Burials and Hospitals

For the past two days I've been swirling in and out of most of the doctors offices in Bozeman. No one could tell me what was wrong and the situation because so bad that my mother journeyed up from Billings to see me. Luckily for me it turned out to be something minor and not the major thing everyone was thinking. While I was going through these tests and doctors and waiting periods I was thinking about a lot of things. However, whether or not my parents would be able to bury me was not one of them.

In the case of Polynices and whether or not Antigone should have the right to bury his body I'm on the fence. Of course everyone knows that the ancient Greeks viewed burial rights as key to getting onto the ferry at Styx and making it to the afterlife. If these burial rights go uncompleted however, the soul is left to wander the banks of the river. This is probably the worst thing you could do to a person as the Greeks viewed it, and certainly one would need to do something incredibly atrocious to deserve such a fate. As for Polynices, I believe he did commit an atrocity.

As Socrates would have said Polynices chose his actions and knew what the consequnces would be. If he had not been prepared for the punishment he should not have commited the act. Antigone should also accept the laws of her country because again Socrates would agrue it is the country that raised her, educated her, and provides for her and if she is unhappy she may leave at anytime. But even if the stronger arguement is for Polynices to go unburied it certainly does not mean its right.