Introduction
This paper argues that Bonnie Honig through her work ‘Antigone’s Two Laws: Greek Tragedy and the Politics of Humanism’ challenges and develops jurisprudential accounts Sophocles Greek tragedy, Antigone by insisting that Antigone is a political actor. This essay will demonstrate, firstly, how Honig portrays Antigone as a political actor, secondly, how other jurisprudential accounts of the play view Antigone and thirdly by contrasting these two views to highlight the extent to which Honig develops and challenges jurisprudential understandings.
Bonnie Honig’s vision of Antigone
Bonnie Honig, establishes her political vision of the play by analysing it to demonstrate the political influence it now has in this day and age. She argues that tragedies establish the nature of humans because they challenge politics. She also claims that, Antigone represents ‘agonistic humanism’ which is not solely focused on mortality and suffering, but also ‘natality and pleasure, power not just powerlessness, desire not just principle, in quest of a politics.’ In Antigone’s introduction to politics, Honig states that her ‘dirge’ as she calls it, is not given seriously, but rather as ‘parody, mimicry and citation,’ which develops the grounds on which Antigone claims her position.
Honig also insists that the ‘interruption’ of Antigone’s ‘dirge’ is political in the sense that Creon portrays the importunity of sovereign power. It is also argued that Antigone’s ‘dirge,’ which focuses on the equality of the dead (mortalist humanism), on her abidingness of a law of fidelity to her brother Polynices, and her lamentation of not having a life with children or marriage, are all vital elements to her ‘intervention into fifth-century politics...
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...s law is the reason Antigone feels propelled to intervene and change current standards of governance to be consistent with her law. Honig evolves this further, not just to say the law made her disobey, but the law was the standard she wanted to achieve. Honig insists this paired with the disobedient act demonstrates legal reform was necessary. Honig argues that Antigone’s political intervening was concentrated on ‘mortalist humanism,’ that is the equality of the dead. She claims that Antigone’s suicide not only enforced this argument of equality, but also reinforced her political principles by making them eternal. Thus through this understanding, Honig conveys Antigone as a political actor, based on her moral standards and through her brothers death gives her the context for her intervention into politics and her death reinforces frames her argument into continuity.
Creon’s laws are flaw, harsh and immoral, they take on the ‘gods who live forever’ (788), up to the point were his actions ‘seize [his] good mind,’ (791) and deprive him of moral thought. Creon’s restrictive democracy motivates Polynecie’s sister Antigone, who...
Imagine living in a time where books have been banned and your only source of companionship was a screen on the wall. Or picture living in the city of Thebes, where you must risk execution by the king in order to give your dead brother the proper burial he deserves. These two scenarios precisely describe the worlds of Montag, from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Antigone, from Sophocles’ Antigone, respectively. Though the ways in which Antigone and Montag challenge their world’s status quo are very similar, the motives and consequences behind their actions are very different. One way in which Montag and Antigone’s challenge the status quo similarly is that they both break the law.
The play Antigone by Sophocles is about reason and opinion and reveals how people use their voice to be heard. Antigone uses reasoning and opinions to express their moral beliefs and state laws in the play. People manipulate each other by using these terms to get their way by speaking out and standing up for themselves.
Human emotions and beliefs can be some of the most powerful and forceful factors in the world. They can often time cause humans to overlook their moral and civil duties and instead confront the demands of a private passion. Two people that have contrasting views about passion and responsibility can cause a major conflict which could cause a “classic war” in literature. In the play Antigone, the differences in Antigone and Creon’s passions and responsibilities helps Sophocles illustrate their central flaws. By doing so, the playwright implies that one needs to achieve a balance of passion and responsibility in order to maintain a sense if inner peace and political stability.
Antigone holds her love of family, and respect to the dead, elevated beyond the laws of Creon, whom she believes, has no righteous justification to close his eyes to the honor of the deceased. In her determination to fulfill Polynices' rights, she runs directly into Creon's attempts to re-establish order. This leads to encounters of severe conflict between the dissimilarities of the two, creating a situation whereby both Creon and Antigone expose their stubbornness and self will.
Summing up, Antigone decides to express her discontent with what she considers to be the unethical new regime of King Creon by burying her brother's body. By taking this bold step, Antigone shows the strength that an individual’s actions hold in a democracy. Creon, with his stubborn attitude, shows how a democracy where peoples’ voices are not heard can be dysfunctional, and that laws should be made by taking other people into confidence and not on an individual basis. In the end, Antigone resolves to sacrifice her own life in the service of a greater justice. It is this kind of formidable resolve that changes the course of history, and that is something that we can respect equally in the 5th century B.C. and the 21st century A.D.
