Anarchy in Antigone and Les Mis rables research
... Greek tragedy, Antigone, relates to the 19th century novel, Les Misérables, in that both show rebellion (anarchy) against the law. The authors, Sophocles and Victor Hugo, chose the theme of anarchy to persuade their respective audiences to accept their political beliefs. ... However in the third play, Antigone, Creon takes a side and deprives the other of burial. The sister of the deprived, Antigone, buries her brother in defiance of the king’s ruling. ... Consequently, Antigone is viewed as a tragic hero because she is faced to choose between “death with integrity or a life with silence and complicity” (qtd. ... Antigone does but dies with her work done. In Antigone, Sophocles focuses on the conflict between religion and politics. ... Antigone may be commenting on the conflict in 5th century B. ... Antigone claims that unwritten laws lead her to bury her brother. ... When Creon asked if Antigone dared to break the law that Creon declared, she responded, “Yes, because I did not believe / that Zeus was the one who proclaimed it” (Scene 2 57-58). The law of Zeus that Antigone claims could be, in fact, her own conscience. Another reason why Sophocles might have chosen the theme of anarchy is to influence the politics of Athens. At the same time Sophocles wrote Antigone, Pericles was ruler and dominated politics in Athens (moss and Wilson 17).