Some individuals in literature try to do what they believe is right, even though
they face oppositions. In the play "Antigone", by Sophocles, and
"A Few Good Men", by Rob Reiner, Both Colonel Jessep and King Creon
are two such inividuals. In both of these plays, they are both successful in
doing what they believe is right, but they both face oppositions. In the play
"Antigone" King Creon did what he believed is right and faced
opposition. King Creon believed that Polynices, Antigone's dead brother, should
be left out in an open field where animals can feed upon the body, and anyone
who tried to bury him will be put to death by stoning. The reason he believed
this is because Polynices was a trader. He succeeded, but is faced by an
opposition. Antigone opposed him because in her religious laws, all corpses had
to have a proper burial. (Sophocles: lines 384-581) "That order did not
come from God. Justice, That dwells with the gods bellow, knows no such law. I
did not think your edict strong enough To overrule the unwritten unalterable
laws of God and heaven, you only being a man". Antigone buries her brother
and is sentenced to death. Her fiancee Heamon, and Creon's son, then opposes
Creon but doesn't succeed either. In "A Few Good Men", Colonel Jessep
also did what he believed even though he faced opposition. He ordered Dawson and
Downey, two Marines who he knew would follow his orders without question, to do
a Code Red on William Santiago, a mess-up Marine. A Code Red is a type of severe
harassment in which something is do to toughen up the offending Marine. Such
Code Reds were part of Marine tradition but were official forbidden by recent
Marine Regulations. Dawson and Downey did the Code Red and Santiago died. When
Colonel Jessep said in the play that "People have to die to save
lives", he meant that he believed that this barbaric tradition would serve
the better good by making tougher Marines. Daniel Kaffe opposed Colonel Jessep
in this movie. He proved that Colonel Jessep was wrong. Therefore Colonel Jessep
and King Creon both believed that making an individual suffer served as an
example which strengthened the state against its enemies. They were each opposed
by an apparently weaker but enlightened foe that believed in forgiving human
error. Both Colonel Jessep and King Creon were ultimately defeated by their
opposition.