Authority As Reflected In Antigone English Literature Essay

Authority As Reflected In Antigone English Literature seeIn comparing the classical frolics Antigone and The Inspector General I send word to examine the concept of endorsement meaning sovereign, arbiter in comparison to a, or in dispute with a character representing law of graphic justice personifying moral ascendence in the two distinct periods and societies of homosexual civilization, the ancient City of Thebes and a typical provincial Russian town. The two plays argon more than two millennia apart one is a catastrophe while the new(prenominal)wise is comical. Both the plays, in their unique ways mull the ruling function and the moral order of their times.Antigone true to her name as the one who goes against defies the dominance of a despotic regulater Creon. She acts based on her conviction that the laws of repair and do by are to be obeyed in a prouder place the authority of a sovereign. If in defiance of the law we cross a monarchs testament? Weak wome n, think of that, not framed by nature to have a go at it with men. Remember this is too that the stronger rules we mustiness obey orders. says Ismene, the response of Antigone is, I shall(a) fend forever the eternal laws of Heaven. Ismene and Antigone represent diametrically opposed characters, one of passive voice submission and the other of courage. Creon is obsessive in his concern for order and plea of the City of Thebes, convinced that sacrosanct and un take exceptiond power alone merelytocks protect his kingdom and its laws. In his world nothing and nobody is above the State. The issue of natural justice and moral principles do not outlast in his rulebook. In the pursuit of his power to enforce the laws of the kingdom he is merciless and positive. The obsessive concern for the laws of Thebes to be observed by everyone for its selection makes him highly insecure he is frightened by any contour of challenge to his authority real or imaginary. My guards have been br ibed, men in the city have been muttering against me. Sophocles dexterously uses the chorus in the play Antigone partly as a narrator.On the other hand in Gogols play the broad landscape of the nineteenth century Russia, radically distinct from a small city state of Thebes, is described through the life of an anonymous provincial town. If, for Creon bribes were the worst evil, in The Inspector General grafting is a way of life, Dont graft higher than your rank sounds like a statement of virtue. The Russian Tsar presiding over the largest landlocked kingdom on Earth wielded unchallenged and absolute power. His dictatorial writ in the enormous land of Russia is implemented through an elaborate bureaucratic structure where a towns regulator is the despotic authority, ruling his fief in collaboration with other equally cocker functionaries like a judge, police, hospital head and all the same charitable organizations in the town are in sync with the adulterate system.If Creon spe aks with contempt for a woman, Speak, girl, with head bent low and downcast eyes, does megabyte plead guilty or deny the deed? Gogols regulator is a vulgar and funny caricature, though tragic for the society. In those two weeks I have flogged the wife of a non commissioned officer, the prisoners were not given their rations, the streets are dirty as a pothouse a scandal, a rape exclaims the governor in a rare moment of silent introspection. go Creon is scared of any challenge to his authority, more so if it comes from a woman, the governor of Gogol is a woman beater, disdainful of women in general, To say women and enoughs said. Everything is froth and blither to you. The worst you would get would be a flogging but it inwardness ruination to the husband. Creons sentry displays wisdom greater than his master. He says that a wrong judgment by a person in power is shameful for the society. Such a sentrys equivalents for the Russian Governor are Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky. The y are all told servile and spineless creatures, even more stupid than the Governor himself. Their superior ambition is to be mentioned to the Tsar, I beg your highness or your excellence most worshipfully, when you get back to St. Petersburg, please tell all the high personages there, if you should happen to speak to the Tsar, then tell him too, Piotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky lives in this town.Creon is convinced that penalization for disobeying his authority should be severe and exemplary There is nothing worse than disobe back upnce to authority. In Gogols world of the authority each official, be it the governor or the postmaster lives in eternal fear of the central authority in the Capital of Russia. At the same time the powers delegated under the tsaristic absolute rule are manipulated and misused by them for their own individual benefits. Their spiritlessness is tragically comic. The caricature and tragedy of this absolute power is reflected in the personages of the governor and his team on the one hand and Khlestakov on the other. Khlestakov boastfully holds forrard to his frightened audience of the all powerful town authority, Even the proud Council is afraid of me. I dont spare anybody. I am everywhere, everywhere. The great authority trembles at his empty words.The eternal conflict between the right and wrong is reflected broadly in every great classic of the public be it, Antigone with its highly dramatic conflict between the rules of the State on the one hand and the center of moral authority on the other as reflected in the powerful character of a vulnerable young person woman who throws a challenge to the kings orders Whoeer transgresses shall be stoned to death. However, Antigones conviction is mightier than Creons authority The immutable unwritten laws of Heaven. They were not born today nor yesterday they die not and none knoweth whence they sprang. I was not like, who feared no mortals get down to disobey these laws and so provoke the wrath of Heaven. I knew that I must die. The impotent anger of the sovereign Creon the greatest authority in the kingdom is expressed in his reaction to Antigones revolt Now if she olibanum can flout authority, unpunished, I am woman, she the man.Gogol was a supporter of the czarist order. It is the monarch who generates love towards himself and he alone can reconcile all classes and turn the nation into a harmonious orchestra. Thus, the Tsar is Gods earthly hear and representative. wrote Gogol. How he described the life of Russia under the Tsarist order, in import is in contradiction with his belief in the Tsars authority. His Governor is far from creation Gods image on the Earth who rules with total contempt, not only for women, but for all citizens. He is corrupt to the marrow of his bones and his fear dissolving agents in stupidity. The conditions in the court, school and hospital underline moral bankruptcy of the Tsarist authority. The insecurity of the powers that be leads them to become subservient to a young twenty dollar bill three year old crook, Khlestakov. This is in deep contrast with the conflict depicted by Sophocles. The two plays not only belong to different ages and civilizations, one is a tragedy in form, while the other is a delightful satire. No civil society can do without an sprightly rule of law and authority, at the same time, a dictatorial rule destroys the foundation of a civil society. The ruler of Thebes lives in fear of his authority being sabotaged. Whereas in the vast Russian empire, the Governor of the town, exercising dictatorial powers lives in morbid fear of being exposed in his corrupt ways and losing his authority. In Gogols The Inspector General there is no Antigone to challenge the authority of the state and assert moral authority. Gogol uses satire and achieves the same result in depicting bankruptcy of immoral State power as Sophocles did though depicting a tragic conflict.Word Count 1,308 wrangling