In Sophocles' tragedy Antigone, conflict erupts for control of Thebes. Literary critic Ed Downey argues that "Antigone deals with the struggle for the rulership of Thebes that breaks out after Oedipus goes into exile" (2). One of the chief conflicts is the power struggle between King Creon and Antigone, daughter of Oedipus and sister to Ismene and her brother Polynices. When Creon dictates "No man shall bury, none should wail for him" in reference to Polynices's body after he is killed in battle, Antigone disobeys Creon's law and buries her brother. By the end of the play, Antigone is condemned to death and Creon loses his son Haemon (who loves Antigone) and his wife to suicide. Both are tragic figures, but because Antigone follows a higher law and Creon follows man-made law, Antigone is the more tragic figure.
One of the main reasons Antigone is more tragic than Creon is because she has no choice but to follow the dictates of the Gods with respect to burial of her brother. When her sister tries to dissuade her, Antigone tells her of her actions, "I know that I please where I am most bound to please" (Sophocles 3) Antigone is bound to a higher law than man-made law, the laws of the Gods. In contrast, Creon arbitrarily makes the law to refuse burial to Polynices, something that is a willful and man-made law that violates the laws of the Gods. Creon tells us he considers a ruler weak who shies away from making law, "the pilot of the state / Who sets no hand to the best policy, / But remains tongue-tied through some terror, seems / Vilest of man" (Antigone 8). In this way, we see that Antigone is more tragic than Creon. Antigone is following her loyalty to her family and her duty to the gods in burying her brother. Creon has made an arbitrary law out of anger. Literary critic Joseph Gerhard arguers that Creon's law is unjust because his refusal to bury Polynices is not supported by the then-current "tables...