Character Of Creon In Antigone

Creon lays his foundation as the tyrant of the Antigone within the first episode of the play. Readers get a firm sense of Creon’s skewed views on justice after he sends out an edict stating that Polyneices’ body is to be left out on the battlefield to rot. He develops an unbreakable definition of justice; rules set in placed by authority are to be obeyed, when disobeyed punishment must follow. Creon allows himself to indulge in his own opinion and power, and blindly disregards all help from others. His ignorance ultimately leaves him experiencing great grief. Because Creon grows and develops as a character he is successful, even though he grows through the ruins of his enormous loss.

Before considering Creon’s final viewpoint, it’s important to understand how Creon developed his outlook on justice. For a vast amount of the play Creon felt as though justice could only be sought through obeying promulgated rules. In spite of every warning thrown his way, Creon failed to acknowledge the fact that everyone conforming to his law wasn’t proper leadership; “HAEMON. So I beg you Father, don’t entrench yourself in your opinion as if everyone else was wrong. The kind of man who always thinks that he

Throughout much of the play Creon holds onto his stubborn perspective on justice; however, once Creon receives his own justice, his views change, “CREON. I killed her, I Can own no alibi: The guilt is wholly mine. Take me quickly servants, Take me quickly hence. Let this nothing be forgotten.”(Sophocles 251). Through the entirety of the play Creon didn’t acknowledge his wrongdoings. Until his encounter with justice, he never took into account that there could’ve been a different approach than his own. Without his lesson from the gods, Creon would have never realized his fatal