Examples Of Piety In Antigone

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York university Right and wrong Piety and impiety Tobin Arthur Lee Greek Lee, Danes November 13 DISCUSS THE CONCEPT OF RIGHT AND WRONG, PIETY AND IMPIETY IN SOPHOCLE'S ANTIGONE The idea of right and wrong has always been a concept that people argue about. In Sophocle's tragedy, "Antigone", this concept reoccurs continously throughout the story. The story is first introduced with the idea of right and wrong through the conversation between Ismene, and Antigone right from the beginning of the story. Antigone believes that she is obligated to bury Polyneices and give him a proper burial, contrary to Creon, the current ruler of Thebes in the story, and his beliefs. Ismene, sister of Antigone, refuses to help her with the…show more content…
He is pious and protective over his town. When religion strikes a king, he is faced with religious morality and rationaliy. That means that Creon must make decisions as a king, based on his religious beliefs and what is rational. A king will represent its state and become an image for the city. When Creon is faced with dead Polynieces, the one he named "the exile to come back to burn his fatherland" (insert line), he must make a rational decision, as duty of a good king. Since Polynieces was considered an enemy, Creon as a king had no choice but to visually show that he does not support the enemy in any way. He instead fights them, even when they are already dead. This means that he believes in the duty of the King over the duty of a father. The conflict arises from when he decided to not bury the already dead body. He instead put Antigone, the living, underground where the dead belongs and the dead where the living belongs on plain surface, to stench the city of his wrong doings. (line 1083) Creon is disturbing the balance of life, as Teiresias says,'' something that even gods should not have the power to deal with.'' The pious king quickly reveals himself as impious when he said that a god would never take the corpse of Polynieces because the only thing Creon sees is the fact that he fought against Thebes. (Line 284) The King makes man made laws, changing beliefs of what is right and what is wrong. The unwritten laws that Antigone speaks of, is a way to express the way of living. (Line 455) It is the duty of anyone with a sense of humanity to bury a dead body, especially if it is family. Creon believes that is a crime because he himself made it a law. He believes that Antigone's actions are obscene but in reality what is obscene is the rotting body in plain sight of the
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