Final answer:
Antigone reflects on the story of Niobe to express her own loneliness in the face of death. Like Niobe, who suffered immensely and turned to stone, Antigone experiences profound sorrow and isolation in Sophocles' tragedy.
Step-by-step explanation:
Antigone recalls the story of Niobe, and she says she feels the loneliness of her death in her own. Niobe, in Greek mythology, was a queen of Thebes and the wife of King Amphion who was punished by the gods for her excessive pride, resulting in the death of her children and her being turned into a stone weeping eternally. Antigone identifies with Niobe's fate in the sense that both women confront the inescapability of death and the profound sorrow that it brings.
In Sophocles' play Antigone, the protagonist defies King Creon's decree by burying her brother Polyneices, believing that moral law transcends the king's orders. She faces death with nobility and determination, accepting the tragic outcome as a consequence of her devotion to family and to the eternal laws of right and wrong. This act of defiance and the subsequent tragedy underline the themes of isolation, loyalty, and the confrontation with authoritarian power.