Gandhi once said ‘Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt and a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness’. In Antigone, a tragedy written by Sophocles around 441 BCE, the heroine has a similar attitude towards the state of law in Thebes and commits her own act of civil disobedience. She chooses to disobey the law and bury her brother because she believes he has every right to it.

Antigone begins with The two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynices, who are fighting for the kingship of Thebes. Both men die in the battle. Their successor, Creon, decides that King Eteocles will be buried, but Polynices, because he was leading a foreign army, will be left on the field of battle. Antigone, his sister, buries him anyway.

Antigone is caught burying Polynices and is condemned to death. Her fiance and Creon’s son, Haemon, learns about this and tries to convince Creon to change his mind. It’s only then that the seer Tiresias appears. After a long discussion, he finally persuades Creon that the Gods want Polynices buried. By then it’s too late — Antigone has hung herself, Haemon kills himself when he finds her, and Creon’s wife kills herself when she learns about her son.