Fighting The Man

When placed in a modern context, the Ancient Greek play Antigonê can be viewed as a struggle between a dictatorial state that strives to control absolutely in the name of stability and a strong-willed individual with the strength to challenge that totalitarian body. Though the individual is destroyed in this fight against the injustices of the state, the dictatorial entity itself is consumed by the consequences of its own decisions. Antigonê therefore reveals the inevitable self-destructive fate of totalitarian regimes.
In the play, Antigonê herself takes on the role of a freedom fighter against the unjust law-making control of Creon, who himself takes on the role of The Man. In his first speech in Scene I, the effective dictator espouses his dedication to the “public welfare” while maintaining that only those who show absolute commitment to the state “shall have [his] respect” and “reverence.” Through such orations that reverberate with twentieth-century fascist ideology, The Man binds the opinions of the Choragos and the Chorus, who in the action of the play are the Theban elders; Creon, therefore, controls the ideas of his people and forces them into line with his own. Furthermore, he overrules the edicts of the gods by forbidding the burial of Polyneicês and effectively declares that the ruling of the state is above the workings and desires of those deities. The Man nullifies the influence of religion, claims a monopoly on ideology, builds fear in his people with the specter of anarchy, and requires loyalty to the state above dedication to the family; he even admits his own dictatorship when he proclaims “[t]he State is the King!”
Antigonê arises as a challenging force to Creon’s totalitarian control through her defiance of his mandate against burial of her supposed-traitor brother. She restores the power of the individual by openly legitimizing the will of the gods, by challenging The Man’s doctrine, and by committing herself to her brother over her government; these actions inspire the people of Thebes to start “[m]uttering and whispering in the dark about this girl” and her fight against the injustices of The Man. Antigonê’s insubordination calls into question the validity of Creon’s rule and begins the destruction of Creon’s power. Her disobedience also imposes an ultimate authority over the treacheries of his regime: love. In Ode III Sophocles establishes love as the ultimate power in human existence; it is love that leads Antigonê to effectively stick it to The Man in the first place, and it is love that leads Haimon and Eurydicê to commit suicide at the end of the play. Their suicides finish the process started by Antigonê initial defiance and bring an end to Creon’s unjust and unreasonable rule. The restoration of individuality through love therefore destroys the totalitarian state.
Perhaps the greatest modern lesson to be learned from Antigonê is the solemn truth that the individual must and will always come before the ruling body. The Choragos finishes the play with this warning: “There is no happiness where there is no wisdom… Big words are always punished.” Indeed, the big words and controlling ideals of strong government never come with the wisdom to avoid their own demise; they cannot stand in the face of individual will and truth. The individual must always overcome the system. (545)