In contrast to this, in Antigone, Creon is a tyrant-like leader who lacked empathy and care for others. This can be seen as he forbid the burial of Polynices, which defied Greek custom. This act results in the death of Antigone, his son Haemon and his wife Eurydice (“Play Summary Antigone”). Contrary to Oedipus, Creon’s Hubris lead to a series of conscious actions that negatively affect the characters in the story. In the end, Creon can be seen to have learnt his lesson as the chorus states: “Of happiness the crown And chiefest part Is wisdom, and to hold The gods in awe. This is the law That, seeing the stricken heart Of pride brought down, We learn when we are old.” (Sophocles 162). Therefore, Oedipus is the better
She thinks that,”all these men here would praise [her] if were their lips not frozen shut with fear of you” (Antigone 210). She tells him that people only obey him because they are too afraid of Creon’s wrath if they disagree with him, as the case is with Ismene. His son, Haemon, further elaborates on this point by confessing he thinks his father’s,”temper terrifies them - everyone will tell you only what you like to hear,” which further proves that Creon is an unjust and volatile ruler who cannot be depended on to make important judgements or decisions (Antigone 218). Haemon reports to his father that he hears the common citizens whispering,”no woman has ever, so unreasonably died so shameful a death for a generous act,” which reveals that the people believe Antigone is worthy of praise for going out of her way to provide for her family, and that Creon is being illogical in his decision-making in this situation (Antigone
Creon exclaims to Haemon his feelings about how his decision will affect his reputation by stating, “I caught her in naked rebellion, the traitor, the only one in the whole city. I am not about to prove myself a liar, not to my people, no, I am going to kill her.” (22. 25-28). He feels that if he backs down from his word and does not pursue the death of a traitor, that the people of his country will start to question his strength and their own sense of security. He would not take the advice of The Leader and let Antigone go, due to the thought of damaging his pride and reputation. Creon says to Antigone, “Not a word of hope - your doom is sealed.” (30. 9) in order to give proof of his power over the situation at hand. Creon sees it as dreadful to his pride to give in to the girl who so willingly disobeyed him. This is evident when Creon exclaims, “Lay my pride bare to the blows of ruin? That’s dreadful too.” (35. 23-24). However, Antigone’s pride accounts for her failure to admit that she broke the law. She exclaims to her sister, “Shout it from the rooftops. I’ll hate you all the more for silence – tell the world!” (4. 4-5), thus she is fully aware of the anarchy she is committing, however, she has too much dignity to accept the consequences. Nonetheless, her pride tends to take over, and when interrogated by Creon she admits to her actions, but refuses to apologize for her treasonous acts. Antigone, much like Creon,
Creon:“I killed you, my son, without intending to,/ and you, as well, my wife,” (Lines 1486-1487). Antigone is the story of a girl who defies the king of Thebes in order to honor her dead brother, Polyneices, who is not allowed to be buried. When the king decides to punish her, his inability to listen to reasoning and resistance to change backfires on him in a deadly way. In the play, Antigone, by Sophocles, Creon, the play’s tragic hero, brings suffering to others, such as causing the death of Antigone, his son, Haemon, and his wife, Eurydice, which contributes to the tragic vision of the play as a whole because it shows how stubbornness brings pain for others.
Pride can be one of man's strongest qualities. In Sophocles' play, Antigone, the Theme of pride becomes the cause for destruction for both Creon and Antigone in the play.. Creon's Pride blinds him to the injustice he commits against Antigone and the gods. Antigone's pride leaves her no choice but to be killed because of her beliefs. They Both automatically surrender to their own hubris and demonstrate how uncontrolled pride leads to personal downfalls and destruction in Antigone. The excessive pride of Creon and Antigone lead to their downfalls in Antigone.
