The play starts with Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, calling her sister Ismene to a side and asking her about the new edit that has been passed by her uncle and the new king Creon. Ismene doesn’t know, and Antigone says it is about burying only one of their slain brothers (Etocles) with honor and throwing the other (Polyneices) over the walls to be eaten by birds since he is deemed a traitor to the city.
Despite her sister Ismene’s warnings, Antigone performs the burial rites. She is caught, and she defends her actions as adhering to divine law over human law. Creon sentences Antigone to death by entombment despite pleas from Ismene and his son Haemon, who is also betrothed to Antigone.