NovelGuide: Antigone: Novel Summary: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Soon the Chorus becomes agitated by this sudden upheaval. Not really knowing what to do, it naturally supports Creon, saying, "God and government ordain just laws; the citizen who rules his life by them is worthy of acclaim. But he that presumes to set the law at naught is like a stateless person, outlawed, beyond the pale."

Next, the guard returns to Creon with Antigone. He proclaims, "Here she is. She is the one,-- the one that did it. We caught her in the act."

Antigone admits her crime, confronting Creon on moral grounds. She asserts to the king, "Isn't a man's right to burial decreed by divine justice? I don't consider your pronouncements so important that they can just...overrule the unwritten laws of heaven."

What follows is a heated discourse between Antigone and Creon, in which both of them threaten the other with moral law. Here the crux of the play is confronted: whose law is greater: God's o man's?

Soon Ismene enters the scene, telling Creon that she shares equal responsibility for the crime. Ismene asks Creon for mercy on Antigone's behalf, since her sister is suppose to marry Haemon, Creon's son. But Creon is not persuaded, remaining stubborn in his judgment.

The Chorus senses impending disaster, seeing this fated day as a result of Oedipus' earlier crime. It remarks, "For once a family is cursed by God, disasters come like earthquake tremors, worse with each succeeding generation."

Next, Haemon attempts to convince his father, Creon, that his judgment is wrong. Yet Creon, again, is unyielding, saying that if he concedes to a woman, anarchy will sweep through all of Thebes. Order, he says, must be maintained by the king. Soon Haemon attacks his father, saying in anger, "Don't think you have a complete monopoly of the truth." At this time, the Chorus begins to withdrawal its support from Creon, admitting that both sides have valid arguments.