In the classic play by Sophocles, Antigone is a tragic story of the bold Antigone who defied her uncle, King Creonʻs, edict by burying her brother, Polyneices, who died attacking the city of Thebes, trying to take the power away from their brother, Eteocles, who refused to share the throne with Polyneices. Even though Antigone knew that going against Creon and burying her brother would not end well for her, she still choose to risk her life to do what is right. After being caught breaking the law, Antigone is appointed to be locked away, isolated in a cave until she dies, but she hangs herself at the end. At the same time, things for Creon are not looking good, as everyone around him seems to be against him in his decision for punishing Antigone. Everyone Creon cares about kills themselves from a curse that is put on Creon for not following the Godsʻ laws. Creonʻs punishment for Antigone did not only affect her, but also everyone who was involved in the situation, including Creon. Creonʻs punishment for Antigone was not justified for three reasons: Antigoneʻs love for her family being put first, Creon is trying to prove himself, and Antigoneʻs beliefs.
Creon, with his hubris, does not listen to the words of his son, Haemon. When he reluctantly calls for the release of Antigone from her imprisonment, he is too late. She has died and Haemon kills himself after failing to kill his father. “Nothing you say can touch me any more. My own blind heart has brought me. From darkness to final darkness. Here you see. The father murdering, the murdered son––And all my civic wisdom! Haimon my son, so young, so young to die, I was the fool, not you; and you died for me.” Creon implores that he has been blinded by his pride and that he didn’t see that Haemon’s ultimatum and love for Antigone would be the reason why Haemon would kill himself. Creon’s decisions have lead him to lose his son and his wife, which is where his downfall begins. Creon becomes the tragic hero because he has endured pain from the deaths of his family. By not listening to Teiresias or anyone, but only to himself because he believes what he is doing is right, the death of his loved ones were
She was outraged when she found out that her brother Polyneices was going to be left to rot and be eaten by animals, because he was a traitor to the city. Antigone believed that her brother deserved a proper burial even though he tried going against the city unlike her other brother Eteocles. She asks Ismene (her sister) to join her in this act of rebellion but Ismene does not want to get in trouble for going against her kings orders so Antigone does it on her own. Creon feels disrespected and punishes Antigone for not following his rules. He seals Antigone while she is alive, inside a tomb. She does not understand why she is being treated so unjustly for trying to do the right thing. The chorus in the play tries convincing Antigone that justice is behaving in accordance to Creon’s laws but Antigone is stubborn and sustains to her convictions. Even though Antigone ends up dying she dies achieving her goal of wanting to bury her brother properly. Mostly everyone in this play goes against what the main character feels is justly because they want to follow the kings laws and they believe she is acting immorally. Antigone is not acting immorally, she is doing the right thing to follow the law of the gods. Therefore, since Antigone ends up hanging herself and causes her fiancé and the fiancé’s mother to commit suicide as well, it gives the
In the tragic play, Antigone by Sophocles, the character Creon, who acts as the antagonist, goes though reversal and recognition. Creon is not only the antagonist, but also the ruthless king of Thebes, and Antigone's uncle. Creon inherited the throne after the deaths of Antigone's two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices. Throughout the play, Creon makes it clear that he objects the laws of the gods in favor of the laws of man. Because of this, he sates that since Polyneices was a traitor to Thebes, he must not be mourned or buried by any of the citizens. Eteocles, on the other hand, was buried will full military honors, and is considered a hero by Creon and the townspeople.
Wanda Sykes once quoted, “If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and do it.” This exhibits the idea of not letting others hold you back from pursuing a personal desire, or having a passion. Countless amounts of people follow what everyone else believes, but do not seem to recognize the truth behind what they’re following. Similarly, within The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and “Antigone,” both characters have a devotion for a specific situation. Additionally, these two literary characters have a strong passion, but ultimately face different opponents. Huck faces the horrors of society as a whole, while Antigone faces her uncle. To clarify, rebellious Huckleberry
In Sophocles’ Antigone, Antigone and Creon both have qualities of a tragic hero according to Aristotle’s definition. Aristotle believes a tragic hero is a decent human, but falls due to a weakness in one’s character. In the plot, Antigone decides to bury her brother, which defies the laws of Creon, the dictator of Thebes. Antigone believes she must hold her family values and the gods’ beliefs with utmost respect. Antigone refuses to deny her crime, so she is sentenced to be death by Creon. Antigone is the tragic hero because she inspires pity and fear when her devotion to the gods and her morals lead to her downfall.
