Part 5 Summary

Creon asks Antigone if anyone else knew what she was doing. She lies and tells him no. He then tells her to pretend she was ill and to get the Nurse to pretend the same thing while he ensures the guards' silence. Antigone tells him that there's no point, since she'll just do it again. Creon asks why she's defying his ruling; she tells him that she has to, that Polynices is "entitled to some rest." He accuses her of thinking that, because she's his son's fiancé and Oedipus' daughter, she's above the law. She tells him that, on the contrary, she knew all along that she would be killed.

Creon then explodes into a long speech about how she's just like her father, playing out destiny's designs and overdramatizing everything. He says that things are different now; he's just an ordinary king...