Antigone shows her strong-willed nature throughout the play, never wavering in her resolve to do the right thing. She is willing to die for what she believes in and won't give in or allow anyone to sway her with illogical arguments. In the beginning of the play, she approaches her sister Ismene to ask for Ismene's help burying their brother Polyneices. Ismene refuses due to her fear of disobeying authority, especially when that authority is male. Antigone replies:
ANTIGONE: If that is what you think, I should not want you, even if you asked to come...
But I will bury him; and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down
With him in death, and I shall be as dear
To him as he to me.
She expresses her belief in the innate sanctity of her decision to bury Polyneices. Antigone believes she is following the laws of the gods and allowing her brother's spirit to journey into the next world, and she will not allow the king's law to stop her, even if it means certain death.
Later on in the play, Creon orders Ismene's arrest. Once Ismene is captured, she jumps on the bandwagon and professes to have a share in Antigone's crime. Antigone responds by saying that Ismene has no right to say she had a part in this, showing her strong-willed nature. She won't let Ismene take credit for something Ismene wanted no part in.
ANTIGONE: No, Ismene. You have no right to say so. You would not help me, and I will not have you help me.
Creon asks Antigone whether she heard his proclamation forbidding anyone to bury Polyneices. She replies that she did, and tells him that he was wrong to issue this command against what the gods would have wanted. Throughout the play, she remains strong-willed and steadfast in her certainty that her act was according to the will of the gods. Antigone refuses to give in and pretend that she thinks she did the wrong thing to try to gain favor with Creon and save her life. She was ready to die for her actions, and does not give in even when she is being led to her death.
CREON: And yet you dared defy the law.
ANTIGONE: I dared. It was not God’s proclamation. That final Justice
That rules the world below makes no such laws.
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