Tragic Citizenship Assignment
September 23, 2014
“It’s not unpatriotic to denounce an injustice committed, on our behalf, perhaps it’s the most patriotic thing we can do.” ― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly
Everybody has their own ideas and beliefs about citizenship. The term very dynamic in nature has some basic fundamental qualities that are common ground for all diverse notions. One would unarguably agree that as a citizen everyone should have the right to object freely, when ones personal matters are infringed by the state. Also, that the government should not have much control over somebody’s personal life. Sophocles tries to convey the same ideas through his play Antigone. Using Sophocles’ Antigone, I will talk about citizenship from the perspectives of 2 pivotal characters i.e. Antigone and Creon; in what ways do these two differ from each other, providing textual evidence in support of each view, and at the end I will try to define ideal citizenship, keeping in mind the play Antigone.
For Creon, the king of Thebes, citizenship was about obeying the authority and failing to do so…show more content… l.209-210). He revoked Polyneices of his citizenship, because he “tried to gorge on blood he shared, and lead the rest of us as slaves” (Sophocles, Antigone, 2013, pp. l.201-200). However, Antigone asks Creon to respect the dead, “Death yearns for equal law for all the dead” (Sophocles, Antigone, 2013, p. l.519), and consider the connection Polyneices had with the city by birth. However, for Creon “Never is enemy even in death a friend” (Sophocles, Antigone, 2013, p. l.522). He considers that right to citizenship can be taken away if one isn’t loyal to the state, it is not something that is merely given to somebody by birth