1004 sophocles
stronger, which, of course, is an injustice in itself,
though one to which they and all women of that
time were accustomed.
Creon’s refusal to allow Polyneices funerary
rights and the subsequent rebellion of Antigone
and her condemnation to death are central to the
question of justice. Both Creon and Antigone have
sound arguments in support of their separate though
antagonistic positions. The problem is further com-
plicated by the fact that neither Creon nor Antigone
is clearly in the right. Antigone holds the view
that to deny Polyneices the proper funerary rites is
unjust because failure to do so will render his shade
incapable of entering into the underworld. Rather,
he will be a wandering spirit for all eternity, a pros-
pect which, understandably, she finds unbearable.
Creon takes the position that because Polyneices
has attacked Thebes at the head of an army intent
on deposing Eteocles and taking power for himself,
he has forfeited all of his rights as a Theban, includ-
ing the right to be mourned by his family and then
buried. From Creon’s perspective, it is right and
therefore just that the corpse of Polyneices should
be left as carrion, just as it is right and just that
Eteocles—who defended Thebes against the invad-
ing army—should be buried with full honors.
Antigone, however, is not to be put off by this or
any other argument. She is of the opinion that Creon
is acting unjustly, though not because Polyneices was
not in the wrong. Rather, she sees the situation as
a conflict between human notions of justice versus
the divine law. Polyneices has paid for his treachery
with his life; effectively seeking to punish him in the
afterlife as well is seen by Antigone as a usurpation
of the gods’ authority. Beyond this, she takes the
position that although she owes allegiance to Creon
and the polis of Thebes, she owes greater loyalty to
the will of the gods. Her reasoning is that she will be
in the underworld for all eternity, whereas her time
on earth will at most be just a few decades.
As their positions harden beyond the point
where there is any hope of compromise, both
become increasingly antagonistic. Antigone never
seems to make any effort to see a point of view other
than her own, going so far as to tell Ismene that if
she refuses to help with the burial of Polyneices, she
not only will earn the eternal hatred of Antigone
but the hatred of all the dead for all eternity as well.
Clearly, this is not a judgment that is Antigone’s to
make, as she is appropriating godlike power—that
of judging and condemning another—as well as
engaging in the very type of behavior against which
she is rebelling. In this section, she sounds like no
one so much as Creon himself.
At the same time, Creon, though probably
shaken by the threat to the stability of the state that
has just been averted, seems to overreact as well.
He is as immovable as Antigone and increasingly
seeks to quell any attempts by others to sway him
by resorting to threats of torture and death. The
exchange between Creon and his son, Haemon,
though it begins as a respectful entreaty by Haemon
for the life of Antigone, quickly deteriorates into a
shouting match from which Haemon leaves in anger.
The same is true of the meeting between Creon and
Tiresias, the blind prophet. Creon acknowledges
that it has been his habit to follow Tiresias’s advice
but then flies into a rage and accuses the prophet
of being paid to lie when Tiresias tells him that the
gods are angry at him for leaving a corpse—that
of Polyneices—for dogs and birds to eat because it
becomes an unclean sacrifice and has polluted the
gods’ altars.
By the end of the play, though Creon has come
to see that his single-minded pursuit of justice with-
out mercy has been in error, it is too late. Antigone;
Creon’s wife, Eurydice; and their son, Haemon,
have all committed suicide leaving Creon alone and
ruined.
Grant SiskSoPHoCLES Oedipus Rex
(ca. 429 b.c.)
Long recognized as a great tragic drama, Sophocles’
Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) conceivably supports,
and for 2,500 years has supported, nearly every pos-
sible thematic interpretation. In whole, Oedipus rep-
resents not a play that addresses themes of heroism,
religion, or community, but a tragedy that weaves
an emblem of heroic achievement, the cultural per-
spective of ancient Greek faith, and the character
of the city-state into a single message mandating
responsibility within impossible circumstances.