Sophocles and Euripides have provoked audiences for centuries to question what constitutes justice. While watching the various events onstage, spectators are led to ask if a definite form of justice exists in these plays, or whether notions of justice in the world are absurd. Furthermore, by presenting cases where justice is claimed to be enacted by a character or a god like force, the playwrights encourage speculation as to whether the punishments delivered are reasonable. .
In "Antigone" and "The Bacchae," both authors address similar theme and concerns. Just as we saw in Plato's "Republic," the subject of the city-state and how it should be best governed and notions of civic and natural laws, are issues dealt with in these two plays. Through Antigone's main characters Antigone and Creon, Sophocles presents apparently conflicting notions of justice. Both maintain different views on what constitutes justice and through them Sophocles sets the values of the city-state against those of natural law.
From the beginning, Antigone's desire to bury her dead brother provokes sympathy from the audience. The further emphasis she places on the gods' insistence on it being her duty to bury her dead brother solidifies the authority of her position. Antigone's opening dialogue with Ismene stresses that her loyalty is to the gods. "I'll lie there with him, with a man I love you can show contempt for those laws the gods all hold in honour"" (Line 86). In addition to this, the sentry's two accounts of how Polyneices' body was buried seemed to be mysteriously touched by the gods.
"Then suddenly a swirling windstorm came, .
whipping clouds of dust up from the ground,.
filling the plain "some heaven-sent trouble"" (Line 470).
When the idea is first posed by the Chorus that it might be the gods will to bury Polyneices, Creon defends his position by claiming that no god would bury a man that intended to burn their temples and pillage the land.
However, in the play Antigone, Antigone goes against the beliefs and defies the powerful tradition of male domination. In the play, Antigone's life was filled with pain and sorrow. ... Even after all of this, Antigone had even more pain to deal with. ... Isn't a man's right to burial decreed by divine justice? ... That is why Antigone is such an influential character in the play. ...
Later in the act, the Sentry enters again, this time with Antigone. ... Creon asks Antigone if this is true. ... He also wishes to validate his choice to punish Antigone. ... I believe Antigone's act was morally correct. ... Nor did that justice, dwelling with the gods beneath the earth, ordain such laws for men." ...
The story of Antigone is a tragic tale of the downfall of power and bad decisions. ... As any human would, Antigone did not want to die or suffer and she believed she should not have to. ... We can relate the situation of Antigone to present day problems. ... Although Creon knew his son loved Antigone he thought he had to prove himself as a leader by letting justice be served, no matter who committed the crime. ... Antigone died a hero in her heart, but I do not see her as a hero. ...
Pride is part of what makes Antigone heroic. Pride is a complex and multifaceted concept in Greek tragedy. ... This is between Antigone and Polyneices. ... Antigone doesn't mind doing anything on her own. ... Antigone has no problem working by her self either. ...
The tragedy in the play Antigone results from a major struggle between two sides. ... Willing to risk her life in his honor, Antigone secretly buries her brother. ... Since she feels that she has received no justice, she hangs herself. ... Antigone said, "That order did not come from God. Justice, that dwells with the gods below, knows no such law. ...
The Bacchae This play begins with the impregnation of Semele, princess of Thebes, by Zeus. ... Dionysus develops a religion based upon passion and ecstasy and travels all over Asia teaching his rites to men, forming the Asian Bacchae. ... The King of Thebes, Pentheus, denounces this new religion and plans to overtake this leader of the Bacchae. ...
The Tragic Hero of Antigone Sophocles" Antigone is the story of the battle between Antigone and Creon and their different views on laws placed by man and those placed by gods. ... She wants to see justice served even if she has to disregard the laws of man. ... When Creon orders for Antigone and Ismene to be executed Antigone takes all the blame to save her sister. ... Antigone is the only tragic hero in Sophocles" Antigone. ... Antigone stood for what is pure and true. ...
Antigone shares this same dilemma. ... Antigone's argument is also hypocritical. Antigone attacks Creon's edicts on the grounds that his interpretation of justice and the will of the gods are wrong. She may be correct in this assessment, but in saying so she assumes the power that she can interpret justice and Zeus' will, just as Creon did. ... As was argued, since the god commands the practice of philosophy and the pursuit of justice, to obey the god is to obey one's own reasoned conclusion about the just. ...
Euripides, at the end of his life, wrote the Bacchae while he was living in exile in Mecedonia. ... The Bacchae opens with Dionysus grieving over his mother's death. ... The Bacchae on the hills of Cithaeron danced in ecstasy. ... The stranger then cries to his Bacchae from within. ... "We shall march against the Bacchae." ...