Role Of Justice In Antigone

The very basis of the play Antigone is the friction caused between what is best for Antigone which lies in direct opposition to what is best for the city of Thebes as a whole. Through their arguments, Creon and Antigone demonstrate the tension that arises due to the gap between a private good and a public good. The play teaches also that the law and justice are not always correlated which furthers the tension between private justice and justice for the city. While both arguments are strong, Creon’s argument that the good of the city is more important than justice for a single individual is most correct. Despite the disconnect between the law and justice however, law is essentially justice for the entire political community. The rule of law …show more content…
According to Socrates in Plato’s Crito, the law must be upheld despite the fact that it often leads to injustice. In this example, Socrates is being put to death for his attempts to use philosophy to reshape the understanding of his city. Socrates recognizes that he has not been hurting the city, but that he has instead been driving the city forward and allowing it to progress. Socrates recognizes that he has only promoted goodness and virtue and that his death sentence is therefore unjust. However, despite the injustice committed against him, Socrates decides to submit to the injustice by allowing himself to be executed unfairly. Socrates knows for a fact that he has been dealt with unjustly, however, he argues that it is his duty to submit to his sentence because he deems it more important to uphold the laws of Athens than to live. Socrates argues that laws that are not upheld by everyone carry no weight, and further, that weightless laws cause chaos and …show more content…
Antigone feels that she has been dealt with unjustly when Creon condemns her brother as a traitor against Thebes, and condemns his dead body to rot out in the open and to be eaten by dogs. Creon also decrees that anyone who attempts to bury Polyneices will be killed. Creon is in this instance promoting the good of the city by showing the strength of his rule, and also by using Polyneices as an example to other would be traitors. Through his actions, Creon is sending the message that treason will be met with force and that he will do anything in his power to destroy treasonous adversaries to Thebes. By ruling that Polyneices’ body must remain unburied, Creon is also laying claim over his soul and showing his people that even their souls will be attacked if they are to commit crimes against