Category talk:Literature
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Literature by language[edit]
What about a category Category:Literature by language? We already have Category:Literature in English, Category:Ancient Greek literature, Category:Kannada literature etc. -- Robert Weemeyer 01:55, 15 October 2005 (UTC)
Upper case/Lower case?[edit]
What's with all of this upper/lower case stuff on the category page? Seems like a whole load of nonsense to me... *Cremepuff222* 01:21, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
“ANTIGONE: I dared. It was not God’s proclamation. That final Justice That rules the world below makes no such laws. Your edict, King, was strong, But all your strength is weakness itself against 360 The immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now: they were, and shall be, Operative for ever, beyond man utterly. I knew I must die, even without your decree: I am only mortal. And if I must die 365 Now, before it is my time to die, Surely this is no hardship: can anyone Living, as I live, with evil all about me, Think Death less than a friend? This death of mine Is of no importance; but if I had left my brother 370 Lying in death unburied, I should have suffered. Now I do not.
You smile at me. Ah Creon,
Think me a fool, if you like; but it may well be That a fool convicts me of folly.”
Antigone's Quote Analysis The theme of natural vs. man-made is the central idea of this quote. Creon is a king who believes that there is no powerful law other than the one that is yielded by the state, while the speaker in this quote, Antigone, believes that the only supreme law comes from the gods. Therefore, there is a rivalry between these two characters, with one trying to justify artificial law while the other defying the artificial law and following the gods' proclamation. Antigone, in this quote, shows that she has greater loyalty to her dead brother than she does to the law of Thebes. Her sense of duty and the wishes of the gods are a driver to her defiance of human law and following natural law that has been shown as divine.
This quotation is central to the play because it has been used to portray Antigone's heroism in the face of people more powerful than her. According to the quote, it is clear that Antigone has a strong belief in rights. She believes it is a provision for her by the gods' laws to afford her brother a decent burial. The law of the gods, according to her, are higher as compared to the laws of the state, and this means that she is doing nothing wrong by following the laws of the gods. In line 360, she states that "It is not God's proclamation," and there are no such laws are provided by the final justice that rules the world. The quote in itself assists the reader in the character's quest for fairness in all issues, especially when it is being meted on an individual who the state perceives as powerless.
The quote is a central pillar of the play because it points out an individual's resistance to unfair state power. Antigone is a character who says no to anything that she finds vile, and this shows that she is more powerful compared to the leader on the throne who is trying to go against her rights. Creon is a leader who threatens people's rights to do lawful things, as seen in this case. As a main character in the play, Antigone is quick to note that the King's "edict…was strong". In this regard, she is respectful to the law bestowed on the King but refuses to take wayward directions lying down. Creon is therefore helpless and unable to act on his own. A deeper understanding of the quote points out that Creon's wish not to execute Antigone, but some other powers push him to order her death. He seems to yield state power that controls him, and this shows that he has circumscribed to his kingship as the throne has made him the master of the land he dwells in. The quote seems to indicate that power sometimes becomes dangerous through the way that it is pushing Creon to act inhumanely. The King appears to have surrendered to the state, and he knows that his circumscription well. Antigone is defiant of the law put in place by Creon because she believes that it is unfair to go against the gods' supreme law. She believes that the King's laws cannot be compared to those of the gods. According to the quote, the laws of the gods are eternal. Whereas the King's laws are strong, they will always be weak compared to those of the gods. Antigone champions her rights to bury her brother and believes that God cannot make such a ruthless proclamation as made by Creon. God would never make a law that forbids a sister to bury her brother. The power of the state's law has also been expounded in the quote. In this case, Creon is of the firm belief that the state is the supreme power. He believes in such laws so powerfully that he makes a declaration that anybody who dares to defy his order not to bury Polyneices will have to be stone in the public square. Conclusion The quote that has been analyzed is essential to the play because it holds a central theme. The fight for human rights against the state's laws is a theme that the entire play has dwelt on and is b therefore, a pillar of the whole plot. The theme of natural law comes across as the emphasis of the quote. Creon, as the King strongly believes in the obedience of man-made laws. By going contrary to Creon's command not to bury her brother, Antigone brings about another set of guidelines referred to as natural law. The source of the law is divine order, and this is shown by how she cites the gods' laws. The reader can conclude that natural law perceives standards for right and wrong, which are fundamental and universal compared to the rules that any society has made. Work Cited Sophocles. Antigone. ReadHowYouWant. com, 2008. Retrieved from https://mthoyibi.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/antigone_2.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by Beasts11 (talk • contribs) 08:31, 20 April 2021 (UTC)