Divine Law In Sophocles Antigone

The concept of divine law versus the human law is a prominent theme in the Greek play, Antigone. Sophocles creates the epitome of the inferiority of a king to reinforce the fact that monarchs will always be secondary to the Greek divine powers. Due to Creon’s unhealthy obsession and grip on personal power and his complete disregard of the divine law and fate, he later fails not only as a ruler but as a father and husband. Evidence of the superiority of religion can be encountered when Antigone rebels Creon’s orders in order to bury her brother’s corpse, when Teresias, the Chorus and his own son warns Creon about his decisions and how the Gods will reciprocate and when the people and the chorus unite to defend Antigone since her actions were only to protect and maintain the divine law.

In the story, Antigone’s two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices have killed

each other in battle, after the death of Eteocles, Creon assumed his power and decrees that Polyneices betrayed the king and “he shall be left unburied for all to watch The corpse mutilated and and eaten by carrion birds and by dogs” (Sophocles) This created an issue because in Greek culture, if a body is not buried by sundown on the day of their death their spirit will never find peace and is cursed to walk the earth. Creon’s order is against the divine law and created a dilemma between the head of the state and religion. Antigone defies Creon’s law but follows the will of the gods and buries her brother. When she was caught, Antigone takes the blame and does not deny that it was her that buried Polyneices. She then announces that even though her actions were against Creon’s commandment, they were in line with her obligations and values towards the gods and justice. Antigone explains that “for these laws were not ordained of Zeus…Justice, enacted not these human laws… The immutable unwritten laws of Heaven… They die not… To disobey these laws and so provoke the wrath of Heaven.” (449-470, Sophocles) Antigone challenged Creon’s authority by elevating religion law above his worldly law.
Creon, blinded by his thirst for power, refuses to listen to advices from his family and even ignores Teresias’ warnings. His own son, Haemon is against his actions and attempts to convince his father to prevent him from killing his wife-to-be, Antigone. He suggests that his father’s sense of justice is flawed and reminds him that “A State for one man is no State at all” (734, Sophocles) during a discussion with his father. In which Creon ruthlessly replies, “the State is his who rules it, so ’tis held.” (734, Sophocles) Afterwards, Teresias came with his prophecies that never fail to be true and warns him that his actions will affect him. The prophet apprises him that Creon’s unwillingness to allow Antigone to bury Polyneices and permit her to live will anger the gods and be reciprocated by his own death. However, Creon refuses to listen and replies with the same temper as he did to his son. He offends Teresias and says “prophets are all a money-getting tribe” (1050, Sophocles), and the prophet replies with “and kings are all lucre-loving race” (1050, Sophocles).
After Teresias announces fate, everyone seems to understand the dilemma at hand.

Even Creon, although he wants to resist and continue to fight for what he believes is right, he knows better than to fight fate. Everyone learned this lesson from Oedipus’ mistakes. The Chorus, at first, were in Creon’s side due to the fact that she had disrespected the Head of the State, however, after Teresias’ warning, The Chorus changes their opinion and mentions how perhaps the burial was the will of the gods. The Chorus and the people learned to empathize Antigone, and she was a source of inspiration and realization that no matter how powerful a person is, they are defenseless against the almighty gods. Antigone’s approach to death is almost fearlessly as she is unwilling to live in a world where the word of a man is means more than the word of the gods. “God forbid it e’er should please… and yet how otherwise had I achieved a name so glorious as by burying a brother? … Where they not gagged by terror, Manifold a king’s prerogatives, and not the least that all his acts and all his words are laws.” (497-506,

Sophocles)
As a result of Creon’s obsessive grip on personal power and Antigone’s persistence on defending her morals and the gods’ wills, it seems that at the end of the story, it is evident that the divine law and never-ending faith will always be superior to the worldly law of a powerful man. Because no matter how prodigious a man can be, a person’s ethical values and beliefs are and will always be stronger.