1. Do you take Antigone’s or Creon’s point of view? Defend your decision.
I would take Creon’s point of view. First, the play depicts Creon as showing a strong stance on campaigning against corruption and corrupt individuals. It's true that as long as individuals may divert from the ethical path by losing the way to engage in intentional bribery and corruption. Creon says that people have often succumbed to the hope of gain, thereby making him suspect that almost everyone at one point has been involved in bribery to betray their public duty. He is categorical that his integrity can never be coerced or bought. This stance makes Creon to be an admirable personality who would out rightly speak about corruption and revoke such vices in the society.
Second, Creon has always stood to defend the thrown for the good of his people. He has proclaimed that he rather be right than be considered popular in his judgment and ruling. Moreover, it is considered a misconception to say that he does anything for his personal will but for the good of the community he has authority over. He has promulgated the edict in line with due appropriate public responsibility in order to promote appropriate public considerations (Anouilh 175). Additionally, he holds the perception that the authoritative decree must not be put aside for personal concerns or due to unpopularity, and thus an unnecessary defiance to duly promulgated regulations and rules must be addressed accordingly.
Creon exercises authority full of justice and fairness to every member of his subjects irrespective of being his family member. The leadership position he holds in the community puts him in an agonized situation to live with the consequences of his decree. However, his determination is to exercise authority in which rules and any forms of penalties apply evenly to his family as anyone else.
2. Which do you think bears more weight: The ethics of personal conscience or “public” responsibility? Defend your position!
I think ethics of public responsibility bears more weight than the ethics of personal conscience. Individuals tasked with the responsibility of holding public offices and authority must hold high levels of ethics within such parameters of public responsibility (Marini 192). There is a need for the public administrators to ensure that they keep the authority of their official roles distinctly separate from the unnecessary aspects of their own personality and personal circumstances. This calls on the personalities in the ruling authority or in any line of giving public service to ensure that they uphold the highest level of responsibility, ethics and code of conduct in delivering such services to the public. On the other hand, the ethics of personal conscience may be of less concern to the principal tenets of what could of good to the general public. That is looking at what forms good for the people an angle of the general community, but rather not from an individual’s perspective. This simply keeps in mind what is good for many rather than an individual (Finer 270).
Believing in simple faith within an individual’s point of conscience would not be a sufficient solution to our societal concerns. Therefore, the ethics of public responsibility offers a competent ground to handle public complexities for which exercising a naive trust in conscience would be definitely inadequate. The different frameworks of public-sector, ethics of public responsibility have been building blocks on which the leaders and individuals in authority should uphold contradictory or even differing level of ethical responsibility. The primary purpose of this concern is the increasing expectation form the public that the leaders need to meet many of the idealized and prototypical expectations of those in which they represent. The change of an era has enabled exposure of high-profile lapses from our public sector leaders in the context of ethical and moral judgment, thereby making the citizens to expect increasingly higher standards of conduct and ethical aspects from a wide range of activities has been to be immoral. Therefore, the need to uphold a high level of ethics of public responsibility since there is increased awareness and a change of societal values which are linked to the interest of public in ethics management.
3. What role does the Chorus play? Does it remind you of anyone in the policy process?
The Chorus has played a critical purpose in the play as it provides a platform in which the play revolves. It further ensures that the message of the play is given a rational and justifiable basis on which evidence can be deduced, and informed judgment be drawn. For instance, the chorus has given emphasis in the closing lines that the crown of happiness calls of individuals to be wise, and honor the gods.
Yes, the chorus reminds me of an individual in the policy process, Creon. The chorus describes Creon to be a boasting, self-willed, and a stubborn ruler who is in insolent defiance of the law and was caught out rightly glorifying crime, and moreover he is depicted as a ruler who freely and knowingly chooses a path of damnation. The chorus raises the points of concern on the ruler, Creon –as a lonely leader who besets from all the corners to be prideful, unbending, rigid, unchanging, stubborn and one who is impervious to the tolerate any form of advice.
4. Do you see the Creon’s decision as a moral one, or an ethical one? What is the difference?
The decisions made by Creon may not necessarily be considered as of moral standings but ethically. He is a decisive ruler in his undertakings. On several occasions, he ensured that he made his stance very clear and points out that he is propelled to give guidance and leadership that is generally considerate of what is not good for an individual but the entire community. He makes a clear sense of his responsibilities to the office just upon his first appearance (Finer 309). His perception of the public authority and ethics of the office holds a commensurate view with the point that individuals holding public offices and have supreme responsibility must be obeyed irrespective of the level friendship or blood connection.
The difference depicted between an individual’s decision being ethical and moral is that an ethical decision is one that is based on guiding principles which enable the individual to make his/her mind on what is right or wrong. On the other hand, a moral decision is based on the beliefs of the person as to what constitute the right or wrong thing.
5. How do you feel about the role of “citizen” and those responsibilities in terms of Antigone’s decision to defy Creon’s lawful order?
The rule of law has based its tenets primarily on the citizens. The citizens have a huge role to play in ensuring that those in authority exercises responsible leadership full of accountability, justice, transparency among other critical aspects of governance. The Antigone’s decision to disregard Creon’s lawful order is the exercise of fundamental rights and responsibility of the common people to put their leaders in check and ensure they deliver on what is expected of them as they serve in the offices. For instance, Antigone gives us an opportunity to view the ethical postures in different actors, who have shown significant disagreement over the critical societal issues. This prompts the individuals to act apparently upon specific, defensible and firmly held ethical standards. The point of view that the citizen holds in the arena of governance is giving a strategic perception to the special responsibilities of the public office as well as those special responsibilities usually felt by the dissidents. The citizens have a chance to evaluate critically the different kinds of authority alongside their commensurate ethical dimensions. Furthermore, the citizen can have a reflection on the various requirements on societies to have a framework of reliable order and initiate a process in which such orders are created and sustained (Anouilh 392). Moreover, as citizens, there need to question the way in which the laws of the land are applied, formulated and executed across the community without any level of prejudice.
The citizen can see the ethical concerns as affected by emotions, passion, loyalty, personality difference and the considerations derived from the status of family and friendship. Additionally, the citizens can gauge how the individuals in authority hold to the tenets of democratic values within an ethical framework and to undertake a reflection of their conscience from different vantage points.
Works cited
Anouilh, Jean. "Antigone." In Anouilh, Volume I. Five Plays. New York: Hill and Wang, pp. 1-53. 2011. Print.
Finer, Herman. "Administrative Responsibility in Democratic Government." Public Administration Review, 1 (Sumrffer), pp. 335-350. 2010. Print.
Marini, Frank. "Literature and Teaching Public Administration Ethics. "In Proceedings of the XIV Annual Conference on Teaching Public Administration. Knoxville, TN: East Tennessee ASPA Chapter, pp. 146-152. 2013. Print.
