Final answer:
Creon decides to punish Antigone by entombing her alive for disobeying his law and attempting to bury her brother Polyneices. This extreme punishment underscores the play's central conflict between human law and divine law.
Step-by-step explanation:
Creon, the ruler of Thebes, declares that he will punish Antigone for her disobedience of the law by imprisoning her alive in a rock-hewn chamber. This harsh punishment is a result of Antigone defying Creon's decree that forbade the burial of her brother Polyneices. Creon believes that through this action, Antigone will either call on the King of Death, whom she reveres, or learn too late that her reverence for the dead was in vain, as it leads to her own demise. The edict from Creon is absolute and anyone who disobeys, as Antigone did, is to be met with death, underlining the conflict between human law and divine or moral law, which is a central theme of Sophocles's 'Antigone'.