Antigone

Antigone is a play written by Sophocles in the 5th century B.C.E. detailing the struggle between Antigone, a rebellious woman, and Creon, the leader of Thebes.

Summary
The story begins after a civil war in Thebes wherein two brothers and sons of Oedipus, Eteokles and Polyneikes, fought for dominion. Both brothers ended up dying in battle, with Eteokles defending the city and Polyneikes attacking. Their uncle, Creon, has taken over rule of the city and issued a decree that Polyneikes may not receive a proper burial because of his betrayal. Antigone, one of the sisters of the two brothers, is outraged and vows to bury Polyneikes herself. She exhorts her younger sister Ismene to help her, but Ismene refuses out of fear and Antigone verbally rebukes her. Creon later finds out that the body has been buried and orders a sentry to investigate the culprit. Antigone is arrested and brought before Creon and confesses to the crime defiantly. While she is imprisoned, Haemon, her fiancé and Creon's son, tries to argue for her with Creon, but Haemon ends up yelling at his father and vowing to never return. Creon condemns Antigone to death by imprisonment in a tomb-like cave. After she is brought to her death, Tiresias, the prophet, comes and rebukes Creon for his foolishness, and Creon changes his mind and leaves to free Antigone. A messenger later returns to Creon's wife to inform her that both Antigone and Haemon are dead, Antigone by hanging herself and Haemon by impaling himself after finding her body. Creon's wife then kills herself from grief, leaving Creon to question whether he has done his duty as ruler of the people and as a subject before the gods.

The Moral of the Story
This play is extremely perplexing from a moral perspective: which character acted rightly (if any) and how are we to know how to act rightly? Creon and Antigone are both guided by strong principles: Creon by his duty to the state and Antigone by her duty to her family. Both believe that they are performing their duties before the gods. The chorus only serves to further confound any moralistic interpretation, as they seem to vacillate between many different forms of morality instead of espousing a single course of right action. Tiresias seems to be the only character who is capable of discerning how to actually perform one's duty before the gods. Thus, none of the other characters seem to be able to discern what right action is because they lack the divine insight needed to discern the wil of the gods. Instead, they cling to arbitrary moral principles that they believe (often incorrectly) to be in line with the will of the gods. In the end, the moral of this story seems to be that morality itself is arbitrary if we can't discern the will of the gods.