Sympathy In Antigone

HAEMON “For any man, even if he is wise, there’s nothing shameful in learning many things, staying flexible” (804-806). This advice came to Creon through many characters throughout the play. Had he taken the advice sooner, neither he or his family would have experienced the tragedy that they did.

In the Greek play Antigone written by Sophocles, Creon is considered immoral due to his cruel and tyrannical behavior as the King of Thebes, yet despite those actions, the nature of his tragedy causes the reader to sympathize with him, not only because of how he expresses regret and remorse, but also how he acknowledges he was wrong about his initial ways of thinking and was willing to bear the full responsibility for stubbornly deciding things on

Creon eventually starts to consider everyone’s advice, however, he is a little too late as his son, his wife, and Antigone had taken their lives shortly after his reflecting at which it was too late to prevent or fix anything. The tragedy allowed Creon to see his wrong doings, “Alas for me...the guilt for all of this is mine- it can never be removed or passed to any other mortal man. I, and I alone...I murdered you…” (1463-1466). Creon has realized at this point that their deaths was his fault and there is no one else to blame, at which the reader has already been pitying him. Then Creon says, “Let that day come, oh let it come, the fairest of all destinies for me, the one which brings on my last day. Oh let it come, so that I never see another dawn.” (1473-1477), which shows the readers that he is more than willing to die to atone for what he had done to his family. The dramatic turn of events and Creon’s major drop from an arrogant, stubborn, and immoral character to a sad, pitiful, and unfortunate one is more than enough to flip the reader’s attitude toward Creon from an unfavorable view to a sympathetic one.

Ultimately, Creon was a foolish man who was too stubborn to heed anyone’s advice, and by the time he finally decided to, it was too late. Even though the way he acted initially was very despicable and he refused to take anyone else into consideration