Consistently throughout Sophocles’ play, Antigone, we are embraced in a battle between moral and written laws. Are written laws, proclaimed to us by the ones with authority justifiable? Or should we, the people, argue for what we believe is right? Richard C. Jebb argued in his critique titled “The Antigone of Sophocles,” that there in fact was such a battle of principles, where Creon represents obedience to the state, and Antigone, the loyalty to moral values.
After reading Antigone, it is understood that Creon’s proclamation, aggressive in nature, is extremely controversial with the people of Thebes, “I here proclaim to the city that this man shall no one honor with a grave and none shall mourn. You shall leave him without burial; you shall watch him chewed up by birds and dogs and violated.” (Sophocles 1135) To leave a body unburied in Greek tradition is equivalent to not recognizing one’s life. By ignoring the laws of god, Creon sets in motion a complete tragedy. Polyneices’ sister, Antigone, is isolated in a conflict of moral and civil obedience. Where Creon has risked his popularity as king and subdued the people of Thebes to defy their moral code, Antigone remains loyal to her fallen brother, and prepares the ritual to bury the body.
Creon, with progression of the play, becomes more attached to his role as king, so much that it displays an aura of self-obsession and megalomania. Although he sees the views of Haemon, and the prophet Teiresias, he seems to neglect their relevancy, only to preserve his validity. While Creon’s lust for power retains his obedience to written law, Antigone is the only character to take action for what she believes is morally correct, “Where the act was death, the dead are witnesses. I do not love a friend who loves in words.” (Antigone 595)
After reading Antigone, it is understood that Creon’s proclamation, aggressive in nature, is extremely controversial with the people of Thebes, “I here proclaim to the city that this man shall no one honor with a grave and none shall mourn. You shall leave him without burial; you shall watch him chewed up by birds and dogs and violated.” (Sophocles 1135) To leave a body unburied in Greek tradition is equivalent to not recognizing one’s life. By ignoring the laws of god, Creon sets in motion a complete tragedy. Polyneices’ sister, Antigone, is isolated in a conflict of moral and civil obedience. Where Creon has risked his popularity as king and subdued the people of Thebes to defy their moral code, Antigone remains loyal to her fallen brother, and prepares the ritual to bury the body.
Creon, with progression of the play, becomes more attached to his role as king, so much that it displays an aura of self-obsession and megalomania. Although he sees the views of Haemon, and the prophet Teiresias, he seems to neglect their relevancy, only to preserve his validity. While Creon’s lust for power retains his obedience to written law, Antigone is the only character to take action for what she believes is morally correct, “Where the act was death, the dead are witnesses. I do not love a friend who loves in words.” (Antigone 595)
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