Antigone – The Bad Citizen
Being a good citizen often involves doing something out of the ordinary to help others. Sometimes, that involves going against the will of others to do what the good citizen might think is best. Although this is traditionally the case, the biggest factor in being a good citizen is great respect for the nation in which one lives. If one wants to be a good citizen, he or she might go out of his or her way to help others, however, must do so within the rules of the nation. In the Greek Drama by Sophocles, entitled Antigone, the hero, Antigone, shows, what I would call, bad citizenship. How is this? Why is she being a bad citizen?
The setting of the drama is in a fictional kingdom known of as Thebes. This kingdom is basically run by a set of rules and laws. Whether they are necessary or not, these rules must be obeyed. In Thebes, one of the rules states that Antigone's brother is not allowed to due a respectable death and therefor, will not have a proper funeral. Antigone is torn apart by this. Her brother whom she loved very much will not be able to have a respectable funeral. She explains in the drama how much she disagrees with the rules of the land. Because of this disapproval toward the law, she takes it upon herself to remove the corps of her brother from it's assigned post so she can do whatever she wants with it. She has broken the law. Although what she is has done is the right thing to do in her mind, the law states that it is not allowed. Throughout the drama, she consults her sister, Ismene, about whether or not she feels though she should commit this crime or not. Ismene makes it clear that she should not and attempts to discourage her sister from doing what she did. Contrary to the advice of her sister, Antigone does indeed commit this crime for she feels that it is what a good person would do.
To the average American, Antigone's actions might be considered the right thing to do.
As we experience others we have an ethical responsibility attached to us. In this paper I will discuss John Russon’s main arguments about responsibility and experiences with others that are presented in his works Human Experience and Bearing Witness to Epiphany. After analyzing his arguments I will argue how Russon’s ideas are presented in Sophocles play Antigone, particular Antigone’s responsibility between her brothers and her city, and Creon’s failure to find the other.
... or disobeys God’s way in committing premeditated murder or involuntary manslaughter should be put to death immediately.
In the early 1950’s, the number of executions sharply declined. Opponents of the death penalty claimed that it violated the Eighth Amendment, which forbids cruel and unusual punishment. Opponents also claimed the death penalty violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that all citizens are entitled to equal protection under the law. In early 1972, William Furman was convicted of burglary and murder. While Furman was burglarizing a home, a resident arrived at the scene. Startled, Furman tried to flee, but tripped and fell in the process. The gun Furman was carrying discharged, killing the resident in the process. Furman did not believe he deserved the death penalty. The constitutionality of capital punishment in this circumstance was considered in the supreme co...
While Antigone’s acts can be seen as “disobedience”, when can an act be seen as justified? Antigone’s values are brought up in the first pages, and as she chooses her path, her conscious also knows that by doing this she will be “guilty of the holiest crime” (Antigone 82). The author also compares the stands between Ismene and her sister, as Ismene sees women as too weak to disobey the laws of the king and “[she] plead[s] compulsion and entreat the dead to pardon”(Antigone 107) in order to convince Antigone that women had neither strength nor voice in society. Thus, even knowing all this, Antigone disobeyed the king’s decree and it is seen burying her brother, even confronting the divine
Antigone was a selfless person with pride as a strong characteristic of her personality. She possibly had feelings of loneliness and anger from the way society has looked upon her family from their past. It took a strong willed person who has no fear of the repercussions to stand up to a king as she did. To make everything all the worst she stood up to a king who was her Uncle and she being a female back in those time, standing up and speaking out for herself was not heard of.
Capital punishment is an age-old practice. It has been used in civilizations for millennia, and will continue to be used for millennia to come. Whether used for the right or wrong reasons, capital punishment is unmistakable in its various forms. From hangings, to firing squads, to lethal injections, capital punishment and the associated proceeding have evolved over time. There have been many arguments against capital punishment, many of which still hold true. As capital punishment has evolved over time, however, many of the most valid arguments have been proven all but null. Capital punishment still has its ethical and moral concerns, but as it has evolved over time these concerns have not necessarily become less valid, but fewer in number when specifically addressing capital punishment. The proceedings that come hand-in-hand with capital punishment, however, have become increasingly more rigorous and controversial and are the main focus of most capital punishment concerns.
