Legal and Moral Reasoning in The Play Antigone

Moral Laws versus Divine Laws There is conflict between the laws of the gods and the laws of man. King Creon had made a deterrent law that anyone who tried to bury Polynices would be punished by death. Antigone on the other hand insists that she must bury the brother according to the wish of the gods. Antigone argues that gods laws are superior to that of man. She was aware that there was a public law that barred citizens from giving Polynices burial rites and that the penalty would be death for whosoever goes against Creon’s law but still she resolves to bury her brother. She tries to justify her actions as right in the eyes of the gods. She says this to Creon to show him that he is not above the gods and that Creon is a man who can die unlike the gods who are immortal.

She brings in the aspect of religious relativism where she thinks that Creon is wrong to create a law that is against their culture and traditions of giving the dead a descent sendoff. The blind prophet, Tiresias, also finds the Kings action to be against the laws of the gods. He comes to warn the king about his edict on Polynices burial and the death penalty placed on Antigone. In this case, Eteocles and Polynices were both brothers who were fighting against each other in war and both ended up dead. One brother, Eteocles was given proper rites while the other was denied funeral rites. “Hasn’t Creon graced one with all the rites, disgraced the other? Eteocles, they say, has been given full military honors, rightly so- Creon has laid him in the earth and he goes with glory down among the dead.

But the body of Polynices, who died miserably- why a city-wide proclamation, rumor has it, forbids anyone to bury him, even mourn him. ” (line 30-35) Antigone was telling her sister that it was not right of the king to give one brother a descent sendoff while denying the other. She goes ahead to prove that the laws of the gods were also dear to her and she would not want to dishonor them. “I’d do them no dishonor…but defy them? I have no strength for that. ” (lines 93-94) From this, Ismene knows that the laws of the state are not correct morally, but she still is content in following them anyway. However, her obedience to the law worked for her because she was spared as her sister Antigone was sentenced to death.

The King, Creon was not obedient to the laws of the gods. “While I’m alive, no woman is going to lord it over me” (line 594) Creon believes that he has power over Antigone and any woman who lives. He suggests that women should not make decisions or rule over the men and hence their advice should not be given a listening ear. This came out when Antigone was trying to justify herself to him for burying the brother. It would be shameful for Creon regime should he appear to be defeated by a woman and that is why he did not bend in the matter of burying Polynices. “Better to fall from power, if fall we must, at the hands of a man-never be rated inferior to a woman, never.

They talk in the shadows. Haemon brings this out in his conversation withy his father. “The man in the street, you know, dread your glance, he’d never say anything displeasing to your face. But it’s for me to catch the murmurs in the dark, the way the city mourns for this young girl. ” The subjects are afraid of their ruler. Antigone had told her sister that following Creon would dishonor the gods “Dishonor the laws the gods hold in honor” These makes us aware that Creon’s laws were against the gods laws. Tiresias warned him and told him that his disobedience would bring death. “…now lie in wait for you, the furies sent by the god of death to strike you down with the pains that you perfected!” (1195) This suggest that disobedience to the rule of the gods will be punished by death and that divine laws are superior to mortal laws.

Expectation About Obedience to The Rule of Polis Creon expects that his authority is respected, and no one should challenge him. When the Sentry brought in the news, he said “What man alive would dare…” (280). Antigone. Transl. Robert Fagles. olma. org/ourpages/auto/2013/9/5/51879406/Antigone.