Question

Which best identifies the conflict that motivates Antigone's actions and explains how this conflict is resolved?

A. State vs. Rival state; Antigone gives up her citizenship in Thebes and moves to Athens.
B. Obedience to human law vs. obedience to divine law; Antigone acts in accordance with the divine law and accepts the human fate that befalls her.
C. Loyalty to family vs. loyalty to state; Antigone chooses loyalty to state and defies her family's demands.
D. Desire to individual freedom vs. service to the good of the state; Antigone gives up her individual freedom in order to serve the state politically.

Answer 1

The correct answer is B. Antigone dramatizes the clash of nomos, human law (valid by convention) and physis, natural law (valid by necessity, since it is the will of the gods). Creon orders that Antigone's brother Polinices shall not be buried, going against Greek religious custom and belief, which stated that every person should be appropiately buried. Antigone, obeying divine (natural) law, buried his brother and defied Creon's decree.

Answer 2

Antigone defied King Creole's order not to bury Polynieces, her brother because it is the divine will that he be given the burial ritual.

B. Obedience to human law vs. obedience to divine law; Antigone acts in accordance with the divine law and accepts the human fate that befalls her.