English Creative Choice Antigone Assignment Essay

Law. What is it but a set of rules created by man? It is nothing. Insignificant to life. Amoebas do not have laws. Neither do Animals. Yet, we live by them every day, throughout anything we do. You don’t drive to work on the left side of the road; neither do you steal food from your neighbors in retaliation for their horribly kept lawns. No matter for ridiculous, unnecessary, or primitive these laws; they are there for a reason. Yet, despite all that, Antigone thinks she is above all laws, and that she can prance around the city as she wishes, acting on any whim she desires. This, my friends, is most certainly not the case. Nobody is above these laws, not even the king himself. She went knowingly and willingly against the law, burying a traitor to our fair city, as if he was an ally. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, whose side will you take? That of an honorable king? Or that of filthy lawbreaker? I urge you to make the correct decision today. Antigone’s Lawyer Today is the day that you can make the decision to let an innocent woman live. My client is not a criminal in any sense. She is of royal decent, and decent in every way possible. Her brothers killed each other, in a ruthless battle for power, and one was left to rot. Against the will of the gods, not allowing him to pass into the afterlife. This is not the way to treat even the most cruel individual, and certain not the way to treat royal blood. However, our â€Å"great, powerful ruler†, Creon thinks he is above the gods. No matter how unjust, Creon will not change his will, not even in the case of his royal own family. My client did the right thing, what any decent person would do to send their loved ones into the afterlife, even when a childish law forbids you from doing so. Do you think that eternal limbo is the correct punishment for a man who was trying to fight for his right to share the throne? Neither did Antigone. I beg you to choose wisely, as the wrong decision will send an innocent woman to death. Rationale Using the format of a closing statement, I created arguments from the side of both Antigone and Creon. On Creon’s side, I argued about the importance of laws. I said how people normally follow laws, even if they are ridiculous. I then went to mock Antigone, and how she â€Å"thought she was above the law†. How she thought that she could do whatever she wanted, and laws had no significance. I also accused her of being a â€Å"filthy lawbreaker†. Basically, I tried to persuade the jury that Antigone had not cared for laws, breaking them at her own will. On the other hand, on Antigone’s side, I argued that Antigone was not at all a criminal, just a caring sister. I went to show how Polyneices was just fighting for what was rightfully his, and this did not make him a traitor. I also argued how Creon thinks he is more important that the holy laws.