Take a speech by one of the characters, and analyze it for theme. That is, find an important speech (whether by Antigone, Creon, or Chorus). Then quote it, and explain it in a good paragraph. Think of going abstract and using the quote to suggest Sophocles' theme here.

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Trevor Kennedy

English

13 September, 20:58

Take a speech by one of the characters, and analyze it for theme. That is, find an important speech (whether by Antigone, Creon, or Chorus). Then quote it, and explain it in a good paragraph. Think of going abstract and using the quote to suggest Sophocles' theme here.

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Parker Strickland · Answer 1

Antigone, lines 357-363:

I dared. It was not God's proclamation. That final Justice that rules the world below makes no such laws. Your edict, King, was strong, But all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now: they were, and shall be, operative for ever, beyond man utterly.

In this tragedy, Sophocles opposes human law (which descends from nomos, custom) and divine law (which has its root in physis, the natural order). Antigone defies Creon because she believes that his orders (that Polyneices be denied the burial he is due according to Greek custom) go against the will of the Gods. She places herself as a guardian of tradition, and rejects Creon's authority to go against religion.