Antigone owes a burial to her dead brother…
simply because every dead body, even a traitor, deserves a burial.
Creon
Why did you bury your brother Antigone?
Antigone
I owed it to him
Creon
I had forbidden it.
Antigone
I owed it to him. Those who are not buried wander eternally and find no rest. Everybody knows that. I owed it to him to unlock the house of the dead in which my father and my mother are waiting to welcome him. Polynices has earned his rest.
Creon
Polynices was a rebel and a traitor, and you know it.
Antigone
He was my brother
Creon
You heard my edict. It was proclaimed throughout the city. You read my edict. It was posted up on the city walls.
Antigone
Yes!
Creon
You know the punishment I decreed for any person who attempted to give him burial.
Antigone
Yes, I know the punishment.
Creon
Did you by any chance act on the assumption that a daughter of Oedipus was above the law?
Antigone
I did not act on that assumption. I never doubted for an instant that you would have me put to death.
Antigone Giving Burial to Polynices
1825
Sébastien Norblin
French 1796-1884.
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