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When Antigone opens, the sons of Oedipus, cursed by their father, lie dead at each other’s hands.† Both considered themselves rightful heirs to the throne, but only Eteocles had the support of the citizens to assume the kingship of Thebes. His brother, Polynices, had marched on the city with troops from neighboring Argos. Antigone and her sister, Ismene, are the last of the house of Laius. Creon, Antigone’s maternal uncle, is now head of the family and ruler of Thebes.
Creon buries Eteocles as a king who died defending the city, but leaves the corpse of Polynices to rot outside the city walls. Creon has declared him a traitor, an enemy of the state, and, as such, undeserving of proper burial. No one is to perform the rites of burial for his nephew, or even mourn him, on punishment of death. Although this decree is shocking to other characters in the play, Creon sees it as a political necessity. The body of an enemy cannot be honored, especially the body of an exile who returned to regain his city by force. This final punishment of an exile who is already dead is the most extreme form of isolation possible. It sets in motion a series of events in which Creon and Antigone’s beliefs about divine and civic justice lead to isolation and death.
One learns in the first 50 lines of the play that Antigone has no intention of obeying her uncle. When brought before him, she proudly admits that she has gone against his decree, and claims that the dictates of religious ritual justify her actions (I. 441–42). Creon will not make an exception for her; she must be punished. Each has based their decisions on legitimate ground, so that Antigone enacts the failure of justice over the conflicting demands of religious law and civic law.
Antigone’s defiance is particularly threatening to Creon because she is a woman. Modern readers must keep in mind that his outrage would not seem bizarre to Sophocles’ audience. Creon, as head of the family, has legally inherited the role of Antigone’s fath