As the tragedy concludes, the chorus issues its final words: "Pray for no more at all. For what is destined for us, men mortal, there is no escape," demonstrating how justice remains impartial to the prejudice of men; those who make imprudent judgments will ultimately suffer from the consequences of their actions. In Sophocles' Antigone, these prejudices notably surface in the form of paternalism as demonstrated through Creon's government, highlighting the importance of gender roles throughout the play. Therefore, analyzing the motif of gender roles and its effect on the definition of justice through the perspectives of Ismene, Antigone, and Creon enables the audience to understand how Sophocles' macroscopic analogy to humanity's prejudiced judgments as well (and ambiguity of justice)
The origin of the Sophocles’ Greek tragedy “Antigone” has created much controversy about the definition of a tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle. A literary character that makes a judgment error that leads to his/her own downfall. Both Creon and Antigone challenge each other’s conception of the divine and civic law while each has lawfulness in their argument. It is evidently noted that Antigone is the hero of the tragedy; she was a romantic idealist whose beliefs on family loyalty and religious values could not be condemned by civil laws.
Sushma Karki P English 1302 October 10, 2017 Antigone “Antigone” is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. The story is about a young woman who has a brother by breaking the king’s decree, and now she is punished for obeying God’s law. In the classic model of dramatic structure, two characters move the action of the play from introduction to climax to resolution with their conflict. One of these characters is the protagonist, and the other is the antagonist. The protagonist is a “good guy” and the antagonist is the “bad guy”.
In the awe-inspiring play of Antigone, Sophocles introduces two remarkable characters, Antigone and Creon. A conflict between these two obstinate characters leads to fatal consequences for themselves and their kindred. The firm stances of Creon and Antigone stem from two great imperatives: his loyalty to the state and her dedication to her family, her religion but most of all her conscience. The identity of the tragic hero of this play is still heavily debated. This tragedy could have been prevented if it had not been for Creon's pitiful mistakes.
Sophocles play titled Antigone, embellishes the opposing conflicts between Antigone who stands for the values of family, and Creon who stands for the values of state. Sophocles explores the depths of Antigone’s morality and the duty based on consequence throughout the play, as well as the practical consequences of Creon who is passionate and close-minded. Although Antigone’s moral decisions appear to be more logical and favorable than Creon’s, a personal argument would be that both characters’ decisions in society can be equally justified.
In the Antigone, unlike the Oedipus Tyrannus, paradoxically, the hero who is left in agony at the end of the play is not the title role. Instead King Creon, the newly appointed and tyrannical ruler, is left all alone in his empty palace with his wife's corpse in his hands, having just seen the suicide of his son. However, despite this pitiable fate for the character, his actions and behavior earlier in the play leave the final scene evoking more satisfaction than pity at his torment. The way the martyr Antigone went against the King and the city of Thebes was not entirely honorable or without ulterior motives of fulfilling pious concerns but it is difficult to lose sight of the fact that this passionate and pious young woman was condemned to living imprisonment.
We don’t have to deny the human cost as a democracy and justice. It is a huge consumption. Typically, this cost caused injustice obviously. Firstly, Antigone adhered to bury her brother's corpse, follow the blood ethical belief that the relatives of the deceased must be buried, and must not be exposed corpse wilderness. Creon prohibited the burial of body, is to follow the provisions of the city-state of ethics that is a traitor to the city-state should be ruthless. The two sides stand in sharp opposition but have their rationality, which makes the tragic conflict, is inevitable. Secondly, Unyielding struggle against fate in Antigone only demonstrates the individual's free willing, also shows women's dignity and consciousness. Antigone dared to confront the supreme power of their own monarchy, it shows that the spirit of freedom and equality during the ancient Greek democracy advocates. And Creon has discrimination of being against women Antigone’s actions and fully defends the dignity of women. It was a great event for human.
The play “Antigone” is a tragedy by Sophocles. One main theme of the play is Religion vs. the state. This theme is seen throughout the play. Antigone is the supporter of religion and following the laws of the gods and the king of Thebes, Creon, is the state. In the play Creon has made it against the law to bury Antigone’s brother, something that goes against the laws of the gods, this is the cause of most conflict in the story. This struggle helps to develop the tragic form by giving the reader parts of the form through different characters.
“Do what you believe is right.” This is a phrase common to us all, brought to our attention by parents, reinforced by teachers, and preached by leaders. But how does one define what is right? Is it what we believe in our hearts, or is it what we know is acceptable? This is a predominant dilemma that can be traced throughout society, and is the main focal point of Sophocles’ play Antigone. Written in 441 B.C., Antigone is one of the earliest records of the conflict between Natural law and Positive law. Sophocles deftly exposes these two philosophical standpoints and their respective moral and political aspects by way of the two main characters, Antgone and Kreon. Antigone is a champion of Natural law, while Kreon practices the Positivist approach. Both characters deem their behavior superior towards the other, and both assume religious justification for their actions. Sophocles ultimately proves that with so much support for each philosophical standpoint, a solution to the dilemma is hardly in sight.