As the play begins Antigone is just meeting up with her sister and is telling her about the decree of King Creon. Antigone and her sister, Ismene, had two brothers who had killed each other on the battlefield. One of their brothers, Eteocles, was buried with the military honors of a soldiers funeral, and yet the other, Polyneices, was to be left out to be food for the carrion birds since he died fighting against the city of Thebes. King Creon forbade publicly for anyone to bury the body of Polyneices under the penalty of death. Antigone is now determined to bury her brother and wants Ismene to help her. Ismene does not want to go against what the king has ordered and is fearful of what may become of her if she partakes in this journey to bury her kin. Antigone does not even think of the king as a threat and she does not believe that even he could stop her from burying the body of her beloved brother. Ismene tells her sister that she does not think that it is right to go against men and the powerful laws. She believes that it is not good to get involved in things that will draw attention to you, especially when they involve immediate disrespect for the kings orders. Antigone is offended by this and tells her sister that she would not want her to come if that was the way she felt, even if she did want to join her. She believes that her crime is holy and that her death could only be joyous, as she is to be with her brother and the other dead because she had obeyed the unwritten law of the gods where they desire every man is to be buried. Ismene becomes fearful for her sisters welfare, but her sister only warns her to be fearful for herself since everyone will hate her when they find out that she had known about the plan and did not tell anyone. Antigone firmly believes that she is simply doing what she must do. She has no choice. Her death, if that is what it must come to in order to accomplish the burial of her brother, wi...
