Kemal KeskinHUM 111Exercise 2Antigone and The RepublicIn Greek mythology, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus, king of Thebes, and Queen Iocaste.
His uncle Creon is also the father of his fiancé Haimon. It is best known by two tragedies of the Athenian author Sophocles, preserved to this day: Antigone, where Antigone opposes until death to Creon who had forbidden to bury his brother for political reasons, where she appears mainly as a guide for her father Oedipus, blind and exiled. These two pieces have had a rich posterity in the arts during and after Antiquity, until the present day.
Antigone, and her fight against Creon, have had many meanings according to the works. Moreover, the Republic is one of Plato’s dialogues focusing mainly on justice in the individual and in the City. Plato criticizes democracy in its degeneration into demagogy and tyranny because of the attraction exercised by the prestige of power. This is Plato’s best-known and most famous work because of, among other things, the model of community life exhibited and the theory of forms that Plato exposes and defends.
It has also many meanings behind the scenes.Inside two established works of philosophical writing, thoughts of equity are displayed doubtlessly. Plato’s The Republic and Sophocles’ Antigone both addressed the components of death, oppression and shamelessness, ethical quality, and societal parts. These themes are vital components while tending to equity, regardless of whether in the societal portrayal or individual portrayal. For instance, Antigone utilizes the idea of death from multiple points of view when unfurling the grievous story of Antigone and her insubordination.
The reason of rebellion of Antigone was the justice and the ethics of death. She was fearless against the death when she decided to not obey the king’s orders and she was doing this for the ethical issues and death. The Republic additionally addressed the idea of death inside equity. Socrates quested the utilization of death as a type of penalty. Not at all like in Antigone, Plato talks about the feat against the death. I do not know why but if I would know Socrates personally, I could ask him that did he read Antigone.
Because, the ethical approaches and the bravery is very similar. Socrates who we know from the writings is very similar with Antigone. So, it is not surprising that Plato wrote a system which is very parallel with the critiques of Antigone herself. In my opinion, the themes of unwritten rules, freedom and its borders are similar with Plato’s ideal republic. Because both of writings emphasized that the conflicts between individual and government. Sophocles wrote Antigone in 442 BC and Plato wrote the Republic in around 380 BC.
Both of them indicated me that the conflicts of virtue, ethics, inner conscious were still quested like today. I think if Socrates and Plato would read Antigone, Antigone the story could be the initial point of the Republic’s search for ethical and ideal government, because they are very parallel according to the critiques and concepts.
