Sophocles Antigone in Sophocles Play

¶ … Sophocles Antigone

In Sophocles play Antigone, human law is contrasted with love, and in this case the strong divine love and sense of duty Antigone has for her family. The play also concerns itself with divine love opposed with man's reliance on the law for order and justice. In Antigone law is not better than or more evil than love, and love is not better than the law. However both are presented as oppositional, represented in the thoughts and actions of the two main characters, Creon and Antigone. Creon represents human law as that which maintains order and righteousness on earth, and Antigone asserts that divine law and subsequently love should overcome human law in the face of controversy. The play also addresses love as a side effect of being human and a necessary aspect of humanity, but also emphasizes mans reliance on the law for order and justice. The play reveals how sometimes love and law oppose one another, which in this case results in tragedy.

Analysis

Love and law are contrasted as opposite ends of the spectrum in Antigone. Neither is wrong nor right however, rather love is portrayed as representative of that which is human, and law is represented as something humanity needs to maintain order. Hegel (1991) suggests that the tension existing between Creon and Antigone is the result of "higher laws" or divine intent (1). Further he asserts that existence in itself is "an empty task" and that people will go through periods of activity without opposition but also periods where opposition occurs as necessary for history (Hegel 1).

His ideas suggest that both Antigone and Creon were one-sided and too stubborn but both held good points that must be considered; that divine love is just as important as law is to mankind's health and well being (Hegel 1). For Hegel Antigone was the ultimate representation of a tragic collision between love and law, a conflict between "one-sided positions" each of which held valid points and represented some good (Gonzales 1). Both Antigone and Creon at times are correct, but Creon must defend human law by defying divine law and love and Antigone defends the diving but must defy human law to do this (Gonzales 1). In this respect the play almost represents a battle of good against good (Gonzales 1).

Creon attempts to overcome Antigone's assertion that love should dictate mankind's actions throughout the place. He for example, in the play tries to turn Antigone's loyalty, suggesting that Antigone's brothers made her father unhappy and that her brother Polynices was actually a cruel and vicious voluptuary (Tan 1). Too "cowardly" to imprison his own son, Creon suggests that Oedipus let his son join the army, however asserts that Polynices then proceeded to attempt to kill Oedipus. Creon further suggests that Eteocles is no better, a gangster at best also attempted to usurp his father's authority (Tan 1).

Creon establishes one essential fact regarding law in the play, that "society does depend on a central authority for all that law brings is of benefit" (Bethune 1). His beliefs are valid, but so too are Antigone's that suggest divine law and therefore love should dictate mankind's behavior.

Antigone takes up divine law or the law of eternal justice out of love and in the name of that which is just (Bethune 1). Antigone suggests that Creon has defied the divine law even though he claims to promote lawful behavior, suggesting that he violate ritual and that it is her duty to change that, "Hate and scorn and shame have followed us, we two, living with hell's own curse... now Creon makes an enemy of our own flesh and blood" (Braun 22). Antigone argues that her actions are done out of love, desperately pleading to her sister Ismene "You coward! Stop turning my love into hate... you know what I must do.. how can you deny it" (Bethune 1; Braun 24). Antigone also proclaims that she "wasn't born to hate one with the other, but to love both together" referring to her brothers (Braun 42). "I am different. I love my brother" (Braun 24).

The chorus however suggests that law superceded love, stating "The mind is full of cunning, for evil and for good. We honor human law, we honor the law of god, but the sinner is cast out." Antigone rises above the law however, suggesting that love can overcome and overpower it. This is evidenced by Creon's assault on Antigone during their confrontation, where, enraged by Antigone's defiance Creon grabs her wrist and twists it. This causes immediate pain but then as the squeezing increasing, Antigone feels nothing suggesting that she is beyond the reach of the law and state of power that Creon has attempted to assert (Tan 1).

Interestingly Antigone's actions render her unlovable by society; in refusing to cede to the law she is sentenced outside the human community, considered "ugly, abject an tabooed" (Tan 1). Creon however may also be viewed as unlovable, someone who has surrendered himself to suffering and the "burdens of rule" (Tan 1). He distances himself from personal love and instead concerns himself only with affirming political order. Yet despite this Creon finds the act of sentencing Antigone loathsome, and her death leaves him robbed of his dignity, mourning and alone (Tan 1).