I read Antigone for the first time, today. For those of you who are unaware, Antigone is one of Oedipus’ daughters. Her brother is banished and returns with an army to seek revenge against the city. His brother defends the city and both brothers die in battle. Their uncle, Creon, becomes king and declares that no one is allowed to bury the brother who was banished. Apparently, this is not only unpleasant for any living person with a nose, but it traps his spirit in limbo. This makes Antigone irate and she spreads dirt over her brother and performs sacred rites over his body to release his spirit. Her actions enrage the king who tries to starve her to death as her penalty. The somewhat less important, and completely unsurprising, part is that a lot of people die including the king’s son and wife. Duh. Didn’t the king know he was in a Greek tragedy? You have to tread lightly when Sophocles is writing your life.
The point is, this play, aside from being superbly written, has some great themes! One that libertarians will appreciate is Antigone’s “Don’t tell me what to do!” attitude. Regardless of the law, she follows her conscience, willing to pay the ultimate price. So we have civil disobedience.
Another important theme is Antigone’s dedication to a higher law. She didn’t sprinkle dirt on her brother to make her uncle mad. She did it because her religion and her moral compass indicated that this was the right thing to do. For us, this higher law can be our conscience, our religion, or in a political sense, the Constitution.
Antigone’s story causes readers to ask themselves what they would do in such a position. When faced with a choice between personal beliefs and the law, which will we choose to honor. Much like Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience (He spent time in jail rather than pay a tax that would support governmental action with which he disagreed.), Antigone calls to those who talk about freedom and ask why they have not chosen to be free. You can make your own decision about the practicality of Antigone and Thoreau’s brands of civil disobedience. You have to choose your battles. The point is that these writings cause us to think. They force us to evaluate ourselves. This is one of the most important purposes of literature, today.
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