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SophoclesAntigone
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Scene 2 and 2nd Ode
Scene 2 and 2nd Ode Summary
Among his counselors, Kreon announces his own right of kingship due to his bond through his sister’s marriage to the previous king, Oedipus, and the fateful death of Oedipus’ sons. Kreon argues that leaving Polyneikes unburied is his duty to the people of Thebes, since though a citizen, Polyneikes attacked Thebes as an enemy. Kreon charges the Chorus to uphold his decree, and the Chorus acknowledges that to disobey him would mean death, and “no one’s such a fool as to be in love with dying” (251).
A guard, afraid of being put to death for his news, enters hesitantly and tells Kreon that in the night someone has buried the corpse of Polyneikes in a thin layer of dirt and disappeared. Kreon demands to know who has done this, and the terrified guard swears that neither he nor any of the other guards saw anything.
At this, the Chorus leader announces that he suspects this burial was the will of the gods, but Kreon angrily rejects this assumption. He accuses the guards of taking bribes from discontented Thebans to bury the corpse and vows that if they do not find out who has committed this crime, they will all be hanged. Kreon exits.
The Chorus performs its second ode. In it the men remark that man is the most fearsome creature that ever lived and provide a litany of his conquests of all the beasts. However, to live in cities, this savage creature must abide by the law.
Scene 2 and 2nd Ode Analysis
Kreon is among 15 men and discussing his right to kingship due to the death of all male heirs, and a modern audience would easily notice the misogynist slant of his situation. Festivals were one of the few occasions in ancient Greece when women were allowed to leave the house, and such a reading may indeed have been that of these ancient people as well. Certainly, the people of Athens would appreciate that Kreon’s argument that he is leaving Polyneikes unburied out of loyalty to the law and people of Thebes is false, as it is Kreon who makes the laws of the people in the first place. Athens, unlike Thebes, was a democracy during this period.
Kreon continues to reveal his lack of concern for the people of Thebes and his overall illegitimacy as a ruler (though he is, by law, the rightful king) by mistrusting the words of both his guard and the Chorus, as well as in threatening the guard who brings him a message. Importantly, this rejection of the honest claims of both Chorus and guards also comes as disregard for the will of the gods, which should be respected as the highest law. When the leader of the Chorus intimates that burial may be the gods’ will, Kreon rebukes him, convinced that Theban discontents caused this act. This is another sign of his poor leadership, since he admits he knows that, “for a long time in this city” (338), some Thebans have not been happy to keep “their necks under the yoke— / As justly they should have done (341-42). In these lines, Kreon reveals that the real reason he left Polyneikes unburied was not to honor Thebes, but to show his mercilessness to any Thebans who might stand against him.
The song of the Chorus, stating no creature is more fearsome than man, reflects their fear of death by Kreon. In closing their ode with remarks that to live in cities, man must obey the law, they announce their loyalty to Kreon and the laws he creates, whether or not these laws are just.
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By Sophocles
