Preview

Disobedience In Genesis, Job, And Antigone

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
783 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Disobedience In Genesis, Job, And Antigone
In the short stories of Genesis, Job, and Antigone they all discuss the theme of punishment for disobedience, the role of knowledge, laws of Gods, and laws of man kind. Each individual theme is presented differently within the stories, but they share similar concepts for punishment and laws. Genesis and Antigone discuss the consequence of disobedience towards a powerful force. However, in Genesis Adam and Eve disobeyed God which is considered breaking the laws of God, while in Antigone, Antigone breaks the law of mankind to follow the laws of God. In the book of Job, Job is questioning the role of God and the law of God. The short story of Genesis, Adam and Eve is considered God's first creation on earth, however they lacked intelligence …show more content…
In the book of Antigone, the protagonist Antigone finds herself entangled in the laws of Gods while the antagonist Creon finds himself caught in the laws of man. In the book, Antigone believes that the laws of Gods are on her side to bury Polyneices and to implement a ceremony as a sign of respect and death. While, Creon has a firm conviction that laws of man is stronger than the laws of God because God isn’t the person of earth who has to compose all the rules and have the citizens of Thebes pursue them. The laws of God states that an individual shall not question what God says is right, they must do it. If an individual questions God’s actions it is considered a sin. Antigone did exactly what she thought was the right thing and followed the tradition of God’s rule. However, in the story of Job, the main character Job is being tested by God because the devil (Satan) questioned the loyalty of Job. The devil was convinced that under the right circumstances any human can be turned into an evil person. With that being said, God gave the devil permission to torment Job to see if he would crack under pressure. God had faith that Job will not break under any circumstances. The devil killed his entire family and diagnosed Job with a disease. Day by day Job’s faith and patience was tested. Because of the torture Job endured over and over he questioned the belief and actions of God. Job is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    People often reflect on their past and look back at the times they regret. Most often people tend to regret experiences that caused him or her strife. However, others tend to look at these types of experiences and claim that they were a necessary part of their lives in order for them make sense of life. Antigone, from Sophocles’ Antigone, and Martin Luther King Jr and his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”, engage in civil disobedience where both fight the laws of the land in order to follow a higher good with no regret. However, both do such in specific ways that ultimately differ from one another: Dr. King believes civil disobedience is a necessary moral obligation to defy unjust laws while Antigone believes it is necessary in order to please…

    • 1249 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Antigone declares to all that she and she alone perform the burial rites for her brother, Polynices. A debate between civil law and natural law ensues between Creon and Antigone and with both sides unable to reach an agreement. Antigone in disbelief of his disposition in his principals will ask, how can Creon not think the gods do not find his law to be “uncorrupted or pure?” Creon acting as if an authoritative deity supplied him with the power to decide the fate of the dead will respond: “Never. Once an enemy, never a friend, not even after death.” The overall consensus: Antigone continues to uphold the law of the gods and Creon continues to defend his own law. However, Creon the arbitrator of Thebes orders the execution of…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The world of the Greeks was based on the "divine laws" set by the Gods who were the rulers of the land and who promoted people to heaven or hell. At times, Creon, the city's new leader, followed the rules, but in most cases went with what he felt was good for the state. Antigone on the other hand created this mindset thinking that if the God's divine law is not followed all bad will happen, which in the end really did happen.…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Piety In Antigone

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The conflicts underlying Antigone is the conflict between human law which makes sense at the moment, and divine law, which is true for all time. Antigone acted upon the moment, a moment when her actions were just. Her defiance of the state sets in motion a series of events that test the bonds of filial piety and what it means to live under divine law. Haemon loved Antigone and wanted to marry her. When his father condemned her to death and would not see the error, he committed suicide. Upon learning about her son’s death, Creon’s wife commits suicide. Creon was not loyal to his family and disobeyed divine law. Creon betrayed every facet of the foundation of Greek beliefs. The only facet he held loyal to was under-valuing the power of a woman. His inability to get past Antigone being a woman long enough to hear out his son, or the Gods, ultimately led to the state losing everything.…

