Abstract
Culture is a very important phenomenon in the existence of the human society. It helps make people’s life more colorful and reflects almost all the processes of the objective reality. Literature, as one of the forms of culture, has special importance because it is one of the most ancient and, at the same time, the most wonderful forms of human culture. Ancient Greek literature is rightfully considered to be the epoch when the further traditions of Western Literature were formulated. Due to this, Greek literature is given special attention and presents rich material for analysis. This paper aimed at considering one of the masterpieces of the ancient Greek literature, “Antigone” by Sophocles, and analyzing the courage that Antigone had against King Creon.
The ideas and concepts that were formulated first in the times of the Ancient Greece are rather interesting for analysis due to several reasons. First, Greeks were the first to formulate the ideas of life, love, decency and human dignity. Second, these ideas are still considered to be the standards of human behavior although several centuries have passed since the moment of their formulation. Antigone is thought as a role model of human courage as thought of by the Ancient Greek philosophers due to her courage in speech and actions against her strongest rivals. The current research paper was written in order to analyze Antigone’s courage in the context of the philosophy of Aristotle and overall ideals of the Ancient Greece.
Consequently, the ideas of Aristotle were considered in the paper as its theoretical framework that provided me with the definition of courage invented in Greece and with major signs of moral and physical courage. Moreover, specific examples from Antigone’s life were given so that to make the research as precise as possible. The information was analyzed properly and formulated into the respective conclusion.
Introduction
Courage or, as some people can call it, pride, is a rather specific feature of a human nature due to the number of reasons. Different cultures present different definitions of courage and, consequently, different standards of human behavior. This can be explained by differences in historical and social developments of those cultures, as well as by different ideas of what is good and what is bad for a human being. Consequently, the courage that I am going to consider in this research paper is the idea of human courage formulated by one of the greatest ancient nations in the history of the mankind – Ancient Greece. Antigone as an embodiment of the Greek courage is the main character whom I am going to consider so that to see what ancient Greeks understood under the term “courage” (Lathan, 2002).
Thus, the analysis of Antigone’s courage is the best way to understand the courage in its ancient Greek sense. This concept was rather similar to what it means nowadays and I am to analyze it. Aristotle formulated the ideas according to which people lived, and Antigone, through her action and speech, epitomizes Aristotle’s ideas regarding what constitutes a courageous individual (Sachs, 2006).
Courage
Courage was one of the central concepts of the Ancient Greek philosophy due to the above mentioned historical reasons. But actually, it was innate to the people of Greece who dedicated most of their time to the issues of self-improvement and progress. Aristotle as one of the most famous Greek philosophers and scientists formulated a lot of fundamental concepts of life and the concept of courage was among them. According to Aristotle (350 B.C.), the courage is the basis for all other human qualities: “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.” (p. 1) Moreover, courage as one of the basic features of every human being should be directed at bringing the good to other people, and only in this case this courage becomes a virtue, not just a bravery of a pride person: “The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.” (Aristotle, 350 B.C., p. 12) Here, we can see that the courage of Antigone conformed to the requirements of her society as she sacrificed herself for the sake of her family’s memory and thus proved her real courage.
Respectively, courage can be divided into moral and physical one. For the characteristics of the moral courage, there is no one who could formulate them better then Aristotle. His idea was that courage should be trained from day to day, and only thus a person could become courageous: “Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.” (Aristotle, 350 B.C., p. 24) Antigone was taught by her parents, especially her father Oedipus, that a person should think of his or her dignity and virtuousness more than about benefit or fear of something, and Antigone proved that she understood the lesson. The same can be said about her physical courage. Needless to say, she was unable to fight Creon with her arms, but her readiness to die for the memory of her brother proves that she had such features of physical courage as decisiveness and absence of fear (Aristotle, 350 B.C., pp. 24 – 31).
