Finding Natural Law: Consistency in Justice as a Theme

            From Ancient Greece to the present day, the theme of justice has been a subject of interest which has remained and will continue to remain in storytelling far into the future. The reason for this reoccurring notion is simply because justice has always been desirable to the nature of man. By comparing the ancient play Antigone to the modern film V for Vendetta, man’s natural partiality toward the equity of law can be seen. The protagonists in each work are able to distribute justice to their corrupt leaders with the utilization of ethical knowledge and supernatural intervention.

            In Sophocles’ Antigone, the main character, Antigone, possesses the ethical knowledge to know right from wrong, despite a morally contradicting law. Following the death of her two brothers, King Creon has Eteocles buried with rites and a hero’s ritual, but refuses to allow the other brother a burial at all. By his rule, anyone who gave Polyneices, a traitor to his kingdom, a proper burial was to be punished by death. When Antigone is convicted of the crime she responds: “I dared. It was not God’s proclamation. That final Justice that rules the world below makes no such laws” (Sophocles, 208). In V for Vendetta, the vigilante known as V has the ethical knowledge to know the injustices committed by Chancellor and his advisers. The hero is so confident in his sense of morality, that he is willing to kill for the benefit of the people. He says, “Violence can be used for good.” Eve then asks, “Are you going to kill more people?” To which he responds simply: “Yes” (McTeigue).

            The role of divine or supernatural intervention also plays a large part in punishing the injustices committed by the autocratic rulers. King Creon is warned by the blind prophet Tiresias that if he does not repent for his wrongdoings, he will suffer the wrath of the gods. Upon her punishment, Antigone prays for the gods to punish Creon equally, “But if the guilt lies upon Creon who judged me, then, I pray, may his punishment equal my own” (Sophocles, 228). The role of the gods corresponds to the role of fate that controls the outcomes in V for Vendetta. During V’s first encounter with Eve, he states, “I believe in Fate” (McTeigue), admiring the compatibility of her name and his. Just before the riot on the 5^th of November, Detective Flint, the man in charge of capturing V, has a revelation in which he claims the outcome is destined to occur. He says, “I suddenly had this feeling that everything was connected. I felt like I could see everything that happened and everything that was going to happen. It was like a perfect path laid out in front of me, and then I realized that we’re all a part of it. And we’re all trapped by it” (McTeigue).

            The theme of equal justice is so essential to human nature that it has been included as a central element in works that date back as far as Ancient Greece and continue to reappear into modern day culture. This customary desire for justice, which can be seen in ancient works such as Antigone, and modern works such as V for Vendetta, shows that our feelings about the idea have remained consistent throughout.

Works Cited

Fitts, Dudley, and Fitzgerald Robert. Sophocles: The Oedipus Cycle. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1949. Print.

V for Vendetta. Dir. James McTeigue. Warner Home Video, 2006.

Modern Genocide in Srebrenica

Genocide is one of the most universally reprehensible crimes against humanity. Its purpose is nothing if not a threat to human survival. Often when one thinks of genocide, they think of the Holocaust, as it is the largest scale attack on a specific group of people in recorded history. Although the tragedy of the Holocaust should not be forgotten, it should not be remembered as the only example of modern genocide. Due to the incomparable number of murders that took place, the mass extermination of Jewish peoples during World War II usually overshadows the many other examples of genocide that have taken place in the years that followed. Large scale murder still exists today and has become a disturbing trend in the modern world.

An example of mass genocide that occurred in recent European history is the massacre of Srebrenica. In 1995, in only a few short days, over 8,000 Bosnians were methodically executed by Serbian forces in a small town at the Eastern border of Bosnia. Despite the involvement of the United Nations, the Serbian populated Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) was capable of committing the largest act of genocide in Europe since the holocaust.

Following years of territorial conflicts between the local Serbians and Bosnians, the UN declared the town of Srebrenica a “Safe Zone,” in which the Bosnian population could live free from attacks or other acts of aggression. For two years, the town existed as a demilitarized zone, under the supervision of the UN Protection Force. Serbian forces outside of the town blockaded all supplies from reaching the town, leaving the Bosnian people poorly supplied, underequipped, and lacking in food and medicine. Although the UN was aware of the blockade, they made no attempt to stop it, as their primary goal was prevention of further combat.

In July of 1995, the significantly better equipped Serbian troops invaded Srebrenica, violating the established “Safe Zone.” They encountered very little resistance from the poorly equipped Bosnian defenses. In a matter of days the town was overthrown; many of the town’s refugees gathered in a small compound established by the United Nations. It wasn’t long before the Serbian forces discovered the 25,000 refugees within the perimeter. Over the next ten days, over 8,000 Bosnian people were executed with ruthlessly planned efficiency. The majority of these male, female, child, and elderly victims were executed by firing squad and buried in mass unmarked graves.

Even with the remnants of genocide so clearly evident in Eastern Bosnia, the UN was unable to convict the VRS of crimes against humanity for another nine years. In a landmark ruling, Theodore Meron, the presiding judge of the UN stated, “By seeking to eliminate a part of the Bosnian Muslims, the Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide. They targeted for extinction the 40,000 Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica ...They stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and young, of their personal belongings and identification, and deliberately and methodically killed them solely on the basis of their identity.”

                                                              Works Cited              

"Srebrenica Massacre." Welcome Back to The Frost Blog. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/srebrenica_massacre.html>.

"Timeline: Siege of Srebrenica." BBC News. BBC, 06 Sept. 2005. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/675945.stm>.

Traynor, Ian. "Srebrenica Genocide: Worst Massacre in Europe since the Nazis." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 10 June 2010. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jun/10/hague-bosnian-serb-srebrenica-genocide1>.