Antigone - Close Reading

p. 82: It wasn’t Zeus, not in the least,

who made this proclamation—not to me.

Nor did that Justice, dwelling with the gods

beneath the earth, ordain such laws for men.

Nor did I think your edict had such force

that you, a mere mortal, could override the gods,

the great unwritten, unshakable traditions.

In this passage, Antigone gives her response to why she decided to bury her brother, Polynices, going against the law that King Creon had announced. She does not deny for a second that she was the one who gave her brother a proper burial, though she knows that the punishment for such act is death. In this excerpt, Antigone mocks Creon’s law and authority by saying that it has no meaning to her for there is a higher power that overrules anything that the king of Thebes may say to the people. Talking about the rules of the god, Antigone says that King Creon’s rules cannot “override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakable traditions.” She shows that, to her, religion is more important than the law; she is willing to defy the law in order to show respect to the dead, something that should be done in accordance to her religion. Antigone proves that she cherishes family the most, even over her own life, by defying the law set by the king in order to properly give respect to her brother.

It can be seen through this passage that Antigone and Creon are very different people. While Antigone lives her life by religion and god, Creon does so through his own powers. Creon finds comfort through the thought of having powers of his own and being in control of the city; he shows this by enforcing the law of not allowing people to bury Polynices. The law states that anyone who defies it will be sentenced to death, and even after finding out that it was his own niece that had broken the law, he makes no exception for her and says that she must die as well. Little does Creon know that, ultimately, it is the god’s traditions and ways that win over his decisions in the end. It is through the conflict between Creon and Antigone’s differing ideals that carry on the storyline and builds upon the theme of religion versus the law.