"Antigone: Even so, we have a duty to the dead.
Creon: Not to give equal honor to good and bad" (140).
This quote is where Creon and Antigone fundamentally differ in viewpoints. Both, admittedly, have reason behind them. Do we not owe it to the memory of those lost to respect them? But on the other hand, who deserves to be respected? Do murderers and madmen get the same honor as heroes and saints? Who gets to decide who is worth honoring?
This expansion of this quote is one of the major moral conflicts of Antigone. Does Creon's have the right to decide which dead are worth honoring?
Each character has completely differing viewpoints but each character has evidence backing up their viewpoint. Antigone does not believe that Creon's law is the gods and she believes he is interfering with the god's plans. On the other hand Creon believes he was appointed by the gods and that his law is the gods. It is hard to discern who has the correct motive. Depending on which way the situation is looked at they can both be proven right or wrong and that is why this story is such a classic.
ReplyDeleteI think in this quote, Creon is upholding the foundation of justice that he has established for his kingdom. Creon wants to be seen as a just king and wants to be remembered and therefore will not give equal rights to the good and bad. Also, his interpretation of the unwritten law is drastically different than Antigone's. The good majority of the questions Reid has asked are opinion questions and so, like Zac said, each character has their own viewpoint. Creon was appointed by the gods and so when Antigone speaks against his decision, she is not only discrediting him, but also the gods. I think that it would be difficult to see Antigone as completely credible as well because she has emotional attachment to Polynicis and therefore would have wanted to bury him whether or not he was dangerous. Yeah so those are my thoughts...
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