/Must I rule the land by someone else’s judgment rather than my own? (Antigone, 790 & 792) This bold statement made by Creon suggests that he sees himself as a leader with the power and dignity of the state entirely with himself. With that power Creon also comes off as prideful as he states “I swear I am no man and she the man/ if she can win this and not pay for it. (Antigone, 528-529), this quote is evidence that Creon decision to stick to punishing Antigone is based off of his pride as a male as he deems that he won’t lose to a woman, as well as his belief that he has absolute say as the king. Even Creon own son agrees that Creon’s values are solely based on power an pride as Haemon challenges him, suggesting that by serving himself and instituting a totalitarian rule of state he is neglecting to positively serve the people of Thebes, this is evidenced when Haemon declares “ There is no city possessed by one man.”(Antigone, 794) Creon’s devotion to following state laws is proof that he doesn’t believe in the moral ethics of others and that he demands that others follow his demonstration. Jebb supports this claim as he states, “Creon is responsible for teaching that morality must surrender to a nation’s order. (Antigone to Sophocles, 1599). Simone De Beauvoir also announces that “Creon is dead set upon setting up a particular regulation that he has envisioned for the state and thus is uninterested in the ethical standards of others, unless it is set within his guidelines that he has decreed.” (“Moral” 178) Author Greydark also addresses the issue of Creon’s pride as he states “Creon remains fixated on retaining his stance largely because to renounce them would be equivalent to admitting a mistake to the public, which may in turn undermine his authority and jeopardize his credibility with his people.”( Analysis of…”
Creon see Antigone as a person who is scheming against him for his crown because she bury Polyneices. Creon did not want to seem weak as the new king, and he wanted to make an example out of Antigone this is why Creon sent her to death. His family and the blind prophet warn Ceon of his actions, but he was too stubborn to care about the consequences of his actions. Creon explains and that Haemon should not care because that she is just a normal women now not even family when she bury Polynices. Creon say: “Do you want me to show myself weak before the people? / Or to break my sworn word? No, and I will not / The women dies. / I suppose she’ll plead “family ties.” Well let her”. (840). Then Creon was visited by the blind prophet Teiresias. Teiresias tells Creon that his actions as king have affected all people of Greece: “This was a sign from heaven. My boy describes it, / Seeing for me as I see for others. / I tell you, Creon, you yourself have brought / This new calamity upon us” (850). Creon tried to save Antigone, but it was already too late. Creon’s downfall is when loses his son, wife, and his willing to rule Thebes because didn't want to change his opinion when putting Antigone in a stone
Haemon believes that Creon shouldn’t punish Antigone for her act. Not only Haemon but also the city of Thebes believe this. Haemon states to King Creon But in the darkness I can hear them talk- the city is upset about the girl”(786-787). Creon notices what he thinks of himself instead of the city of Thebes. Haemon also shows how he cares about
Love is a powerful motivation it can even drive you into hating someone, love drives you to do even what you wouldn’t normally do. Creon makes a law that forbids anyone from burying Antigone’s brother. When she finds out she goes against the king and buries her brother. When he is informed about what happened he punishes her. Antigone kills herself and then his son kills himself when he finds out that his love had died. Antigone’s love is so great for her brother that she went against the king and buried him with religious rights. Then Haemon kills himself because Antigone had died and he wanted to be with her. In the end Creon’s wife killed herself because her son had died. Creon is perceived as the tragic hero of the play when he is talking