Religion vs State in Antigone

Religion vs. State

The classic Greek tragedy, “Antigone,” portrays the importance of family, loyalty, and obedience within the city state of Thebes. The story begins with the account of the two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, killing each other at battle, as they were fighting for the family throne. Because both brothers result dead, Creon, the uncle, assumes all power over the city. As king, he decides that “Eteocles, who fell fighting for his city…will be buried and receive all honors,” (Antigone, lines 196-198) as for “Polynices, who…hope[d] of burning his native land…he shall be neither buried nor mourned” (Antigone, lines 201-207). Antigone, sister of Eteocles and Polynices, and niece of Creon, refuses her uncle’s decree and sets out to bury her brother properly, accepting death as a punishment for her actions. Although the conflict of the story sparks from questioning the burial rights of an enemy to Thebes’s, ultimately, the tragedy underlines the major clash between religion and the city state. As Antigone represents the argument for religion, Creon inevitably represents the argument for the state.

The character Antigone, believed that divine law was above all, and that the laws of the gods were superior to those set by mankind. When it is brought to her attention that Creon is deciding to leave her brother Polynices unburied, she is determined to carry on with the burial rights for her brother. When Ismene, Antigone’s sister, questions Antigone’s disobedience to Creon, she responds by saying, “He has no right to keep me from my own” (Antigone, line 49). In this line Antigone is not only expressing her disregard for Creon’s rule, but also her boldness to speak out against a king, being a female in a classical Greek society where “women were not true citizens of the democracy” (p 67). Later, Antigone justifies this idea when she says “I will bury him…I will lie…a holy outlaw, since I must please those below a longer time than people here, for I should lie there forever” (Antigone, line 71-76). In this line, Antigone is referring to the gods, whom she knows she will have to please for eternity, as opposed to Creon, who is mortal, and can only rule for so long. It is because of this that Antigone believes carrying on with her brothers burial, she will be known as a “holy outlaw,” holy because she is favoring the Gods, yet an outlaw for breaking the king’s law. It is evident that Antigone places religion above the state. Her faith to the gods is so great that she is willing to give up her life to satisfy them than to live and follow Creon’s rule. As the argument between Antigone and Ismene progresses, Antigone states, “I know I’ll please those I should please most” (Antigone, line 89). Again, Antigone is well aware of the punishment she will receive is she buries her brother, but she knows her actions will please the gods, whom she has the obligation to “please most.” This idea is further emphasized when Antigone is telling her sister Ismene that not participating in the burial of her brother is “dishonor[ing] the god’s commands” (Antigone, line 77). Once again, Antigone feels that not carrying on with the religious tradition of granting their brother everlasting peace will only be an act of disobedience towards the god’s. To her, “dishonoring” the god’s was simply unthinkable, for they stood above all else. Therefore, lying to rest the body of her brother was not an option, but an obligation. Later on in the tragedy, when Creon questions Antigone if she had any previous knowledge of what consequences her actions would bring, she boldly responds that she knew, but she went on with them regardless, “Because it wasn’t Zeus who pronounced these things to me” (Antigone, lines 459-460). In this line, Antigone is brave enough to stand up to Creon, the king, and remind him that although he stands as king, the gods are still greater, therefore, more important to follow. As Antigone further explains, “I would never think your pronouncements had such strength that…they could override the…ever-lasting prescriptions of the gods…” (Antigone, lines 462-465). Again, Antigone is declaring Creon’s laws as insignificant because he does not hold the power to “override” the laws set down by the gods. Not only is Antigone trying to justify her reasons for burying her brother, but she is also humiliating Creon’s unjust law.

Creon, the king of Thebes, believed that the well-being of the state was most important and that anybody who dares stand against his city state would be considered an enemy to him. As Creon states the he would not, “consider an enemy of my country a friend to myself…” (Antigone, lines 188-189). In other words, in Creon’s eyes, an enemy to the state was an enemy to him and any friend to the state was a friend of his. It is because of this idea that Creon disagrees with Antigone over the burial rights of Polynices. Because Polynices died in battle trying to take over the city of Thebes, he was nothing more than the enemy of the state, which made him an enemy to Creon. As Creon further explains, “Whoever is friendly to this city will in life and death be equally honored by me” (Antigone, line 212-213). Here, Creon makes it clear that those who live and die as friends of Thebes, will be also be honored in life and death, just as Eteocles was. One can infer that the opposite holds for Creon, as he will dishonor any enemy of Thebes in life and death—in this case, Polynices, who died enemy of Thebes, and is dishonored from his burial rights, doomed to “wander by the…entrance of the Underworld, for eternity,” or so it was believed by the Greeks (Antigone, p 67). With this idea, Creon is able to justify the denial of burial rights to Polynices. Further on into the story, Creon makes it clear that by no means will he bury Polynices, “You will not place him in a tomb, not even if Zeus’s own eagles want to snatch up the carrion and take it to the very throne of Heaven!” (Antigone, lines 1044-1047) Here, Creon’s enragement drives him to speak out against the gods. In this statement, he claims that even if Zeus, the king of the gods, was to try and take away Polynices body to bury it, Creon would not allow it. It is clear that Creon does not see any power greater than that of the state, as he is so bluntly denouncing the king of all gods. Because he is the head of the state, he seems to think of himself above all, making his laws more powerful than those of the gods. From this, one can see why Creon feels so infuriated that someone would go so far as to break the law of his state. When Antigone is brought to Creon for burying her brother, he states, “Since, I caught her, alone of all entire people in open rebellion, I will not make myself a liar to the city, but kill her” (Antigone, lines 665-668). The fact that Antigone disregarded the law of the state condemns her to death, as the law holds more valuable to that of human life. The “rebellion” of Antigone’s by breaking state law made her an enemy to Creon. Creon finds himself forced to kill Antigone because he will not be a laughing matter to the state by allowing a woman to openly disobey his kingdom, “No woman will rule while I live” (Antigone, line 541). The fact that Antigone is a woman gives her no right to speak out against Creon, let alone to break state law. From this one can see that Creon is an extremist in matters of the state. The state is above all and those who go against it, dishonor it and deserve to die.

Overall, it is evident that “Antigone” effectively conveys the conflict between religion and state in classical Greece. Antigone holds religion so highly that she disregards the state law and Creon believes the state to be above all and disregards the laws set forth by the gods. These two extreme cases express the dilemma that brought about this great tragedy, two rights that resulted in death.