Antigone’s Judicial Hierarchy Essay -- Sophocles Antigone Papers

Antig ones Judicial HierarchyIn Antigone, one of the most renowned Greek tragedies, Sophocles constructs a conflict that questions the very translation of legal expert. Considering a play based almost entirely on the acts of a single individual in clear defiance of a fagots decree, questions of right and wrong necessarily persist. It is difficult, however, for one to understand justice in deciphering the opinions of the two conflicting parties, Creon and Antigone, as these two clearly throw off opposing biased perspectives. It becomes prudent to examine the concept of justice in the eyes of the chorus, who has the necessary perspective to provide unbiased commentary in Antigone. Throughout Antigone, the chorus constructs a judicial hierarchy in which the subjects of the polis must(prenominal) submit to the practice of laws of their king, and the king must fulfill his obligations according to the universal law established by the gods.The judicial hierarchy of Antigone is establi shed early on in the tragedy, and is finally articulated clearly in the final lines intercommunicate by the chorus. For the chorus, justice requires that the ruler of a polis have absolute power, and that his subjects embrace his decrees to the letter. Early on, the chorus says, to use any legal means lies in your power, both about the dead and those of us who live, (ln.213-214). This could be interpreted just now as a citizen appealing to the hubris of his ruler, straying from honesty and moving toward appeasement, but given the manner in which the chorus interacts with Creon later in the play, it is some(prenominal) more likely that he truly believes that Creon, or any attraction for that matter, is just in demanding that his laws be followed by his subjects. The implication here is that Creon has absolut... ...us in Antigone constructs a controversial conception of judicial hierarchy, which places accountability for the actions of a expanses subjects in the hands of the r uler and the accountability of that ruler in the hands of the gods. According to this system, both Antigone and Creon are guilty of injustices, and both stock the just punishment for their actions. Antigone suffered at the hands of her ruler for the violation of his decrees, and justly so. For what is a constitution in which the word of the sovereign is inefficacious? Creon suffered at the hands of the gods, to whom he alone was accountable. The pain that he feels as a result of the death of his son and wife is swift retribution from the gods, track off his foolish path, a path toward injustice.Works CitedSophocles, Antigone. Trans. Grene. stops The University of Chicago Press, 1991.