A Re-Understanding of the Tragic Roots of Antigone from the Perspective of Chinese Confucian Legal Thought

Critics often fall into Hegel’s dualistic thinking pattern when interpreting the tragic roots of Antigone , in which the conflict between “human law” and “divine law” has long been considered the core of the play. This article seeks to explore the internal homogeneity of “human law” and “divine law” to dissolve this duality. We believe that the tragedy of Antigone does not come from the conflict between the different nature of the two kinds of laws, but from the extreme attitude of the characters toward the law. In this regard, the flexible attitude and the thought of “shenxing” 慎刑 (prudent punishment) in Chinese traditional Confucianism are worthy of consideration, which provides a unique Chinese perspective for solving the “Thebes problem.”