Antigone

Antigone

Antigone as a Greek tragedy. Four elements
1. Protagonist: we follow Creon's tragedy
2. Reversal: We see Creon back down on his position
3. The Error that causes the reversal: his hardline stance and unwillingness to follow the law of the Gods or listen to anyone
4. The cleansing: we see the cause and effect through the death of everyone
5. Chorus: provides emotional narration
The State
1. Creon
  1. Sovreignty posited by law
  2. Unrestrained sovereign power
    1. Causes Creon to lose his rationality
  3. States has friends and enemies
2. The result
  1. The tragedy and the outcomes suggest tha tthe state is restrained by the law of nature.
  2. Significant conseuquences when not obeyed
  3. Justice
  4. ven the Gods must obey the law
Burial
1. Corpses belong in the ground
  1. Only corpses - not living people (Antigone)
  2. Dead people need to be returned to the earth
  3. Creion doesn't respect nature, law and justice
  4. utting Natigone in the ground was an inversion of not allowing P to be buried
Positivism/Natural law
1. hese distinctions didn't exist in Ancient Greece
2. aw made by the Gods - so positive in the sentse it is made by someone, but natural in the sense that it has a religious/spiritual backing
3. The play shows that nat8ral law and positive law can come into opposition, but can also be complementar
4. Concept of DIKE at the foundation of both
  1. She who shows to being where they belong
  2. Different conceptions of justice
  3. Justice not done, because more unnecessary hardship was caused
  4. Proportionality
5. Law needs to be changeable and also contain morality and natural justice
  1. Flexibility = positive law
    1. Haemon points out that the King can change the law
    2. Creon says to Haemon that the kings law must be obeyed always
    3. Haemon tells him that he looks childish.
  2. Morals = natural law
    1. Tiresias says that by betraying just he brings misfortune
    2. Some things are immutable and have to be respected, even by kings
  3. Justice needs a balance

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	Created by Kate Fuller over 11 years ago