Female Acts in Greek Tragedy by Foley Helene P.; Foley Helene P. P.;

Author:Foley, Helene P.; Foley, Helene P. P.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press

Appendix: Antigone’s Moral Character

This appendix briefly weighs objections made to Antigone’s act and to her ethical character and purported inconsistencies. As we saw, Creon in his devotion to principle cannot imagine contexts in which the interest of the state could legitimately give way to the concerns of individuals or groups of citizens or that there are areas that the state (especially a state that becomes equated with the judgment of one man) should not or cannot control as it wishes. Antigone, on the other hand, has been thought to display some of the limits of an ethical stance that relies too heavily on personal bonds.84 Creon, Ismene, and the chorus see Antigone as subversive to the civic order, and both Creon and Ismene accuse Antigone of moral myopia. Antigone will not be caught betraying (prodous’, 46) her brother, but her brother’s attack on his country means nothing to her (see Creon at 512–20).85 In Creon’s view she privileges the interests and justice of the gods below over those of the gods of the city.86We have seen that Antigone is not unresponsive to the concerns of the city, although she does not equate those concerns with Creon’s decree. Certainly, Antigone’s ethical mode neither derives from nor suits public deliberations by the city’s leaders in any general sense, and it would be hard to disagree on the limitations of her stance—although it may be the most appropriate one available for her situation.87The dramatic action, however, treats Creon’s and Antigone’s ethical modes in an entirely different fashion. Creon’s moral and personal limits are revealed as he is tested in making judgments (in accordance with his own words at 175–77). The principles for which he acts through his decree are admirable if deployed correctly, and no doubt Demosthenes cites Creon’s first speech with approval for that reason (19.247 on Antigone 175–90). Although Antigone indeed threatens the civic order with her act and ensures its disastrous conclusion by her intransigence, it is Creon who acts destructively to the city in aiming to serve it. His decree pollutes the land and exposes it to new dangers; his punishment of Antigone divides the city; Tiresias announces that he made the wrong decision from the start.88 Indeed, it is the principles de-fended by Antigone that ultimately prove to be of public as well as private importance.

Although claiming to be devoted to the care of her family, to be acting in the interests of love and not from hate (523), Antigone has been criticized for refusing to listen to and then quickly turning on the last remaining member of her family.89 Antigone, faced with a conflict between two blood relations, de-fines away Ismene’s relation to herself. She will not care for a loved one (philn) loving (philousan) in words only (543).90 Just as for Creon all brides are inter-changeable and no one will count as his philos who does not give the polis the highest priority, for Antigone loved ones must be willing to offer unquestioning and active support to kin.

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