Antigone Theme Of Justice Essay

In the play, Antigone, there are two types of justice that are displayed. One type of justice is represented by Antigone who believes in “divine law”, the will of god, and another type of justice is represented by Creon whose understanding of justice is through strict laws and harsh punishment. The play begins, In the aftermath of the theban civil war, in which two brothers, eteocles and polynices, died while fighting on opposite sides, for the throne of Thebes. Creon, ends up being King of Thebes, declares that he would not give polyneices proper burial and that "no man is to touch him or say the least prayer for him; he shall lie on the plain, unburied". Creon, does this in order to establish himself as the head of the state. Antigone, (sister of polynices and eteocles) hears of this injustice and goes against the King 's orders and plans to bury her brother polynices, but gets caught in the act and is sentenced to death. Antigone does not deny her actions, stating "I deny …show more content…
In this situation, she was not making the ruler, rule. When Antigone did not abide with the law she was being “least just”, she was going against the law, the state and the ruler. As Socrates states the ruler has knowledge and with that knowledge he makes good judgements, and good laws, but Antigone did not see it as that. However, Socrates and Antigone both have different ideas or beliefs that differed from the rest of society. For example Antigone believed in divine law and Socrates believed in his own God and not the Athenians God. They both were scrutinized for their belief and ideas which led them to their downfall, and they both were ready to die for what they stood