How does the chorus first characterize punishment in

The chorus first characterizes punishment in *Antigone* as a force that is relentless and destructive. They sing that "punishment comes even to those who think themselves free" and that "no escape is possible from the web of fate." This sense of punishment as a inescapable force is reinforced by the image of the Furies, the Erinyes, who are goddesses of vengeance who pursue and punish those who have committed crimes. The chorus suggests that punishment is a fundamental part of the universe, and that it is something that cannot be avoided or escaped.