A question about Antigone?

Question

Using events in the play, the issues of individual conscience versus delegated authority and human versus divine law. Explain the tension that exists in the play and Evaluate which one has the greater appeal.

Answer 1

I'm not sure this is what your teacher is after, but I've always seen TWO moral conflicts in Antigone. Hers is the more apparent one, a conflict between divine or moral law, which requires that Polyneices be buried so that his spirit can rest, and man-made law in the form of Creon's edict, evidently issued that morning, that Polyneices remain UNburied. A second moral conflict, however, is Creon's. Whereas Antigone has the certainty that she's doing the right thing to sustain her, Creon becomes less and less sure of the rightness of his position as the play progresses. What does someone in authority do when he realizes he has made a mistake? Paradoxically, where a stronger, more assured (and more seasoned--Creon has evidently become king in his own right only within the last twenty-four hours) ruler might realize that the better alternative is to admit his mistake and correct it, Creon is too unsure of himself to back down and thus rigidly stands by his initial ruling until the damage done by it is irreversible. He can't give in to Antigone, because she's a mere woman, and he can't give in to Haemon, because it's inappropriate for fathers to take advice from their sons. Only when--in fact, AFTER--Teiresias tells him that his impious decree has offended the gods does he back down, evidently able to give in witout losing face only when the only higher authority communicates its displeasure to him. By then, of course, Antigone is dead, and her death starts a domino series of deaths that leave Creon bereft of all his immediate family, To a young reader, Antigone's conflict is no doubt the more appealing, but as the reader matures, Creon's conflict becomes increasingly apparent and ominous. Is the play, in fact, appropriately named--which character is more truly Aristotle's basiclly good and noble person with the tragic flaw of hubris?

Answer 2

Antigone by Sophocles Lit Guides:

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmAntigone02.asp
http://www.bookrags.com/notes/ant/
http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/antigone/
http://www.novelguide.com/antigone/index.html
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Oedipus-Trilogy.id-100,pageNum-2.html

Additional Resources:

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=330
http://www.theatrehistory.com/ancient/bates017.html
http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001172.shtml

THE USE OF THE CHORUS IN GREEK PLAYS
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmAntigone36.asp

Answer 3

When's the essay due? hee hee

Look on Sparknotes under Antigone for that kind of indepth help.