Wednesday, September 21, 2016

How does the play Antigone portray divine law vs. civic law?

The conflict between divine law and civic law drives much of the plot in the tragedy Antigone. Antigone represents divine law because she has chosen to bury her brother to fulfill the requirements of the gods rather than leave him unburied in compliance with the decree of Creon, who stands for civic law. In the first scene of the play, Antigone explains to her sister Ismene that she intends to bury Polyneices, and she insists that she will be sinless in her crime. She tells Ismene she is free to obey their uncle, but in doing so she will "be guilty of dishonoring laws which the gods have stablished in honor." When Creon proclaims to the Chorus that he now possesses the throne and all its powers and intends to govern the State for the good of its people, the Chorus acknowledges that he has "power ... to take what order thou wilt, both for the dead, and for all us who live."

The two opposing laws face off when Antigone, accused of violating civic law, is brought before Creon. When Creon asks her if she has broken his law, she answers that she has because "it was not Zeus that had published me that edict," asserting that divine law trumps civic law. When Haemon comes to plead for Antigone, saying the people do not want her to be put to death, Creon insists that as the ruler, he has the right to dictate the laws to the city; the people do not have the right to tell him what to do. Creon only relents to the point of having her entombed alive rather than executed outright.


When Teiresias, the prophet, appears, he advocates for divine law in Antigone's absence. Creon accuses the prophet of acting based on greed, but the prophet informs him that his violation of divine law has loosed the Furies of Hades on him--executors of divine law. Creon quickly acts to reverse his civic law, stopping to oversee the burial of Polyneices himself on the way to the tomb to free Antigone. As he leaves, he states, "My heart misgives me, 'tis best to keep the established laws, even to life's end." This line is ambiguous; it is unclear whether the "established law" he refers to here is civic or divine and whether his misgivings come from breaking civic or divine law. 


Creon comes to revere divine law over civic law too late, for he loses both his son and his wife. In the end, the Chorus comments, "Reverence towards the gods must be inviolate. Great words of prideful men are ever punished with great blows." This final pronouncement clarifies the play's decision that divine law must be revered over civic law, as Antigone argued from the beginning. 

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