Moral Law vs King's Law
I really enjoyed reading the dialogue between Creon and Antigone. Really nice stuff that I'm going to have to go through again to soak up.
Anyway, Antigone puts forth the argument that the burial of Polynices was for herself. She was upset at the idea that Polynices would wander forever, and it would put her at ease to help him out. That and she felt that as a sister, it would only be right to do this.
Creon argues that the burial, even if done properly, was rather pointless in the end. That and his choice to not bury Polynices was due to needing to satisfy the common people. He needed a martyr and a scapegoat, and so he picked the body that was less damaged to bury properly and left the other one to continue rotting.
The difference between moral law and the King's law is that the King's law applies the same to everyone and is enforced. In reality, moral laws don't really matter. There are no guaranteed negative consequences for having a different set of laws compared to someone else, whereas in the case of Polynices, anyone who buried his body regardless of intention would be put to death.
Morality and Law actually tie into each other very tightly. Morality is defined as "principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior". Laws take those principals and make the answers clear cut. As in 'this is absolutely wrong, or this is absolutely right'. My best guess is that Anouilh contrasted Moral and King's law to raise the question of should the law always be followed even if it conflicts with what an individual believes in?
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