Proponents of capital punishment believe that killing criminals is a moral and ethical way of punishing them. They feel there is justification in taking the life of a certain criminal, when in fact that justification is nothing more than revenge. They also feel that the death penalty deters crime, although there have been no conclusive studies confirming that viewpoint (Bedau).
"Over the last decade, the debate of whether or not college athletes should be paid has intensified, and many athletes, as well as coaches, have begun to advocate for the cause." (Thelin) Tyler Harnett, a writer at the Huffington Post, took his standpoint on the topic in the article "Why College Athletes Should be Paid," which clearly states his claim, college athletes should receive pay. I disagree with Harnett's viewpoint and I don't believe college athletes should be paid because they are already receiving a scholarship, plus some schools lack the amount of funding, and overall unfairness between students and other colleges.
Radelet, Michael L., and Traci L. Lacock. "Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates? The Views of Leading Criminologists." The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology99.2 (2009): 489-508. Death Penalty Information Center. Northwestern University School of Law, 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters' attitudes change from close-minded to open-minded. It is their close-minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultimately to a series of deaths. In the beginning Antigone is a close minded character who later becomes open minded. After the death of her brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. He decides that Eteocles will receive a funeral with military honors because he fought for his country. However, Polyneices, who broke his exile to " spill the blood of his father and sell his own people into slavery", will have no burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon's unjust actions and says, " Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." She vows to bury her brother so that his soul may gain the peace of the underworld. Antigone is torn between the law placed against burying her brother and her own thoughts of doing what she feels should be done for her family. Her intent is simply to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial so that she will follow "the laws of the gods." Antigone knows that she is in danger of being killed for her actions and she says, "I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me." Her own laws, or morals, drive her to break Creon's law placed against Polyneices burial. Even after she realizes that she will have to bury Polyneices without the help of her sister, Ismene, she says: Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of deaths-death without honor. Here Ismene is trying to reason with Antigone by saying that she cannot disobey the law because of the consequences. Antigone is close-minded when she immediately tells her to go away and refuses to listen to her. Later in the play, Antigone is sorrowful for her actions and the consequences yet she is not regretful for her crime. She says her crime is just, yet she does regret being forced to commit it.
...ty believe that the death penalty serves as the ultimate justice and that it will, in the end, deter murderers and promote the sacredness of human life. Abolitionists view it as harsh, unfair, and contradictory. They see hypocrisy in punishing murder by engaging in murder. Arguments for the death penalty are matched by those that support its abolition; the fight to abolish capital punishment seems to be far from over and only time will tell the story.
Ten feature-length films, seven short films, four days and the first of its kind in The Woodlands; the Inspire Film Festival is reintroducing humility to the community.
Although Antigone has a bad reputation with Creon, and possibly Ismene, for being insubordinate, she stays true to her values throughout the entire play by following the law of gods, not so that she could appease them, but because she admired its value of honor and respect to loved ones that have passed away. This devotion and determination to give her brother a proper burial shows the true essence of her being: that loyalty to family is in fact hold above all else.
Such crimes as murder render life cheap and people expendable. These atrocities are not to be tolerated. And a crime is only as severe as the punishment that follows, right?
The death penalty has been an ongoing debate for many years. Each side of the issue presents valid arguments to explain why someone should be either for or against the subject. One side of the argument says deterrence, the other side says there’s a likelihood of putting to death an innocent man; one says justice, retribution, and punishment; the other side says execution is murder itself. Crime is an unmistakable part of our society, and it is safe to say that everyone would concur that something must be done about it. The majority of people know the risk of crime to their lives, but the subject lies in the techniques and actions in which it should be dealt with. As the past tells us, capital punishment, whose meaning is “the use of death as a legally sanctioned punishment,” is a suitable and proficient means of deterring crime. Today, the death penalty resides as an effective method of punishment for murder and other atrocious crimes.