Summary:
Discusses the philosophy that "Reason is God's crowning gift to man." Reveals how that philosophy is stressed in both Sophocles' play Antigone and Dante Alighieri's poem The Divine Comedy. Sophocles and Dante both show the dire consequences and destruction that occur when reason is abandoned.
Only one thing truly separates man from the animals: his ability to reason. This gift of thought allows man to make independent and conscious decisions, placing him on a pedestal above the rest of creation. The philosophy that "Reason is God's crowning gift to man" is stressed in both Sophocles' play Antigone and Dante Alighieri's poem The Divine Comedy. Sophocles and Dante both show the dire consequences and destruction that occur when reason is abandoned.
In Antigone, Sophocles demonstrates that a loss of reason has grievous results. Throughout the play, King Creon allows his stubborn pride to inhibit his gift of reason. He condemns Antigone for her actions, refusing to listen to the warnings given to him by both his son and the blind prophet, Teiresias. His son, Haimon attempts to persuade his father before it is too late by telling him such things as "It is not reason never to yield to reason" (154. 79). Teiresias forewarns Creon and tells him that his "only crime is pride" (160. 35) and that if he does not yield "[he] shall pay back/ Corpse for corpse, flesh of [his] flesh" (161. 71-72) Creon eventually reaches a turning point and realizes the error in his actions, but not before it is too late. His abandonment of reason leads to the destruction of his family. As he repents he says, "I have been rash and foolish./ I have killed my son and my wife" (166.134-135). In Antigone, Sophocles shows that man should let his gift of reason, not stubborn pride, guide his life.
In The Divine Comedy, Dante also relays his message about the importance of reason in life. The two main characters, Dante and Virgil, descend through the funnel of hell, visiting each level until reaching Lucifer and escaping. As they enter, Virgil explains to Dante that they "have come to the place where I said/ that you would see the woeful people/ who have lost the good of intellect" (401.16-18). These people have misused their reason by consciously choosing evil in place of good; therefore, each one deserves the punishment bestowed upon him. Sins of different natures are placed on different levels according to their severity and punishments fit the crime committed. After entering the level of those whose sin was an excess of sexual passion, Dante learns that "to such a torment/ carnal sinners are condemned/ who subject their reason to desire" (409. 37-39) Upon entering the level containing those who were evil counselors, Dante finds Ulysses, the hero of the Odyssey. Ulysses says
Neither fondness for my son, nor pity
for an old father, nor the love for Penelope...
could overcome in me the desire I had
to gain experience of the world
and of the vices and the worth of men (419. 82-86).
In both cases, the sinners elect to go to heaven or hell, depending on the choices that they make. This is why the gates of hell read "Abandon every hope, you who enter here" (401. 9) because all who are there have earned their place by the conscious decisions made throughout life.
Sophocles and Dante convey their message that "Reason is God's crowning gift to man" by showing the grave results of decisions made without reason. In Antigone Sophocles shows that those who push reason aside will suffer. Throughout The Divine Comedy Dante gives the message that all decisions, good or bad, were made consciously because of man's gift of reason; therefore, his consequences are chosen. Reason is the gift given to man that allows him to make the choices that mold and shape the outcome of his life.
Works Cited
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. Adventures in World Literature. Ed. James
Applegate et al. Classic ed. Orlando: Harcourt, 1970. 400-433.
Sophocles. Antigone. Adventures in World Literature. Ed. James Applegate et al.
Classic ed. Orlando: Harcourt, 1970. 138-166.
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