws by escaping. He is trying to make clear that if he breaks the law, other citizens will begin to feel like they can also break the law. As a result, once one citizen begins to disobey the law, take for example - killing someone because they want to seek revenge. Eventually, this will lead to the city being destroyed as more and more people begin to become comfortable with committing acts that aren’t just. This domino effect connects to Socrates’ theory that his soul will be ruin since all of this could have been avoided if he were just to stay in prison. Furthermore, Socrates believes that the reputation of his sons and friends along with himself will all be ruined no matter where they would escape to. They would then been seen as the “destroyer of the law.” Like previously, this argument can also be refuted. No one knows what would happen if he were to escape prison. These are all hypothetical scenarios that are suggested by Socrates. One can object by saying that what if the citizens of the state do not react in a negative way but rather in a positive way. For example, the citizens would be

To this question, first Socrates says that he should not revenge injustice. Because doing injustice is bad in any circumstances (Crito 49b), to return injustice just because of having injustice done onto himself would bad also (Crito 49c). Therefore Socrates should not commit injustice just to get even with Athens. Injustice is bad because it harms, and disobedience to the law would harm the city (Crito 50b); so it seems that to disobey the law would be an injustice. But why should Socrates obey the law of the city? Socrates reasons that since the city has done him great benefactions, such as giving birth to his life, taking care of his physical upbringing and his education, and granting him long years of benefits from the legal system (Crito 50e - 51c), Socrates owns the state a strong duty of gratitude just as a child would own to his father. One of those duties is to obey the state (like how a child obeys his parents), which always has included the possibility of death such as in times of war (Crito 51b). Socrates should obey the city because he has made an agreement to do so. This agreement is the social contract that he has implicitly accepted and lived under for 70 years. This contract is legitimate because Socrates had a thorough understanding of the legal system (Crito 51e - 52a), he did not leave the city when he was given the fair chance all his life (Crito 51 c-e), and that he

In Ancient Greece, new ideals surfaced as answers to life's complicated questions. These new beliefs were centered on the expanding field of science. Man was focused on more than the Gods or heavenly concerns. A government that was ruled by the people was suggested as opposed to a monarchy that had existed for many years. Freedom of religion was encouraged in city-states. These new ideals, though good in intentions, often conflicted with each other creating complex moral dilemmas. Such was the case in Antigone, a play written by Sophocles during this era of change. In the play, Antigone and Creon battle a philosophical war exemplifying the conflict existing in the Greek ideals.

Paige Botie Professor Aviv HONR 1015 September 22, 2014 Title Socrates argues that in order to protect the purity of one’s soul, one must adhere to all surfaces of the law to promote civic virtue. However, I argue that an individual must challenge laws that are misused. In doing so, it protects the citizens from unjust rule and ultimately honors one’s virtues and standards of morality. A strong autonomy in a large city, like Athens, is essential to discourage any abuse of the law by those in power and to allow the citizens to practice self-governance.

For the state and state laws to exist there have to be 'the people' too. The state depends on the people and not just the ruler.

Socrates believes that direct action would cause more harm then any good and that it’s completely ineffective. If the people of the state were to use a direct action approach it would affect the state. If the state is harmed it would lead to collapse in society. Secondly, the state is responsible for the people in; therefore there would be no reason to for the people to act out against the state. Socrates is mainly concerned with the well being of the state. If the state falls law and order will no longer exist this is why he is advocating a more peaceful way of dealing with unjust laws and corruption. From