Polynices Should Be Buried In Sophocless Antigone

Sophocles’ play, Antigone, is centered around the conflict of whether Polynices should be buried or exposed to the elements for the wild dogs and vultures to tear apart his body. The play opens at the end of Polynices’ attempted invasion, which made him a traitor of Thebes, and it is revealed that both Polynices and Eteocles had fallen. The new king of Thebes, Creon, decrees that Eteocles will be buried with honored, but Polynices will be left unburied and exposed to the elements. Antigone tells Ismene, her sister, that Eteocles, they, say, has been given full military honors, rightly so—Creon has laid in the earth and he goes with glory down among the dead. But the body of Polynices, who died miserably—why, a city-wide proclamation,†¦show more content†¦Antigone’s situation exposes a problem that has plagued societies to this day. The problem being religion and state. Religion and state is a very controversial topic and is quite difficult to navigate through. This philosophical issue raises moral dilemmas that can cause great divides among parties due to where the values of said parties lie. For example, an individual who was raised with nationalistic ideology that stressed the importance of being devoted to one s country, rather than personal religious views would side with Creon. On the other hand, an individual who is god-fearing and puts their personal values above their country would not think twice about obeying divine laws and putting the laws of man aside. This is the mindset that Antigone possesses. Therefore, she is justified in her actions due to divine law reigning supreme. â€Å" Nor did I think your edict had such that you a mere mortal could override the gods the great unwritten unshakable traditions†(Antigone 82). Antigone was honoring and being obedient to the decrees of the gods. In regards to will of the gods, there was an argument during class that the gods did not want Polynices buried. I ndividuals of this believe reference the fact that the gods fought on behalf of Thebes to defeat Polynices and his army. The chorus sang: â€Å"Zeus hates with a vengeance all bravado, the mighty boasts of men.