Antigone And Civil Disobedience

Civil disobedience, as a form of civil position and attitude, can be viewed as a concept that presumes an individual’s right and permissible responsibility to challenge and make own decisions against the letter and spirit of the law. It reflects on situations and contexts when these state-inflicted laws contradict the natural human laws, involving some impairment of existing ideals and principles. Notably to say, ideas of civil disobedience were present during the ancient and antique times by efforts of Socrates, Sophocles, and other great thinkers; yet the theory of civil disobedience was first introduced by Henry David Thoreau in his similarly titled essay Civil Disobedience. As many years of history divide theorists and public leaders concerning
It was written in terms of a quite religious society, where ancient civilizations emerged and arose to present only the initial forms of state control. The central conflict of ideologies takes place when Antigone, Polyneices' sister, was seized for committing illegal ritual of burial, and the King Creon asked her why she, being in awareness and consciousness, break the law prescribed by the state. In response, Antigone answered that laws are not absolute unity, but rather a privilege of Gods: “Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me that edict; not such are the laws set among men by the justice who dwells with the gods below” (Sophocles) In addition to God’s absolute power, it is noted that family loyalty can also be a source or a trigger for committing civil disobedience: “So for me to meet this doom is trifling grief; but if I had suffered my mother's son to lie in death an unburied corpse, that would have grieved me; for this, I am not grieved. And if my present deeds are foolish in thy sight, it may be that a foolish judge arraigns my folly” (Sophocles). It is possible to see that Antigone’s acts of honoring own family outweigh the laws prescribed by the men of the government. It can be argued that Sophocles saw a tragic conflict between a sacred law and a civil law that resulted in loyal, but soon capital punishment of people
All authors, mainly, emphasize on necessity of following civil disobedience position when the state acts in illegal or unjust way to show opposite position and non-violent ideology. In the meantime, authors have different views regarding criteria of justice and assessing state actions; nevertheless, it can be explained by different historical epochs and