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SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE     Civic Responsibility versus Personal Duty
CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY DEFINED

It is the responsibilities of a citizen within a government. It is the particular burden of obligation to the state. "It is comprised of actions and attitudes associated with democratic governance and social participation. Civic responsibility can include participation in government, church, volunteers and memberships of voluntary associations."''[].

PERSONAL DUTY DEFINED

Personal duty might be composed of an individual's belief system, creed or religion. In other words personal duty deals with an individual's morality, integrity and values.

THE CAUSE OF THE REBELLION

Antigone believes in her heart that what she must do is right and in accord with the gods. She has received personal conviction that what she must do will be pleasing a higher authority than the one she is being obligated to follow. She must seek her dead brother’s corpse, Polynices, and give him an honorable burial According to Greek religion she must give her proper funeral rites in order for Polynices' soul not to ''"be doomed to wander by the river Styx, the entrance to the Underworld, for eternity. (Antigone 67) "The buried were granted access to Hades, the name of both the Underworld and its king also known as Pluto. In order for the dead to gain this access, a complicated ritual had to be performed." (Antigone 67) Creon the King thinks otherwise. Creon claims "nor would I consider an enemy of my country a friend to myself" (Antigone 20) and he also states "it has been decreed that in this city he shall be neither burtied nor mourned by anyone, but everyone must leave him unburied, a feast for birds and dogs, an outrage to see." (Antigone 20)'' After Polynices tries to conquer Thebes, the city in which he lived and ruled side by side with his brother Eteocles, Creon believes Polynices must be considered among the wicked for his conspiracy. It is then that Creon sets a decree and a civic responsibility in the city of Thebes that no one should be allowed to bury Polynices. But Creon's mandate just goes against Antigone’s personal duty with the gods and therefore rebels for the cause of pleasing the gods. We clearly see in the masterpiece Antigone a conflict between civic responsibility and personal duty.

THE PRICE TO PAY FOR CHOOSING PERSONAL DUTY OVER CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY

The Sophoclean tragedy presents to us a quagmire which juxtaposes the choice of civic responsibilty and moral duty faced by two contrasting characters, Ismene and Antigone. Antigone on one hand is a strong personality, driven by a strong commitment to religious beliefs to the point of discarding a fundamental societal role, which is obedience to the law of the land. Antigone paid the utmost price for her resolve to carry out the burying of her brother Polynices. Ismene unlike Antigone, decided to obey the law of the land though she felt a filial responsibility towards her brother. Although that was the the gender expectation at that time period, she had a choice and she made the one she felt most comfortable with. Today, similar circumstances arises that throws some members of a particular citizenry into a dilemma in which the issue of Civic responsibility versus moral duty arises. Whenever this arises, there is always a price to pay whichever way the situation goes.

ANTIGONE AND CREON'S CONTRASTING VIEWS

In Sophocles Antigone, creon believes the healthy mind is devoted towards civic responsibility and civic well being.Civic order and prospering is the highest good to which Creon believes the gods would aspire and as such feels justified to defy religious customs in order to promote that good. On the other hand,duty to the family dead is the supreme law and value for Antigone, and she structures her life around this self contained system of duties. Although one could blame creon for being superficial, we could also see Antigone as being engaged in a ruthless simplification in the world of values in order to obliterate conflicting obligations, she can also be blamed for being narrow minded. Creon sees justice to govern the gods themselves, while Antigone, sees justice as the customs sponsored by the gods. Antigone shows a deeper understanding of the community and its values when she argues that the obligation to bury the dead is an unwritten law, which cannot be set aside by the decree of a particular ruler.

TWO CONFLICTS BETWEEN THEM

There are two conflicts that civic responsibility imposes on personal duty. First, “it involves trying to steer between avoiding an establishment of religion and permitting its exercise.”[]Second, “a range of problems arises when religious belief and practice conflict with secular law.”[] The conflict Antigone faces is the latter one. Antigone has trouble in dealing with Creon's decree.

PRESENT DAY ISSUES

Sophocles' play of Antigone displays a very much alive present day conflict we have to deal with. In any country, government demands civic responsibility, laws to go by, follow and obey. Government is a key component to today’s worldly order in which without it we probably would not have a civilized world. We need government. Civic responsibility deals with the area of being a good citizen, but in contrast personal duty touches the inner side of an individual. Personal duty plays a big role also in society. Individuals are for the most part run for what they believe in. Whether we want to see it or not, the world evolves around these two issues. The battle that we see with Antigone and Creon is the same battle that takes place in today's world, where we are constantly doubting government decisions because of our personal backgrounds and belief systems. We choose government officials based on what our personal feelings are and what we think our personal duty is on issues. Our personal duty defines how we act towards many circumstances that arise. One of the biggest decisions we do face in our lives that is very much similar to the one Antigone had to face is the fact that we are submitted to the government that we live in. But what happens when our personal belief does not agree with civic law. Do we jump and oppose it just like Antigone did or do we put government first over our personal duty? One thing we may point out fore sure from Sophocles' play "Creon was motivated by hatred, Antigone by love, as is evident in her last speech when she anticipates seeing her parents and brothers." [] From this we might conclude by saying that personal duty touches with your inner being while civic responsibility touches your outer being and how you have to conduct yourself in society regardless of your inner being.