Final answer:
Creon reacts to Antigone's defiance by sentencing her to be buried alive, showing his stern and unyielding stance against her actions rather than praising her for her courage or wisdom.
Step-by-step explanation:
When Antigone challenges Creon by calling him a fool during her interrogation, Creon's response is quite the opposite of praising her. Creon is indignant and stern in his description of Antigone after she defies him. He does not laud her for her courage or commend her intelligence; rather, he sees her defiance as an affront to his authority and the laws of the state. Creon decides that Antigone's actions, particularly her insistence on burying her brother Polyneices against his edict, cannot go unpunished, and he sentences her to be buried alive in a rock-hewn tomb, as seen in the following excerpt:
“She shall be taken to some desert place By man untrod, and in a rock-hewn cave, With food no more than to avoid the taint That homicide might bring on all the State, Buried alive. There let her call in aid The King of Death, the one god she reveres, Or learn too late a lesson learnt at last: 'Tis labor lost, to reverence the dead.”