Antigone’s courage in Speech
What impresses me most of all in the Antigone’s courage is that she was not afraid to speak her mind to anybody. Moreover, her words were full of idea and not just ungrounded bravery. Antigone is sure that her wish to pay homage to the memory of her brother and to bury him is the most virtuous wish and does everything to put it into practice. It goes without saying, that Antigone has a plenty of opponents, among whom there are King Creon, and even her sister Ismene. This young girl is afraid of what people might think of her if she violates the order of Creon not to bury her brother Polynices, afraid of what Creon could do to them if they disobey, and prefers not to take any steps: “I have no strength to break laws that were made for the public good” (Lawall, 2001, p. 462). But Antigone is not the kind of a person to act in the same way, and her open criticism of her sister is another demonstration of her courage: “You have made your choice, you can be what you want to be. But I will bury him; and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy” (Lawall, 2001, p. 462).
Moreover, Antigone’s courage is not limited by her sister. She feels able to confront King Creon, the ruler of Thebes, who ordered to leave her dead brother in the battle field as a punishment for his deeds. Family values are so significant to Antigone that she criticizes the tyrant decisions of the King without fear of punishment or even death: “Lucky tyrant- the perquisites of power! Ruthless power to do and say whatever pleases them. I’m not ashamed for a moment, not to honor my brother, my own flesh and blood.” (Lawall, 2001, p. 465).
All this shows that courage as a virtue and family as the most significant value are the most important things for Antigone. She was not afraid to express her thoughts in public, was ready to die for her ideals rather than be a passive observer of what was going on around her. Antigone kept to the highest standards of the virtuous person demonstrating courage, absence of fear and readiness to die for what she believed in. Full range of the moral and physical virtues formulated by the Greek philosophy found their reflection in this brave woman.
Action
The courage of Antyigone, however, was not limited by words only. As a truly virtuous person, she was ready to support her words with actual deeds and to bear all responsibility for both, words and actions (Lathan, 2002). The best demonstration of Antigone’s courage in action was her decision to bury her brother against King Creon’s order. Antigone did it despite all the controversy that it might cause, and despite the words of her sister who was afraid to do it. Antigone buried her brother and was punished severely for it – by being buried alive. She hanged herself in the tomb, but never regretted of what she had done. King Creon was the one to regret but it was too late already: “And the guilt is all mine – can never be fixed on another man, no escape for me. I killed them, I, god help me, I admit it all!” (Lawall, 2001, p. 481).
Moreover, Antigone defended her right to pay homage to her brother by doubting Creon’s power in public. The famous tyrant King Creon was thought of as the person whose authority can not be doubted because of the fear of people, but Antigone was not an average person, and she proved her courage by it once again: “The citizens would all agree, They’d praise me to if their lips weren’t locked in fear.” (Lawall, 2001, p. 467) Even Creon’s son was against the methods of his father’s rule and tried to persuade him to change for the better. He wanted to save Antigone whom he loved but it was impossible and later he had to die to: “I see my father offending justice wrong. That she’ll die but her death will kill another.” (Lawall, 2001, p. 476).
Thus, we can see that courage of Antigone was genuine and her example is the example of life of a virtuous person. She would rather fight and die, if necessary, for her ideals, than allow the tyrant Creon to do his evil further. Her life was the calling for all people not to stand evil and fight for the virtue with courage. Despite the fact that she had to die for her courageous actions, she became a hero for all people and remained in their memories for ever as a role model of courage (Lathan, 2002).
Conclusion
To conclude, the courage of Antigone is the brightest example of courage as thought of by ancient Greek philosophers and as thought of nowadays. The woman was ready to die for what she believed in and had to die as one person could not resist the evil of the world. Antigone displayed moral and physical courage and never gave up her ideal of a virtuous person. Nevertheless, we can clearly see from Antigone’s example that real courage does not die with the person who possessed it – it stays in centuries and makes all people remember Antigone as a hero for whom virtues were higher than everything, higher than life itself.
References
Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. 350 BC. W.D. Ross (Trans.). 2008. Web.
Lathan, Peter. “Dic Edwards, Pip Utton and Jean Anouilh.” Theatre in Wales. 2002. Web.
Lawall, Patterson, James, Owen & Bierhorst. “Antigone.” Norton Anthology of World Literature: Volume A, Beginnings to AD 100. 2nd Ed. New York: W.W. Norton Company, 2001.
Sachs, Joe. “Aristotle (384-322 BCE): Ethics.” The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Annapolis: St. John’s College, 2006.