y can just...overrule the unwritten laws of heaven....You are a man....These divinelaws....stand forever (Sophocles 12). Bernard Knox stated that from first to last herreligious devotion and duty are to the divine powers of the world below, the masters ofthat world where lie her family dead, to which she herself, reluctant but fascinated, isirresistibly drawn (78). Just before Antigone is to be taken away, it is during this moment of self-discovery that she realizes that she has not only been abandoned by men, but she alsohas been abandoned by the gods. She claims that she has died for her reverence tothem and they did not even send a sign of their approval (Knox 82) when she asks Butwhats the point of appealing to God? Or asking help from my fellow humans? Itappears that virtue is to be repaid by malice. If that is Gods idea of what is right, then Iapologize; I made a mistake (Sophocles 22). The Chorus seems to think thatAntigones error lies in being one-sided. They think that she does not fully understandthe true meaning of reverence (Bowra 67). Perhaps Antigone should have let the godsvindicate their own law rather than take matters into her own hands (Norwood 62).The presence of the gods is felt through the seer, Teiresias, who brings Creon avery specific message. Creon must reverse his edict and save Antigone because thegods are angry (Whitman 111). Although Teiresias has supernatural abilities and muchgreater wisdom than Creon, he is slandered when Creon says The whole pack of seersis money-mad, and is dismissed by the king (Hanson 48). Yet, the fact that the godsare angered by the pollution coming from Polynices unburied body and that their angermeans some grave peril for Creons family is what causes Creon to eventually changehis edict . This proves that heaven was against him; therefore, Antigones appeal to theunwritten laws is justified in this sense (Norwood 62).The root cause of the terrible outcome of the confro...
