Sophocles Antigone In St. Augustine's Problem Of Free Choice
882 Words4 Pages
When reading St. Augustine’s the Problem of Free Choice, I was reminded Sophocles’’ Antigone. In the play, Creon is the King of Thebes and two royal family members, Eteocles and Polyneices, were slain in a battle for the throne. Eteocles was honored as a hero for defending Thebes and he was given a proper burial. But his brother, Polyneices, was labeled as a traitor. Creon made a law declaring that Polyneices was not allowed to have a burial, and that anyone who attempted to bury him was to be executed. This declaration went against the law that the gods had set forth. Antigone was outraged that only one of her brothers received a proper burial, so she elected to follow the law of the gods. According to St. Augustine’s The Problem of Free Choice Creon sinned when he created the law forbidding the burial of Polyneices while Antigone did the right thing by burying her…show more content… Creon implements this temporal law because he believed the only way to punish a dead man is prevent him from resting in the afterlife. He thought that he was doing the right thing by punishing someone who betrayed Thebes. He dreaded that removing the law would give his subjects the impression that he was weak. After a conversation with the blind prophet Teiresias, it is seen that the gods felt that Polyneices should be given an appropriate burial. Teiresias informs Creon that “the gods no more accept prayer and sacrifice at our hands” (147) due to Creon not allowing Polyneices to be buried. The gods were furious with Creon for establishing a law forbidding a man’s burial. Like the gods, Antigone was outraged by the law that banned her brother’s burial. She did not think that eternal law was being followed. Antigone explained that she would not “be guilty of dishonoring laws which the gods have established in honor.” (125). Therefore Antigone gave Polyneices a proper burial, even though it was against the temporal