Why Did Antigone Break the Law
But just because a law is unfair doesn`t mean we should expect to be punished for breaking it. In fact, it is because we accept punishment that we consider that the unjust law deserves to be broken. He leads by example. Antigone affirmed that the consequences did not worry him: “I am not afraid of danger; if it means death, / It will not be the worst death – death without honor” (I.I.80-81). By showing others that we intentionally accept the consequences of violating an unjust law, we show how unjust the law is. In particular, if we were to expect not to receive the consequences of violating the unjust law, it would undermine the whole idea of a legal system. For Antigone, the worst option is to let an unjust law continue to exist, and so she is not afraid of the usual legal system. Her lack of fear is justified to the extent that she knows that, although she is being punished, she has taken the right steps. She tried to improve the current legal system by breaking an unjust system, knowing that a law as unjust as her brother`s refusal would only undermine the entire legal system.
Therefore, and how we can justify the violation of unjust laws. Breaking an unjust law is much less harmful than a person following an unjust law. If a person breaks a just law, we don`t think twice, but if a person knowingly breaks a law because of a declared injustice, it draws our attention because of the absence of fear and signals the law unfairly. The main conflict of ideas in the play Antigone is between the law of man and the law of the gods. The character exercises the right of burial on his brother, although this is forbidden, although, according to the gods, everyone should receive a proper right of burial. To examine this philosophically, we can say that the conflict is about obedience to an unjust law. If we obey an unjust law, are we unjust, or is it simply the law that is unjust, or are we also unjust? If we are breaking an unjust law, should we consider ourselves unjust? If we ourselves break the laws and are unjust, who are we at any given time to even say that a law is unjust? These are just some of the questions we need to think about in the play. After reviewing the exhibit, I decided to argue that it is not just a matter of opposing an unjust law, but that it is unfair to let an unjust law continue to exist by passively following the law. First, we should look at the counter-argument. This would mean that a law is a law, and we cannot arbitrarily choose which laws are considered just and unjust and obey them accordingly.
In this way, we undermine the entire legislative system. The problem we face is that we have set a precedent for other people to choose which laws to follow and which they do not. Antigone`s sister, Ismene, says: “The law is strong, we must submit to it” (I.I.48). The law is strong because people who break the law are punished. Without proper punishment, we have no reason to worry about whether or not we should break the law. As Ismene tells Antigone later in this scene, “I am so afraid for you” (I.I.64). She is obviously afraid for Antigone, because she knows what consequences Antigone expects. That is the whole point of the law; We should be afraid of the law so that we do not break it and suffer the consequences. For these two reasons together, that the law will punish us and that the law can only be effective because we choose to follow all laws, the law is able to achieve what it does. He turns out to be a rigid tyrant guilty of the same mistake that happened to Oedipus. But Antigone turns out to be a heroine who moves forward with the conviction that she is right. She must honor her brother who died at all costs.
Even if he violates state law, he must answer for what he considers to be a higher law. Antigone maintains that the law of God is superior to the law of the state. We suffer when we disobey God`s laws, as Creon does. Before being recognized, he defies divine law in the name of the state or human law. Antigone`s tenacity and impertinence for the good cause is far more admirable than Creon`s stubborn defense of the wrong cause. She prefers to die a glorious and stoic death. Finally, Creon must face the tragic consequences of his own fatal decisions. However, this is far from the end of the story. Laws, of course, are determined by people.
Remember, as has been said, that if a person decides to break an unjust law, it would give carte blanche to a law, because people will always be able to find something unjust in one law or another. The aspect to consider is that laws are written by people in general, and for this reason, a law could be passed that is intentionally unjust. What should we do then? What if injustice affects the extent of segregation laws? In hindsight, we are able to recognize the injustice of these laws, and we recognize the justice of the actions of people who deliberately broke racial segregation laws to show how unjust they were. In such a situation, it would not be difficult for anyone to say that these people were unfair. In fact, almost everyone would say that it would have been unfair to do nothing about these laws and let them continue. What we must bear in mind is that there cannot be patently unjust laws like the example given, so that we can consider any kind of laws worthy of compliance. The fact that unjust laws like this are followed undermines the entire legal system to the point that it becomes useless, more so than the decision not to follow a law because it is unjust. Politically, Creon may be right, since it is the strategy of human law to defy the funeral of the traitor, but at the same time Antigone is also right, because it is her religious duty to bury the dead brother. Antigone has moral and ethical power as an individual, although Creon has political power as king. As Creon`s tyranny (dictatorship) increases, so does Antigone`s stubbornness. When Haeman, Antigone`s lover and Creon`s son, realizes that religious laws are for humans, he sides with Antigone.
But Ismene is a side of political power, so she tries to convince Antigone to hand over the king. But Antigone remains constant despite the persuasive efforts of others. Antigone, the eldest daughter of King Oedipus and Creon, now King of Thebes, both proud and stubborn, are in constant conflict throughout the play. In other words, there is the conflict between the religious Antigone and the tyrant Creon. Creon, a tyrant, considers the state his private property as king, but Antigone`s great courage in defying authority causes the public to feel intense sympathy and admiration for her. She is a martyr of her faith. When Teiresias, seeing blind, reveals a prophecy of death and punishment and asks Creon, to suffer Thebes, to revoke his decree and give Polynices a proper burial, Creon does not listen. By the time Creon accepts Teriesias` prophecy, it is too late. He lost his son and his wife committed suicide.
The Force not only corrupted Creon, but also took away his relatives. Thus, in Antigone, Sophocles emphasizes the interaction between the will of the gods and the will of men, often contrasting the truths of men and women with the truth of the gods. It suggests a great seriousness and religious mission in Greek tragedies, individual free will against the unjust laws of the tyrannical king. Antigone`s main conflict concerns the distinction between law and justice. Creon, the maternal uncle of Antione and Ismene, issued a decree: Polynices, the brother of Antigonus and Ismene, was not only guilty of killing his brother Eteocles, but also of attacking the state, and like all traitors, Polynices was denied a proper burial. As the plot of the play begins, Antigone has decided to give her brother Polynices the funeral that ancient tradition and her religious beliefs demand as her responsibility to be her sister. Antigone says she must act according to religious law, the law of the superior God. Ismene simply declares that she cannot violate the law of citizens (human law). Antigone, who knows exactly what the consequences of challenging Creon are, acts according to her principles when she realizes that God`s law requires the burial of a corpse, she acts according to her principles.
According to her, men themselves are imperfect, so that the king`s laws are also imperfect; only the laws God has made are perfect. She is therefore motivated by the fact that she must bury her brother`s body at all costs, even at the cost of his death. So we can see the balance between faith (Antigone) and skepticism (Creon`s blasphemy). The complex conflict between Antigone and Creon occurs at the level of the citizen and the ruler and at the personal level in the relationship between Haemon, Creon`s son, and his future wife Antigone.
