In Antigone we learn one basic truth about life. Never question the gods. Sophocles stresses this point in both Antigone and Oedipus Rex. Oedipus focuses on the prophecies of the gods and their infallibility. Antigone however focuses on the laws of the gods and their precedence over the laws of man. Creon as the king who has newly come to power passes the law that Polyneices may not be given the burial rites because of his supposed treachery to his country. Antigone poses the fact that the laws of the gods supersede any mortal given law and therefore can not be ignored. Her burial of her brother causes Creon to demand her death but his rash reaction was due to hubris and not logic.
As a new king, not of the main royal line, he must stake his claim as king by quickly showing his authority. He also angers easily at the breaking of his law, one that is not only rash but conflicts with the gods’ will, much as Oedipus reacts with anger before reason. This impulsive anger by Creon, much out of character from the Creon of Oedipus Rex, may be due only to the fact that Antigone preceded Oedipus Rex or may be the direct cause of the stresses of a new kingship and cleaning up the remnants of a civil war for power. Whatever the reason he sentences Antigone to death, to which she goes willingly. It seems that everyone in Thebes except for Creon himself agrees with Antigone’s belief that the gods will forgive her for breaking the law as voiced by his son Haimon. Antigone brings forth an age old question of whether the laws of men are more important than the higher intrinsic laws.
In both plays, but especially Antigone, Sophocles notes that the will of the gods does not bend no matter what the circumstances may be. His plays no doubt were meant at the time to remind the Grecians that they ought to respect their gods and to remind them that they did indeed owe their fealty to them. But these thoughts are not that uncommon even today, the laws of the church sometimes come into conflict with the laws of man and there are very heated debates on which laws should be adhered to. Such as with abortion, contraception, and gay marriage the laws of God and the laws of man come head to head in a battle for supremacy. In these matters I generally take the side that agrees with my sensibility, usually not the church, and it seems that on the whole the world has deviated from Sophocles’s unyielding gods. Antigone still poses the questions about whether the laws of gods or man should be held onto but where the play provides an answer for Sophocles’s Athens it has no simple solution in the modern world. Now the line between what is right and what God says is blurring more and more. People decide for themselves where for centuries they followed blindly what they were told. In the modern world people can choose for themselves where they were once told what to think, we no longer live in the out dated world of Sophocles. (536)
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4 comments:
I find the concept that you mentioned comparing man's laws versus God's laws interesting. While in the plays, Gods law is purportedly held above the law of man. Or is it really? If one believes in the concept of the rule of law, then one should necessarily hold both the law of man and the law of the Gods in the exact same esteem, as they are both codes of laws. One cannot believe in one code of laws without believing in the other. However, interestingly enough as you said, the law of the Gods supersedes the law of man when their is a conflict, sort of like a supreme court of the day. Interesting post, well done.
Great job Andrew. You highlighted something that we didn't touch on in class and that made me think. Despite how little the gods are explicitly referred to in Antigone, you do a great job showing us that they are a major part of the story. I especially liked how you related the morals of the story to modern day morals and explained how you react when faced with questions dealt with in the play. Awesome.
Andrew: Son and brother, keeper of the sacred flame, defender of the justice of BINGO, I bid you good work. I like the your broaching of the topic of actual laws and the two sides of laws. Very original. By the Beard of Zeus this was a great blog!
Good luck at BINGO sir
Other Andrew--the deeper issue you raise for me, especially in regard to the current world, is that of knowing God's will. Antigone is certain that she does, and I admire her, but for the most part I'm suspicious of people who profess to know what God thinks. So I don't know if I think that Sophocles' ideas are out-dated or if the idea of "What God Wants" has become so politicized and so entangled with dogma that I've lost my ability to trust any contemporary Antigones.
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