Exploration of justice through Antigone Anonymous 12th Grade

Often, when we think of the word justice, legality comes to mind. Although justice is found in almost all laws, it is “exhausted in none” (Vecchio 176). I believe legality and justice are not necessarily synonymous for justice does not exist solely in the observance of legality. Justice is what we owe ourselves and each other; it exists above and beyond legality and situates itself on our intersubjective relations with a basis in ethics. It often intertwines itself with equity and this amalgamation is inexorable due to its foundation in morality. Justice is not simply law nor authority, but sometimes an inherent duty because it cannot be considered a solipsistic concept. All humans are members of a group, whether that be a family, a school, a religion, or a city among others. These groups often shape us; our moral values are constructed and shared by the people around us. Justice can be defined through these moral imperatives and our duty to our group, not solely through legality.

These themes are reflected throughout Sophocles’ Antigone through the actions and beliefs of Creon and Antigone. While defining “lawful authority” in Antigone, Creon states that it “must be obeyed in all things, great or small, just and unjust alike”...