Who Break The Law In Antigone

The play Antigone Is about Oedipus’s three two sons Eteocles and Polynices killing each other in a conflict over who rightfully is king of Thebes. With both of the possible heirs to the throne their uncle Creon is king of Thebes. Creon passed a law stating that giving Polynices a proper burial was illegal. Creon stated that “proclamation has forbidden to dignify him with the burial, morning him at all” (Sophocles, 1109, 228). The reason for this law is that Polynices shared the throne with his brother for years but since he wanted the kingdom for himself he fought his brother. This lead to both of them killing each other so, Creon labeled Poylnices a trader. However, this goes against the religious duties of the people in this era of burying the dead so they can pass over to the afterlife.
When she was questioned by her uncle why she broke the law she the law was wrong and stated “nor did I think your edict had such a force that you , a mere mortal, could override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakable traditions”( Sophocles ,1117,505). Antigone is saying that burying the dead is an important religious duty that needs to be done to respect but the gods. Creon also is aware of this because earlier in the play when one of his guards suggested that the gods buried the body he questioned why the gods would care about “a corpse” (Sophocles, 1112, 320). The main conflict in this play is the religious duty versus the law of the land. This forces Antigone to either be true to the law or true to her ethical or religious beliefs. Antigone chose standby her religious beliefs and to rebel against the unjust rules of her uncle. This ethical conflict put the whole plays plot into