The entire debate is an attempt by Creon to demoralize Antigone. He tries to prove that she is wrong so that he can gain the upper hand in his attempt to win over the people of Thebes. He asks Antigone whether she has not betrayed the memory of Eteocles (the brother who had refused to give up the throne of Thebes). Unlike Creon, who supported Eteocles because it was politically expedient for him to do so, Antigone treats both her brothers as equals. She does not accept Creon’s argument that Polynices was a traitor who came to destroy Thebes. For Creon, Polynices is the wicked brother, hated even in death; but Antigone adheres to the law of love and is not consumed by hatred for anyone. She makes a powerful and telling statement: “Death knows no difference, but demands his due.”
At the end of the scene Creon has lost his composure and states that he will never allow himself to be ruled by a woman. This scene is the climactic point: it demonstrates the clash between Creon’s world of power and Antigone’s world of ideals. Antigone is resolute to the end and thoroughly enrages King Creon.