How do the lines of the Chorus at the end of Antigone Part 2 affect the meaning of the play?
The Chorus ponders the role of fate in determining the lives of people.
The Chorus emphasizes the cruelty with which Zeus exercises his power.
The Chorus explains why humans should respect civil, rather than divine, law.
The Chorus forgives the family of Oedipus for its disobedience toward the gods.
Is it A?
What are the actual line numbers of the Chorus you're referring to?
CHORUS
Those who live without tasting evil
have happy lives—for when the gods
shake a house to its foundations,
then inevitable disasters strike,
falling upon whole families,
just as a surging ocean swell
running before cruel Thracian winds4
across the dark trench of the sea
churns up the deep black sand
and crashes headlong on the cliffs,
which scream in pain against the wind.
I see this house’s age-old sorrows,
the house of Labdakos’5 children,
sorrows falling on the sorrows of the dead,
one generation bringing no relief
to generations after it—some god
strikes at them—on and on without an end.
For now the light which has been shining
over the last roots of Oedipus’ house
is being cut down with a bloody knife
belonging to the gods below—
for foolish talk and frenzy in the soul.
O Zeus, what human trespasses
can check your power? Even Sleep,
who casts his nets on everything,
cannot master that—nor can the months,
the tireless months the gods control.
A sovereign who cannot grow old,
you hold Olympus6 as your own,
in all its glittering magnificence.
From now on into all future time,
as in the past, your law holds firm.
It never enters lives of human beings
in its full force without disaster.
Hope ranging far and wide brings comfort
to many men—but then hope can deceive,
delusions born of volatile desire.
until his foot is seared in burning fire.
Someone’s wisdom has revealed to us
this famous saying—sometimes the gods
lure a man’s mind forward to disaster,
and he thinks evil’s something good.
But then he lives only the briefest time
free of catastrophe.
These were the Chorus' last lines.
So ... no line numbers??
Well, C and D are obviously out! Way off base!!
Between A and B, I agree with you that it's A. While Zeus's power figures heavily throughout, he is not mentioned until the 3rd stanza.
Double-check here: http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/oedipus/