Antigone

The guard returns from where he exited, now with Antigone. Clearly relieved that he found someone to prove the crime was not his, he announces that she was caught in the act of burying her brother. Questioned, the guard recounts Antigone’s capture in more detail.

When Polyneikes’ buried body was discovered, the guards uncovered it and retired to a hill to guard it from afar. A whirlwind began. When it ended Antigone was there, cursing those who had uncovered the corpse and reburying it. When they questioned her, Antigone admitted to the crime.

Antigone admits to the crime again to Kreon. When asked why she would defy the law, she bravely argues that divine law is more important than Kreon’s, and “It was not Zeus who made that proclamation / To me; nor was it Justice […] Nor did I think your proclamation so strong / that you, a mortal, could overrule the laws / Of the gods, that are unwritten and unfailing” (498-504). Because she has done what is right by the gods, she accepts the fate of her punishment by death as “in no way painful” (517), especially since the mortal world is full of so many evils against the rightful laws.