Sophocles' `Antigone': Redefining the Role of the Individual Within the State

Sophocles' `Antigone': Redefining the Role of the Individual Within the State

Antigonepresents us with the trials and tribulations of one of Oedipus's daughters as she attempts to fulfil the obligations she feels towards the shattered remains of a family that are left to her. Her particular dilemma centers on her desire to provide her dead brother, Polyneices, with a proper burial even though this act contravenes an edict issued by the ruler, Creon, who also happens to be her uncle and the father of her fianc. Antigone's conflict pits her yearning to honor her dead brother against her duty, as a citizen, to respect the laws of the state. Her conception of the good prioritizes her proposed actions in the service of her family honor above her civic responsibilities. She adamantly states to Creon that "I know that I please those whom I am most bound to please." (Line 89) While Antigone is not by nature a rebel or a troublemaker, she feels "most bound" by her obligations to pursue the happiness of her family members and places her obligations for the contentment of the custodians of the law below them. She believes that the responsibility to honor the blood ties of family has an importance that is unrivalled by other duties. Indeed, her refusal to obey the state, as represented in Creon's edict, is a consequence of her perception of the state as having disobeyed the natural law, as put forth by the gods and as represented in blood ties. Within the context of the stated, Antigone is not engaged in the active redefinition of the role of the individual within the state but is withholding her obedience from a state which she perceives of as being in violation with a higher order of law.

Antigone's personal morality predetermines her rejection of Creon's edict. As Professor Willner explains, the very notion of obeying Creon and in so doing, violating the will of the gods and transgressing against the duties and responsibilities of family ties, is unconscionable as far as Antigone is concerned (61-62). Her personal moral code dictates unquestionable obedience to the divine law which requires her to provide her brother with a proper burial, irrespective of any and all state edicts (Willner, 61-62). The implication here is that her intent is not rebellion against the state but adherence to divine laws and the fulfilment of familial duties, irrespective of the state.

The fact that Antigone is not pitting herself against the state but is simply seeking to fulfil her moral obligations is amply evidenced in her own explanation of, and justification for, her actions. When Creon inquires as to whether she was aware of the edict forbidding the burial of Polyneices, and if so, why she did not obey it, she calmly replies:

it was not Zeus that published that edict for me, and

since not of that kind are the laws which justice, who

dwells with the gods below, established among men (Lines 450-452).

The laws of men should subscribe to the laws of the gods if they are to be just and moral. As Creon's edict is at conflict with divine laws, it is neither moral nor just and hence, it is Antigone's moral duty to disregard it. As she tells her uncle:

Not for fear of any

man's pride was I about to owe a penalty to the gods

for breaking these. (Lines 458-60)

Obedience to Creon is disobedience to the gods and as Antigone quire explicitly stated in the quoted lines, she will not cater to and flatter men at the expense of the gods.

Antigone's disobedience and her stubborn insistence on violating the edict is rooted in her loyalty to the gods and her sense of morality and justice and, accordingly, is devoid of any political motivations. Antigone believes that Creon's decree is not only patently unjust, but also in conflict with the timeless will of the gods. She is dismissive of his edict as having any claim to being honored by the general public since it contradicts a higher, divine law. It is incomprehensible to her how anyone could feel compelled to honor such a law by the mere threat physical punishment. Even though Creon has declared that the price for disobedience regarding his edict will be death, Antigone is unmoved:

Die I must, that I knew well-how could I not? That is

true even without your edicts. But if I am to die before

my time, I count that a gain (Lines 460-462)

Not only is Antigone unmoved by Creon's attempts to compel obedience by reminding her of her responsibilities as a citizen, but she is openly dismissive of his claim to both moral and legal authority over her. His assumption that he has the authority to issue edicts which contravene with divine laws and to enforce compliance through the threat of death is ridiculed by Antigone (Jacobs 892-893). It is ridiculed because Creon is talking to her in political terms, reminding her of her duties as a citizen while she is talking in non-political, purely moral terms. As such, his proposed punishment is not only not a deterrent to what she views as her honorable actions, but it is actually a badge of honor. Antigone is irrevocably at odds with Creon as to what is the morally justifiable action in this situation, where "by (her) reverence (she has) earned a name for irreverence" (Line 924).

Creon considers it unconscionable that someone would put their duties as a family member ahead of their duties as a citizen. "If any man thinks a loved one more important than his fatherland, that man, I say, is of no account."(Line 184) A person who is capable of valuing his own family members over his fellow citizens has no worth as a citizen, which is the only measure of any significance as far as Creon is concerned. In his eyes, it is precisely our existence as good citizens that gives value to our lives. As M arini explains, Creon believes that once we have accepted the benefits derived from citizenship we have also accepted responsibility to honor the moral code, presented in the form of the country's laws, regardless of whether these laws conflict with our personal morals and preferences as individuals (421-422).

Antigone is unwilling to accept Creon's argument that the duties of citizenship transcend duties to the gods or our responsibilities as family members. She is convinced that her disobedience of Creon's edict is in fact an honorable action. She proudly proclaims that "there is nothing shameful in respecting your own flesh and blood" (Line 511). Her conception of family honor positively requires her to disobey the edict. The fact that Creon is her uncle and that the stated punishment for her action is death does not even enter into her calculation.

Creon, for his part, cannot accept this overt disregard for his edict, even when it is made by a member of his own family. His conception of honor demands that he treat his niece, who has openly defied his authority, as he would any other criminal guilty of a similar action. If he cannot demand obedience to the law from his own family members then he has no right to demand obedience from the rest of society. Aruler cannot interpret the law in a manner that is beneficial on a personal level without undermining himself as a ruler. For Creon the duty to honor the trust placed in him by the society overrides any obligation to specific individuals, even if they happen to belong to his family.

In the final analysis, it is apparent that the conflict which arises between Antigone and Creon is a conflict of perceptions. Creon believes that the highest duty one owes is the duty to respect the rules which govern citizenship and, in so doing, comply with all city laws and edicts irrespective of personal opinions and moral codes. Antigone believes otherwise. Within the context of her moral code, the highest duty one owes is the duty to divine law and, following that, to family ties. The laws of a state should be compliant with divine laws or else they would be neither moral nor just. Insofar as Creon's edict is deemed incongruous with divine law and disrespectful of blood ties, Antigone believes that obedience would me immoral and wrong. This, she disobeys at the cost of her own life, not because of any political motives or views on citizenship but because of her belief that her primary allegiance should be to divine law.

Works Cited

Jacobs, Carol. "Dusting Antigone." MLN, Vol. 111, No. 5, Comparative Literature Issue (Dec., 1996), pp. 889-917.

Marini, Frank. "The Uses of Literature in the Exploration of Public Administration Ethics: The Example of Antigone." Public Administration Review, Vol. 52, No. 5 (Sep. - Oct., 1992), pp. 420-426.

Sophocles. The Oedipus Cycle. Trans. Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1949.

Willner, Dorothy. "The Oedipus Complex, Antigone, and Electra: The Woman as Hero and Victim." American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 84, No. 1 (Mar., 1982), pp. 58-78.

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