Examples Of Obligation In Antigone

Life consists of constantly making decisions—both large and small. Some decisions can be life altering, others not making the slightest difference in anything. Some decisions you have time to ponder over, others must be made in a split-second. Some of the most difficult decisions to make are ones in which people feel ties to both different options and their parties. The main characters in Antigone, Into the Wild, and On Free Choice of the Will are all caught in inner struggles of choosing which competing obligation, between their self, others, and the Divine, to fulfill. ‘Obligation’ is defined in the dictionary as “something by which a person is bound or obliged to do certain things, and which arises out of a sense of duty or results from custom, law, etc.” In life, humans have so many assumed obligations: to themselves, to others, and for …show more content…
She must decide between the law and family combined with the Divine. To her though, in this situation, there isn’t even a choice to be made when it comes to burying her brother. She states to her sister Ismene “for I owe a longer allegiance to the dead than to the living, for in that world I shall abide forever. If you will, be guilty of dishonoring laws which the gods have established in our honor” (Sophocles, pg. 125). Antigone essentially paid the ultimate sacrifice due to her decision of honoring the gods and her family, but she knew that she made the right decision. While she was telling her sister, Ismene of her plans to give her brother a proper burial, she stated it “if I am to die before my time I count that a great gain. If anyone lives as I do compassed with evils, could he find anything but gain in death?” (Sophocles, pg. 134). To Antigone, choosing between competing obligations in this situation was easy, but to many other characters, including her sister, the decision was much