Divine Law In Sophocles Antigone

One very contraversial question in discussions of Sophocles's Antigone is: does Antigone have any right to defy Creon's edict concerning her brother's burial? Obviously, she thinks so, while Creon vehmently dissagrees with her point of view. In my reading of Antigone I found Antigone's arguments to be good deal stronger than Creon's, and to back her up well. While Creon's arguments are unable to stand the blow of common sense, much less his opponents arguments.

Antigone offers several justifications for disregarding Creon's law concerning her brother's burial. A few of them are considerably substantial arguments, others are not. For instance, her arguments on Justice1, and Divine law2, are perfectly valid. However, her arguments on Heroism3 and, since he is her brother and not replaceable4, seem, not quite so valid. Even if we don't consider Antigone's arguments in this matter, is her action right? After all, …show more content…
However, to fully prove that Antigone was right is defying Creon, we must show that divine law is higher than state law. To begin with, divine law is founded by the god's (in the ancient Greeks case.) We know that the gods are more powerful than the earthly kings. Generally a more powerful being has greater authority than a less powerful being. So it must follow, that since the law Creon wishes to disregard is a divine one, founded by the gods, then the gods law must be higher than state law. Does that mean Antigone can simply disregard Creon' orders? If divine law is higher than state law, it seems obvious that a person would have to obey divine law first, then state law. If they clash, it seems better to go with divine law than with state law, after all the gods are more powerful than the government. This results in the fact that Antigone was completely right in disregarding Creon's edict. While Creon was completely wrong in trying to defend his unjust