Theme Of Justice In Antigone

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The role that conflict or struggle between different conceptions of justice and/or the law plays in tragedy are very significant to the way that the plot of the tragedy develops. Peter Burian states, “Tragic narrative patterns can usefully be classified by their characteristic conflicts, and something can be said in general about the kinds of conflicts that tragic plots seem to require.” Two plays that convey this conflict between justice systems is Sophocles Antigone, which displays the conflict between the law of the king and the law of the gods and William Shakespeare’s King Lear, which displays the conflict between natural law and human law. This essay will argue that the roles that conflict between justice systems play in tragedy are …show more content…

From the beginning of the play this conflict is set out as the chorus conveys “When he weaves in the laws of the land, and the justice of the gods that binds his oaths together.” They explain how the people of Thebes should honour both the laws of the state and the laws of the gods. However, this is clearly not the case as the conflict between the justice systems starts with the different views on the burial of Polynices the brother of Antigone. “Why not our own brothers’ burial! Hasn’t Creon graced one with all the rites, disgraced the other?...the body of Polynices, who died miserably-why a city-wide proclamation, rumor has it, forbids anyone to bury him, even mourn him.” From the beginning Antigone wants to bury her brother because she thinks that is her right, but her society disagrees. Antigone is defiant of the consequences of her actions as she is breaking the law. She elevates divine law above the law of Creon as she believes only the gods can judge her actions. However, Creon wants to defend his city because he thinks that’s right, which the gods disagree with. As he is the king everybody should listen to what he says. “Polynices…a proclamation has forbidden the city to dignify him with burial, mourn him at all. No, he must be left unburied…never at my hands will a traitor be honoured above.” He represents the city-state as he is the

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