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Antigone Vs Creon Essay

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “I did not think anything which you proclaimed strong enough to let a mortal override the gods and their unwritten and unchanging laws,” (lines 510-513) proclaims Antigone, once again asserting her opinion on whose laws she is justified to follow. Antigone’s persona contrasts with Creon’s character ultimately due to their conflicting motivations about which laws should be followed: the word of the gods, or the laws of man.These conflicting motivations the characteristics of unreasonableness, anger, and disrespect to be highlighted within Creon’s character. In the end, these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by ensuing his stubbornness, and damaging his pride.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When she was questioned by her uncle why she broke the law she the law was wrong and stated “nor did I think your edict had such a force that you , a mere mortal, could override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakable traditions”( Sophocles ,1117,505). Antigone is saying that burying the dead is an important religious duty that needs to be done to respect but the gods. Creon also is aware of this because earlier in the play when one of his guards suggested that the gods buried the body he questioned why the gods would care about “a corpse” (Sophocles, 1112, 320). The main conflict in this play is the religious duty versus the law of the land. This forces Antigone to either be true to the law or true to her ethical or religious beliefs. Antigone chose standby her religious beliefs and to rebel against the unjust rules of her uncle. This ethical conflict put the whole plays plot into…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Antigone obeys the gods’ and fought for the burial of her brother. Even though Antigone commits suicide to escape her misery, her brother is rightly buried and she is reunited with her family in the afterlife. While Creon, obeys his own laws of man and refused to bury Polynices. And because of that, Creon suffers the tormenting deaths of his wife and son. The conflicts presented are to what we deal with in modern day society. Just like the laws of the gods and the laws of man collide in Antigone, the laws of nature and the laws of man often collide also. In life, acts of nature, like weather and natural disaster deeply affect the way people move around in society. Weather and natural disasters can cause people to relocate their lives, lose loved ones, and even change how people think about the world we live in. Even when we try ignore the damage done to nature or the affects nature has on us, it still…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In every person’s life there are laws that they follow, whether they are set by the authority in the country or their belief in a higher deity the laws one follows while leading their life can sometimes be in conflict. In Antigone divine and state law are incompatible forcing the characters to make difficult decisions. Antigone’s personal obligation to following religious rites and traditions puts her at odds with Creon’s insistence on enforcing his will as the king. Sophocles examines the conflict between rules and order to illustrate how adherence to the law of the state can be mislead. Through the conflicts between characters in the play, Sophocles exemplifies that in his best world divine or religious law is obeyed over the law of men or states.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Ruby Blondell states, the gratified slogans, “Born to be arrested” and “OBEY ALL LAWS! BE A MODEL CITIZEN!” succinctly encompass the difference between Antigone and her uncle, Kreon. Whereas Kreon believes the pursuit to the good life is akin to following the law of man, Antigone is fully prepared to die for burying her brother, adhering to the law of gods. As Antigone states, “ . .…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is prevalent that citizens around the world feel the need to follow their moral compass rather than the laws their state administers. When faced with a certain dilemma that causes any citizen to choose between following his moral conscience or following the rules mandated by the state, he is prone to following the law out of fear of the consequences if he chooses not to comply. However, there are those who prove to be an exception to this assumption, those who rebel against the state due to the moral and ethical considerations man has. Greek philosopher Sophocles conveys this trait of rebellion due to morality in Antigone through the protagonist Antigone and Plato discusses the same trait by referring to Plato, both whom serve as the primary example of wrestling with civil disobedience.…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Antigone Paper

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Characters like Antigone represent how firm beliefs and a strong sense of religion can impact an individual’s thoughts and actions. When Antigone was put before King Creon to defend herself she says to him “But all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now: they were and shall be, operative forever, beyond man utterly” (pg. 208). Throughout the book Antigone stands up, to seemingly impossible forces, for what she believes is God’s will. Antigone knew that her brother needed to be buried – the gods demanded the dead to be buried or else they would never reach the afterlife in Hades. And Antigone also knew that the consequence for disobeying the king’s was almost certain death. Her faith in God was stronger than her fear of death; Antigone knew that her actions would be seen as holy in God’s eyes (pg.192) and that she would make the right decision by burying Polyneicês.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Disobedience In Antigone

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The play “Antigone,” by Sophocles displays an interesting storyline in which the main characters Antigone and Creon undergo various obstacles due to their actions. Throughout the play, Antigone attempts to secure a respectable burial for her brother Polyneices. By choosing to protest and defy Creon’s rule, Antigone unquestionably breaks the law. However, her defiance does not seem like an act of civil disobedience against injustice because Antigone was acting in her own self-interest when considering dying for her brother.…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Who Is Antigone

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages

    However, due to Antigone’s loyalty towards the gods, it gave her the strength to argue at Creon on his flawed law. Antigone takes into consideration prior to the argument that the gods will be observing what she says. During the throwing of insults between Creon and Antigone on the burial of Polyneices, Antigone affirms that “religion dictates the burial of the dead” (24). By using the word “dictates”, Antigone informs us that the gods have the empowering and overall decision. She refers to the gods as a “religion” since in order to be on the side of the gods an individual must be faithful therefore it is treated in the sense of a religion.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Clearly, one of the main themes in Sophocles’s tragedy Antigone is justice. Antigone herself seems to conflate justice with the will of the gods, asserting to Creon that there are “laws whose penalties [she] would not incur from the gods, through fear of any man’s temper.” (502-503) This is, of course, in reference to her belief that her deceased brother deserves a proper burial; funeral rites are often seen as intrinsically tied to religion. She even describes herself as “a criminal - but a religious one.”…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Fromm essay” Disobedience as a psychological and moral problem”, he discusses and compares the different kinds of obedience and disobedience, and how they can have a positive or negative impact on the human society. There are many physiological comforts to obedience. For example, when a person obeys the law, or is obedient to their superior it leaves them with a feeling of accomplishment. They feel as though they have succeeded in their said job, therefore they are accepted within society. Some people assume, to obey is to be accepted and to disobey is to be withdrawn from society. Another benefit of obedience is reassurance. I believe that Authorities would rather have people obey out of love, over fear because then it is a true thing.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays