In Antigone, Sophocles poses the question on what constitutes morality. By creating two sisters, Antigone and Ismene, opposed in thought on whether to bury their brother, Sophocles addresses the question of which sibling is truly acting morally. Through examining the play, one can determine that morality is simply based on one’s personal perceptions and beliefs. In Antigone, Ismene and Antigone exhibit contradicting perceptions of law thereby allowing both characters to formulate their own definition of principle. To Antigone, law is a divine creation enforced by the Gods, but to Ismene, law is the decree of the state and its rulers. Despite following their own will and subconscious, neither character can be labeled amoral since their individual perceptions of law vary.
When Antigone first implores her sister to help in burying their brother, Ismene promptly resists. Disinclined to disobey the king, Ismene remarks that she “has no strength to break laws that were made for the public good.” In these words, Ismene illustrates her beliefs that the king’s decree is the ultimate law that governs order as well as her life. Focused on the order set down by Creon, Ismene bases her decisions on her fear of the fatal punishment of death. Even though Ismene is justified in her rejection of partaking in acts that would undoubtedly lead to her demise, Ismene’s bull-headed sibling, Antigone, belittles her until she is finally driven to reverse her position.
Unlike her sister, Antigone views law as the rule of the Gods. Despite knowing the punishment for burying her brother, the strong-minded Antigone challenges Creon’s decree insisting that “it was not God’s proclamation” and therefore it was invalid. Antigone, solely focused on the merits she will receive in the afterlife as she upholds her family’s honor, unwaveringly welcomes the punishment of death, for to her the “final Justice that rules the world below makes no such laws” allowing her act without fear or regret. Resolute in her beliefs, even after her sister reassesses her position and decides to face punishment with Antigone for a crime she did not commit, Antigone demeans Ismene declaring that Ismene “shall not lessen [her] death by sharing it.”
Even though it may appear as if one character is amoral, Ismene by not agreeing to defend her family honor and bury her brother, or Antigone for belittling her sister even after she has agreed to take punishment, neither can be branded dishonorable since they perceived law different. To Ismene, violating the law would result in her death while to Antigone, it would simply elevate her in the afterlife.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Pitying Ivan Ilych
Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych recounts the impending death and fruitless life of Ivan Ilych. Consumed by the materialistic values of his upper-mid class Russian society, Ilych appears to have all—a wife, two children, a new home, and high paying position. Yet Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych sheds light on the falsity of meaning in Ilych’s life in hopes of exposing Ilych’s self-centered decisions. Yet Ronald Blythe’s assertion that even though Tolstoy condemns “Ivan Ilych’s opportunism, marriage of convenience, vanity, and limitation, an then with astonishment, the reader finds himself beginning to like this conventional man and to be sorry when he starts to lose out to death” holds true as Tolstoy paints a picture of the society’s ideal of self promotion.
Tolstoy makes a point of depicting the societies’ reactions to Ivan Ilych’s death and decaying—a point that helps bring the reader to feel sorry of Ilych. At his death, Ilych’s friends and even his wife are burdened by his funeral. On the arrival of the news of Ilych’s death Peter Ivanovich, Ilych’s best friend, tries only to map out the position he will inherent since Ilych’s seat now stands open. Likewise, Peter becomes upset when he must speak to Ilych’s wife, Praskovya Fedorovna, over playing bridge with all Ivan’s other friends. The indifference towards Ivan’s death evokes a sense of sympathy towards Ivan that is even more greatly fostered by Praskovya’s reaction to her husband’s death. Praskovya masks herself in a façade of a grieving widow in order to extract information on financial dealings. Ilych’s society’s promotion of oneself’s well being and societal status keeps his counterparts from empathizing with his death from lack of deep meaningful connections. (For example, Ilych and his wife married simply due to the similarity of their societal backgrounds.)
Much of the pity that readers develop for Ivan Ilych also lies in Ilych’s realization that his life was in fact meaningless. Plagued with superficiality, Ilych simply recalls his childhood memories as the ones that mattered demonstrating the insignificance of his more present life as an adult. Ilych even begins to characterize his life as “worthless and doubtful” as his final hours draw near. Yet as Ilych realizes his life’s insignificance, he begins to fade more deeply towards death, impeding him from living a life filled with compassionate relationships.
Despite Ilych’s life of self-centered thinking, Tolstoy depicts all of society sharing his myopic view. As Ilych comes to the realization that his life was worthless due to his thinking and materialistic outlook, the reader begins to pity him as he suffers through the pain of his oncoming death.
Tolstoy makes a point of depicting the societies’ reactions to Ivan Ilych’s death and decaying—a point that helps bring the reader to feel sorry of Ilych. At his death, Ilych’s friends and even his wife are burdened by his funeral. On the arrival of the news of Ilych’s death Peter Ivanovich, Ilych’s best friend, tries only to map out the position he will inherent since Ilych’s seat now stands open. Likewise, Peter becomes upset when he must speak to Ilych’s wife, Praskovya Fedorovna, over playing bridge with all Ivan’s other friends. The indifference towards Ivan’s death evokes a sense of sympathy towards Ivan that is even more greatly fostered by Praskovya’s reaction to her husband’s death. Praskovya masks herself in a façade of a grieving widow in order to extract information on financial dealings. Ilych’s society’s promotion of oneself’s well being and societal status keeps his counterparts from empathizing with his death from lack of deep meaningful connections. (For example, Ilych and his wife married simply due to the similarity of their societal backgrounds.)
Much of the pity that readers develop for Ivan Ilych also lies in Ilych’s realization that his life was in fact meaningless. Plagued with superficiality, Ilych simply recalls his childhood memories as the ones that mattered demonstrating the insignificance of his more present life as an adult. Ilych even begins to characterize his life as “worthless and doubtful” as his final hours draw near. Yet as Ilych realizes his life’s insignificance, he begins to fade more deeply towards death, impeding him from living a life filled with compassionate relationships.
Despite Ilych’s life of self-centered thinking, Tolstoy depicts all of society sharing his myopic view. As Ilych comes to the realization that his life was worthless due to his thinking and materialistic outlook, the reader begins to pity him as he suffers through the pain of his oncoming death.
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