Civil Law In Sophocles Antigone

In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the characters of Antigone and Creon stand in opposition to each other. One man, Polyneices, the brother of Antigone and the nephew of Creon, has been declared a traitor of Thebes. Antigone would rather die than leave her brother unburied, but King Creon believes that civil law is absolute. However, it is only Antigone who is able to truly defend her ethics. Antigone believes that her brother, Polyneices deserves to be buried. Antigone stated that, “Creon buried our brother Eteocles with military honors . . . but Polyneices . . . fought as bravely and died as miserably” (Sophocles 1022 lines 15-18). When she said those words to Ismene, she made her viewpoint clear. No matter which side her brothers

Antigone uses an ethical appeal to defend her argument while Creon relies on a weak, logical appeal. When Antigone says “but I will bury him; and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me,” she points out that the gods laws are more important than a king’s laws (Sophocles 1023 lines 55-58). However, Creon believes that “whoever is chosen to govern should be obeyed—must be obeyed, in all things, great and small, just and unjust!” (Sophocles 1042 lines 35-37). Creon’s argument only rests on his idea that the leader should always be obeyed whether they’re right or wrong. Both Antigone and Creon lose their temper with each other, which weakens their arguments, but the issue comes down to ethics verses logic. A logical argument based on facts and not just values is usually stronger, but the law which became a fact was based merely on the values of a man, King Creon. So, it became a question of values. Antigone’s values were based on divine law which superseded the laws of a single city. Since humanity is beneath divinity, his argument is the weaker and less