Role Of Gods In Antigone

In the play Antigone by Sophocles the Greek gods play a very important role. Discussion of the gods is present throughout the entirety of the play. Essentially the gods drive the plot of Antigone. The play is about a girl, Antigone, who lives in Thebes Greece. She is the niece of the king Creon. Antigone had two brothers who were killed. One of her brothers, Polynices, was ordered by Creon to not be buried and anyone who attempted to bury him would be sentenced to death. Knowing this, Antigone still risks her life and buries her brother. In ancient greek times the burial of someone was considered very sacred, so as one may guess this caused a great problem.
The ritual of burying a family member was important to ancient greek culture. The gods from the greek religion are the ones who said that the burial must happen or else the deceased would be stuck halfway to the underworld. Antigone’s family history had not been the best up until the point of her brothers’ deaths. In the book it was stated that Antigone felt very strongly about burying her brother no matter what Creon said. In the text after the play it is written by senior editor Paul Moliken that “When Creon Forbids the burial of Polyneices, he is denying Antigone the opportunity to perform one of the most significant duties that Greek society allowed for women. Thus, he is attacking her identity, and that is a part of the reason she opposes his orders” (Sophocles 67). This is significant because it shows why Creon was