Is Antigone's Execution Just?

Kourtney C

October 31, 2011

Phil110 Phil R 11-1150

Is Antigone’s execution just?

The question of justice comes up a lot within Greek tragedies. Throughout the book, The Republic, Socrates is trying to define justice and what it truly means. A famous philosopher, Martha Nussbaum, analyzes the idea of human ethical life according to the Greeks and understanding the cause of human tragedy. I will be relating Martha’s interview to the story of Antigone, answering the question of whether her execution was just or not. I do believe that Antigone’s execution was not just because there was an imbalance in the parts of the soul.

Antigone is impulsive, stubborn and doesn’t let anybody stop her from what she wants to do. She was caught trying to bury her brother, Polynices. Polynices and his brother Eteocles fought to be king and they were both defeated. King Creon, Antigone’s uncle, ordered Eteocles to be buried in honor and Polynices to rot on this earth. Antigone was furious of this and even though she knew the consequences if she were to bury her brother, she did it anyway. Creon believed that her brother, Polynices was a traitor to society and he deserved to rot on earth and not be buried. Antigone was furious because no matter what her brother did he is still family, and she felt that he deserved a proper burial.

Nussbaum explains in her interview that tragedy only happens when you are trying to live well and you deeply care about things you’re trying to do. She says you should try to care about things in a way that makes it a possibility that tragedy will happen to you. If you never trust anyone or if you don’t trust the political setting then it doesn’t hurt you when things go badly (but that is no way to live).

Antigone’s story relates to what Nussbaum says about tragedy because Antigone deeply cared about things and when Creon did that to her brother that was tragic. Nussbaum would understand Antigone’s dilemma because before tragedy struck Antigone she was...