Morality In Sophocles 'Antigone'

In today’s society, there are a lot of fine lines between moral and immoral, as well as fine lines between what is socially acceptable and what is not. From a moral and societal outlook, Antigone is a character that seems deaf to reason while Ismene is a character that seems much too easily swayed by reason. Antigone is too headstrong for her own good. The only opinion that matters is hers; no one’s words could make her change her outlook on life and death. Antigone is so hell-bent on burying one of her two brothers that died in a battle against one another. Polynices, an enemy of the state, was not buried, while Eteocles was because he was fighting for the country. Antigone decided to bury him in spite of how against it the king is. Antigone believes that the gods’ law is stronger than the law of
the state. The state should not determine what is right and what is wrong, so she follows that she believes because if she acts by burying her brother and dies for it, then she will achieve eternal happiness. It is a very self-motivated idea; she could not care less about her sister's, or anyone else’s, feelings. To go through with the act of burying her brother, she needs to believe that she will be rewarded if she does so. Antigone believes that the gods desire each dead person to be buried, regardless of whether they were for or against the state. There is no sure way to know if what she will do will get her in the good graces of the gods, so her desire to believe this is true and will end well for her is what motivates her. Antigone is saying no one knows the answer to what is right or wrong; she believes she could be as correct as the state (Creon) when she goes to bury her brother the felon. She takes this risk, not knowing how the gods will react to her actions, because if she dies and she was right, then she will gain eternal happiness. If she was wrong and suffers for the rest of eternity, she was suffering while living so suffering in death technically cannot get worse. When Antigone goes to Ismene and requests her help in this immoral activity, Ismene disapproves of the idea, claiming that their whole family died due to immoral activity, and she would be crazy to risk her life to bury her brother.
Ismene has learned her lesson from seeing these events end so tragically before. She has seen her family members die so many times that she knows not to do the wrong thing because the outcome will not be any different. Antigone holds contempt for Ismene, and though Ismene wishes Antigone will not go, Antigone is too, well, deaf to reason to see the danger she is putting herself in. She is too selfish to realize that getting caught, which on some level she knows she will get caught, will get her killed and take her away from her sister who begs her not to go. Ismene’s quick-response no was her morality speaking. Her mind swayed easily by reason because the law is what guides her to make wholesome decisions. It is possibly anxiety due to the death of most of her family members by going against the system. She knows what the other road looks like, the path of choices that are immoral and societally unacceptable, and she does not want to go down
it. Her fear of getting killed is what motivates her rational decision-making.
To make things complicated, if one character must be sentenced to death, it should be Ismene. She is a follower, not a leader. She would not be a noble elected official because of her anxiousness and tense nature when it comes to decision making and following the rules would not allow her to make any rules of her own. She would fail to take charge over the country and ultimately threaten the lives of her people by allowing them to walk all over her. She cannot make decisions to save her life, ironically, but she can follow rules already in place by government officials to keep herself walking on the path to success because success to Ismene is staying alive. Antigone, though (it seems) chronically depressed and apathetic and possibly sociopathic would make a better ruler (if she did not commit suicide) because she has a strong will that shows the exact nature of the work she does. When she put her mind to burying her brother, she did it no hesitation and with no help from anyone else. A real leader has the power to stand alone, as well as do the things that they say they will. Antigone had her mind set on doing something, and she did it – this is an actual quality of a leader. Leaders do not fear, and leaders do not back down, and this is why Antigone would be a better-elected ruler than Ismene. Though moral and societal outlook may be in favor of the actions of Ismene, the actions of Antigone demonstrate true leadership, and this is why she should be the leader.