In Antigone, mortal and immortal law clash. The laws in question surround traitors and burial, with human politics focusing on the dead’s traitorous actions and godly authority focusing on the importance of a proper burial.
Kreon uses his power as king of Thebes to deny Antigone and Ismene their spiritual right to bury their brother Polyneikes. As the play opens, Antigone begins testing the tension between duty to the state and to the heavens, defending her crimes as “honorable” (86) and “blameless” (89) with the reasoning “It wasn’t Zeus who issued me / this order. And Justice—who lives below— / was not involved” (487-489). For Antigone, “the gods’ unwritten and infallible laws” (192) trump Kreon’s decree. After all, her time on the earth under the law of Thebes is limited, and her time in Hades beside the ghosts of her family is forever.
Antigone’s struggle ends in tragedy. Kreon stands by his decree in an effort to maintain his authority over the city, but he loses sight of his position in the power hierarchy: as a mortal, he is under the jurisdiction of the gods. The justice system fails when it goes against natural justice. Antigone dies as Kreon commands, but her death, which she welcomed, is not a punishment meant for her. Because Kreon’s law defies the law of the gods, and they punish him by taking his niece, his son, and his wife, as well as turning the people against him.
Kreon is humbled, realizing “There’s no one I can blame, / no other mortal. / I am the only one” (1472-1474). He passed the law murdering three members of his family, but his specific mention of mortal blame implicates the immortal gods’ hand in the affair. As the play ends, the leader of the chorus urges Kreon to tend to his stately duties—“We / must deal with the present. / The future will be shaped / by those who control it” (1489-1492). On one hand, this refers to Kreon’s power as king, but it also highlights how powerless Kreon truly is. He cannot keep his family safe; he cannot keep his city in line; he cannot control the future. He, the highest authority in Thebes, is at the mercy of the gods.