Close reading of page 82
In this passage of Antigone, we have Antigone’s response to Creon about why she broke his law about burying the enemy. We see here that Zeus, or religion, is ultimately the “king” that she follows. By saying that Zeus was not the one who made Creon’s proclamation of not burying the dead, we see evidence of her devotion to religion. Had Zeus himself told Antigone to not bury her brother, she would not have since she carries religion above the city’s laws.
In the last sentence of this passage, we see further evidence that enforces Antigone’s devotion to her religion. By saying that Creon, a mere mortal, could never decree anything that overrides the laws of the gods (the laws that are unwritten and should always be carried out), we see how high she holds religion. This is the biggest reason why she and Creon are so different.
This religion we see here is closely tied to the theme of family. The unwritten laws that Antigone is talking about deals with properly burying your family. We can see that family, since it is tied to religion, overrides any law of the city. With both Antigone and Creon disagreeing on the issue of burying Polynices, we can see that they both have one-sided or a polar view on what family is with Antigone viewing it as her blood kin and Creon viewing it in a friendship/follower kind of way. Here in this passage we have an early view of a theme that overlays the entire story.
Though Antigone does follow the unwritten law, or her religion, when it comes to giving a proper burial, she also says toward the end of the play that she would not have gone through with it if it were her husband or child in the very same situation. It is kind of ironic to think that though she does follow through with religion now, she would not do the same for replaceable family members. This reiterates the idea that Antigone lives in the past and cannot move forward with her life, and also shows that she does change in some ways throughout the play.
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