Chorus: "Of happiness the crown and chiefest part is wisdom, and to hold the gods in awe. This is the law that, seeing the stricken heart of pride brought down, we learn when we are old" (162).

This is the closing line of Antigone, and is the part where the Chorus speaking as the audience, says what they have learned. This is the closest thing the play gets to simply saying "The moral of the story is-". It certainly fits with what the play has had happen, but I feel like it was forced. It's a little odd to say something so obvious, and almost detracts from the theme. On the other hand, perhaps it is nice to have it all summed up in a single statement.

Creon is naturally the instrument used to demonstrate this theme that happiness is brought by following the will of the gods, as the play revolves around him fighting it. I just wish there was more representation for Creon's point of view that wasn't obviously going overboard, as Creon wound up playing the part of a strawman for a philosophy Sophocles didn't like.

Antigone

"Antigone: Even so, we have a duty to the dead.

Creon: Not to give equal honor to good and bad" (140).

This quote is where Creon and Antigone fundamentally differ in viewpoints. Both, admittedly, have reason behind them. Do we not owe it to the memory of those lost to respect them? But on the other hand, who deserves to be respected? Do murderers and madmen get the same honor as heroes and saints? Who gets to decide who is worth honoring?

This expansion of this quote is one of the major moral conflicts of Antigone. Does Creon's have the right to decide which dead are worth honoring?