Writing About Antigone by Sophocles...

Antigone: Written Laws vs. Moral Laws

In the play, Antigone by Sophocles, there is a debate between the written laws and the moral laws. Its importance is crucial in this literary piece, since the written laws are laws under a system that allows us to “function properly” and the moral laws are the laws/duties that bring in peace to ourselves, our beliefs. The conflict emerges because there are two principle characters with different wishes.

On one side, there is Creon; king of Thebes, husband, father, and stubborn leader who won’t allow the burial of a man. He says, “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” (Creon 222-225). By doing this, Creon wants to prove his power and maintain control over his city.  On the other side there is Antigone; citizen of Thebes, fiancé of the prince, and religious sister who wants to bury her brother because that is the law she follows, not the king’s. That is why she says, “I did not believe your proclamation had such a power to enable one who will someday die override God’s ordinances, unwritten and secure” (Antigone 496-499). by saying this she allows us to know that religion and honor means everything to her.

 Antigone’s written laws are unwritten. Nevertheless, they are laws to her; they are her religion and what her religion commands her to do. Her religion demands the burial of her brother and against all forces that is what she believes in, that is her moral law, her faith in what her religion asks. She is so attached to her beliefs that she accepts her death for burying her brother Polyneices, “I myself will bury him. It will be good to die, in doing so. I shall lie by his side, loving him as he loved me; I shall be a criminal -but a religious one” (Antigone 82-85). She grew believing that her faith in her religion and honoring her family was more important than anything. She knew that taking proud of her death for her brother was an honorable thing to do, that is why she wanted it to be shout out, she said, “I know I am pleasing those I should please the most” (Antigone 103). Thus, she reflects her bravery and most important of all, her values.

In the play, Antigone by Sophocles, there is a debate between two different points of views: the written laws and the moral laws. Many people would have different perspectives of which is more important but for Antigone her life relies on her beliefs, her moral.

You can listen to the play here: http://archive.org/details/antigone_1009_librivox