In Sophocles's Antigone, Creon orders that Antigone be entombed alive as punishment for her act of burying the body of her brother, Polynices. This sentence is given in lieu of a public execution, as Creon wants to save Thebes, and himself, from the ignominy of executing his niece, who is a princess of Thebes. He knows that entombing her alive is a death sentence, but he believes that her death will leave no stain on the state as she was not directly executed by the state.
After Antigone is taken away to be entombed alive, Teiresias, the blind prophet, arrives in Thebes and warns Creon that the gods are angry at his refusal to bury the bodies of Polynices and the others who fought against Thebes. After Creon and Teiresias argue, Teiresias warns Creon that Creon's affront to the gods (not burying the bodies of those who fought against Thebes and in entombing Antigone alive) will lead to the death of Creon's son, Haemon.
Following Teiresias's departure, Creon decides to release Antigone from her tomb. However, when he and his men arrive, they find Haemon has already opened the tomb. Inside the tomb, they find that Antigone has hung herself, and before Creon's eyes, Haemon kills himself.
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