SOPHOCLES’

“Antigone”

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 Civil Disobedience in Antigone:

The short play, “Antigone”, was written

in the 5th Century B.C. (441 B.C.) by the
Greek playwright Sophocles. It deals with
some of the most basic problems that affect a
society.

One of them is “Civil Disobedience”.

Civil Disobedience is both a right and
responsibility of a person to fight an unjust
law. 2
 Civil Disobedience is broadly defined as
the deliberate violation of law for reasons of
conscience and moral principle. Perhaps the
earliest literary expression of civil
disobedience comes from Sophocles‘
Antigone.

As the play opens, Creon (King of

Thebes), has declared Antigone‘s brother,
Polyneices, guilty of treason and ordered that
his body lay unburied for the birds and
scavenging dogs to do with as they will. 3
 Motivated by an urgent sense of familial
duty and abhorred by the injustice of Creon‘s
decree, Antigone deliberately defies the king,
spreading dust on her brother’s body while
offering burial rites.

A trial ensues in which Antigone

expresses her disapproval for any manmade
law that defies the divine. Her appeal to
divine law fails, and Creon condemns her to
death. 4
 The government is given the right to
control a group of people. If an individual has a
problem with an injustice, that he feels has
been placed against him, then he has the right
to convey this.

Civil Disobedience allows one to express

his thoughts and ideas in a passive, non-violent
way. It can be used when one believes that they
are morally right, and that others will agree
with them. In a non-violent form, Civil
Disobedience is a basic human right.
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 Often, society has laws that individuals
feel as immoral, or unjust. Antigone decided
to bury Polyneices, for she was obeying the
gods, even though it was declared illegal by
King Creon.

Antigone believed that the power of the

gods was greater than the power of any king.

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 If she had obeyed King Creon, she would
have disobeyed the stronger power of the gods
which could have more devastating result on
her.

Antigone shows us, that through Civil

Disobedience, breaking some of societal laws
is both a right and a responsibility.

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 Creon says that the laws enacted by the
leader of the city "must be obeyed, large and
small, right and wrong." In other words,
Creon is arguing that the law is the basis for
justice, so there can be no such thing as an
unjust law.

Antigone, on the other hand, believes that

there are unjust laws, and that she has a
moral duty to disobey a law that contradicts
what she thinks is right. 8
 This is particularly the case when the law
of the city contradicts the customs of the
people and the traditional laws of the gods.

Antigone's decision not to follow Creon's

decree against giving Polyneices a proper
burial is therefore an example of civil
disobedience, or a refusal to obey the law on
moral grounds.

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 Though Antigone defied the King‘s
decree, her motives were pure, and
Sophocles portrayed her as the
protagonist and not the villain.

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REFERENCE:

Kannan, Ashley (2012). Civil disobedience in Antigone.

Retrieved on September 16, 2018 from
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/antigone-
thinks-she-obeying-gods-law-however-she-281710

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THE END !

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