the body. Yet the fact remains that no one else would act as she did because they held their own lives first and foremost before the life of another. Antigone alone had the compassion and courage to do what she felt was right, and did not even question whether it was right or wrong.Authority sets rules and laws, and the human authority in Antigone’s life was Creon. Without his rules, there would be chaos in the city, because laws are necessary to maintain order. Yet, Antigone chose to break a law that she felt was an unwritten one, not a law of human authority, but a law set by a higher power and authority. Because of her belief in something beyond herself, her conscience took precedence over everything in her life. She followed the laws of the land because it was her duty as a citizen and person to keep order and benefit her society, yet it was also her duty as a human being to follow a law that would maintain humanity in the world. Is it not one’s duty to perpetuate the existence of love and compassion in the world just as much as it is necessary to cling to the laws that give us structure to our lives? The structure that law give us in turn allow people to live humanely, to live in a world in which killing is forbidden, and aiding a person in need is necessary. If this is true, then Antigone made the right decision when she buried her brother. She followed the laws of her city, as a person should, yet when a law she deemed unjust and lacking in humanity was presented, she broke it for the good of that humanity which she so dearly cherished. Antigone’s seeming defiance of the law and authority was actually her way of preserving a law, one that wasn’t a tangible human law, rather one that came from a higher sense of self and from her faith in something greater than herself.Creon’s need to preserve his pride and the honor of his kingdom was a misguided attempt to assert his authority. He failed...
