How does the play Antigone relate to Kierkegaard or Nietzsche's philosophies?
Summary of the Play:
After a siege, the two brothers of Antigone, Polynices and Eteocles, kill each other so Antigone wishes to bury her brother. The orders of the king, however, restrict Antigone from doing so. Only Eteocles, the brother that died defending the city, was allowed to be buried. Antigone is imprisoned by the king for disobeying orders by trying got bury her other brother, Polynices, out of what she felt was right. When the king argues with his son, his son eventually kills himself. This triggers an ending to the play with the deaths of Antigone (suicide) and a few more characters.
Kierkegaard: The Kierkegaard argument for this play could best surround the idea of the teleological suspension of the ethical. According to Kierkegaard, at times people abond their moral horizons to side with a higher, christian, religious moral that is thought to be greater than anyhting on earth. The biblical story of Abraham represents this phenomenon as Abraham agrees to kills his son after God tells him to do so. Similarly, Antigone abandons the rule of the human moral code (the law of the king) and instead decided to do what she thinks is right. This can be linked to religious doctrine because the idea of doing whats 'right' stems off of religious teachings. Antigone's beliefs correspond with that of the church. She therefore suspends the ethical in favor of the higher religious desire. By denying the king Antigone goes through a leap of faith in order to traverse the three stages of Kierkegaard and become a knight of faith.
From a Nietzschean perspective, antigone does what she wants and goes against the accepted moral horizon of obeying the king. Antigone also follows the will to power, an unconscious desire that serves as the reasoning for antigone's disobeying the king.
Does what she think is best
Will to power
cliffnote summary of Antigone
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