A theme has many meanings among literary scholars. The definition of a theme is a recurring message that the author tries to convey. When reading literature, literary critics can identify seven or more themes in a piece. Among the two literary pieces that the class read and analyzed were Sophocles' Antigone and Dante's The Divine Comedy: Inferno. I found a theme that was distinct for me from each of the readings. In Antigone I was particularly struck by the theme of state law versus divine law. Regarding Dante's The Divine Comedy: Inferno, the theme that struck me was God's justice on the punishments of hell. State law versus divine law or God's law is defined in Sophocles' Antigone. In the play Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and his mother Jocasta. They are both dead and his uncle Creon rules the city of Thebes. There was a war between Antigone's two brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, over who would be the next king of Thebes. Ultimately, they both ended up dying. Creon, Antigone's uncle, is now the new ruler of Thebes. Creon decided to leave Polyneices unburied because he had attacked Thebes. Antigone went against the law and buried him anyway. When Creon found out who had buried Polyneices, he sentenced her to death. He completely ignores his son, Haemon, when he tries to dissuade him. Heamon was to marry Antigone. Creon decides to lock Antigone in a cell and let her starve, so that the gods do not blame him for this. Tiresias, blind prophet and priest of Apollo, arrives to tell Creon that what he is doing is wrong. Creon decides to free Antigone, but it is too late. Antigone hanged herself, Haimon killed herself because she loved her, and Eurydice, Haimon's mother and Creon's wife, killed herself because... middle of paper... ample of God's justice against sinners. Also, when Dante and Virgil were in the sixth circle of hell where they found the tomb of the heretics. He saw Farinata, Dante's enemy and warrior leader. Heretics are people who believe or teach something that goes against accepted or official beliefs or religion. They were burned in a small grave because they did not believe in God or the Christian religion. Fire represented the hell of sinners. They could never leave the tomb because heretics believe that the soul does not leave the body. All in all, a theme has many meanings among scholars. If someone is reading any kind of literature, they can choose multiple themes. Sophocles' Antigone and Dante's The Divine Comedy: Inferno both had themes that stood out. By reading both of these literary pieces and analyzing them I learned to understand and ultimately enjoy the readings.