Antigone is an old Greek play turned movie that is about family, civil (dis)obedience, and commands of the gods. In the film, King Creon has just occupied the throne and has commanded that Eteocles, the previous ruler, have a royal burial while Polyneices, Eteocles' brother, has been declared a traitor and is to be left to the birds. (I'll give a little bit of the backdrop here simply for clarification purposes. The two brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles have two sisters, Ismene and Antigone; they are all the children of the previous king, Oedipus, and were born out of incest. When King Oedipus vacated the throne, his two sons agreed to rule together; obviously this did not work out as planned, so Polyneices raised an army to attack the city and overthrow his brother. They met on the battlefield and killed each other; right after this is where the movie begins).
King Creon proclaimed that anyone who was caught trying to bury Polyneices would be stoned to death. Antigone wants to bury her brother anyway because she believes that it is against the gods' will not to give him a proper burial. This is synonymous to the Greek philosopher Socrates, who claimed he must live the philosophical life by questioning Athens' "wise men" on their self-proclaimed knowledge. He said that this was a command by the gods, and that he was doing his city a service; therefore, he would not stop living a philosophical life even if the cities' rulers command it. Antigone is caught with her brother's corps, King Creon has her buried alive in a cave. Antigone accepts her sentence with dignity, claiming that she did right by the gods for burying her brother.
In the Apology, Socrates is sentenced to death by the city since he will not abstain from his questioning lifestyle. Similarly to Antigone, Socrates knew he would be found guilty and accepts his fate calmly. Both protagonists stuck with their moral beliefs rather than bending to the pressure of man; they felt it would be better to die than to live in disobedience to the gods.
At one point, Socrates questioned a man named Euthyphro about the meaning of piety. Euthyphro gives multiple definitions throughout the dialogue for what piety is: doing what is pleasing to all the gods, the part of justice which is concerned with care of the gods, and praying and sacrificing to the gods. Socrates finds holes in each of these definitions however, and the conversation ends unsatisfactorily. I believe Euthyphro would have told Antigone that she was correct on obeying the gods and honoring her brother; he also would have told the king that he was just in punishing Antigone despite her being engaged to his son.
Socrates taught that obeying the gods was more important than obeying human law. However, in Crito his friend tries to convince Socrates to run away from his death sentence and Socrates refuses because he doesn't want to disregard the laws of the city, thus weakening the state. Haemon, Creon's son does not outright tell his father, thus the law, that he is wrong in punishing Antigone. Merely that Creon ought to think it over and change his mind. Because he does not, Haemon and Creon's wife ultimately commit suicide and Creon is left alone and unhappy. Not too many years after they put Socrates to death, the great city of Athens fell and it has since never returned to its previous glory.
King Creon proclaimed that anyone who was caught trying to bury Polyneices would be stoned to death. Antigone wants to bury her brother anyway because she believes that it is against the gods' will not to give him a proper burial. This is synonymous to the Greek philosopher Socrates, who claimed he must live the philosophical life by questioning Athens' "wise men" on their self-proclaimed knowledge. He said that this was a command by the gods, and that he was doing his city a service; therefore, he would not stop living a philosophical life even if the cities' rulers command it. Antigone is caught with her brother's corps, King Creon has her buried alive in a cave. Antigone accepts her sentence with dignity, claiming that she did right by the gods for burying her brother.
In the Apology, Socrates is sentenced to death by the city since he will not abstain from his questioning lifestyle. Similarly to Antigone, Socrates knew he would be found guilty and accepts his fate calmly. Both protagonists stuck with their moral beliefs rather than bending to the pressure of man; they felt it would be better to die than to live in disobedience to the gods.
At one point, Socrates questioned a man named Euthyphro about the meaning of piety. Euthyphro gives multiple definitions throughout the dialogue for what piety is: doing what is pleasing to all the gods, the part of justice which is concerned with care of the gods, and praying and sacrificing to the gods. Socrates finds holes in each of these definitions however, and the conversation ends unsatisfactorily. I believe Euthyphro would have told Antigone that she was correct on obeying the gods and honoring her brother; he also would have told the king that he was just in punishing Antigone despite her being engaged to his son.
Socrates taught that obeying the gods was more important than obeying human law. However, in Crito his friend tries to convince Socrates to run away from his death sentence and Socrates refuses because he doesn't want to disregard the laws of the city, thus weakening the state. Haemon, Creon's son does not outright tell his father, thus the law, that he is wrong in punishing Antigone. Merely that Creon ought to think it over and change his mind. Because he does not, Haemon and Creon's wife ultimately commit suicide and Creon is left alone and unhappy. Not too many years after they put Socrates to death, the great city of Athens fell and it has since never returned to its previous glory.