Ancient Text Explains or Demonstrates Essay

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In the "Odyssey" Achilles says to Odysseus, that it is better to be a living dog than honored in Hades.

Submission to fate is ultimately what the Greeks seem to honor as a 'good' attitude. Oedipus the King finally accepts his cursed status, rather than fleeing from it, and from the beginning of her life, Antigone seems to anticipate that she will meet with an unhappy end. Although she is betrothed to marry, she does not seem to see her future as a married woman as an obligation that supersedes her obligation as a sister, and even says that because she can only have one brother, unlike a husband; obligations to the family come before everything. The play seems to suggest that this is valid, given the wrath that falls upon Creon's head. But evil also falls upon the heads of the innocent, because of the actions of the guilty, again showing that being good is no sure cause of happiness on earth. Antigone must suffer because she is the child of Oedipus, Oedipus had to suffer because of the fate that was dealt out to him by the gods, and Creon's wife Eurydice as well as Antigone's betrothed husband Haemon suffers, so the will of the gods can be vented upon Creon's head.

The play, as much of ancient literature (perhaps even some Christian as well as pagan literature) offers more clear advice as to the vices to avoid rather than the virtues to practice, as Antigone is hardly pure. Flouting the law of the gods and trying to make mortal law superior to the law of the gods is bad, and humbleness is good.

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But that humility is no protection or expectation that a good life will mean a good reward, or an improvement in the world, as Antigone's actions make life substantially worse for those who care about her and the ordinary citizens of Thebes, even if her intent and action may be 'good.' However, she could not act otherwise and remain moral, for to ignore her obligation to her brother would be the ultimate sacrilege.

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