The Chorus In Sophocles Antigone

In the play Antigone, King Creon, someone who likes nothing more than to feel superior than others, has an argument with his son Haimon over the injustice he is giving Antigone (Haimon’s lover) for burying her dead brother Polyneices in a respected manner. “ And the city proposes to teach me how to rule?” ( Antigone 842). Because of Creon’s poor made decisions, he has lost the trust of his people which leads them to question his authority and most importantly his own son, whom because of his brazen actions

These lines were taken from the play Antigone, which was written by Sophcoles. It’s spoken by Creon (The king) to Chorus.

Usually, heroes in a Greek play or poem are not always perfect; they have flaws and fix their mistakes to relate to real life. At first, Creon makes rash decisions and sticks to them no matter what anyone says. When he disputes with Haemon about the punishment of Antigone, Creon exclaims, “Bring her out, /that hateful — she'll die now, here, /in front of his eyes, beside her groom!” (852-4). He does not change his opinions, regardless of Haemon and his citizens’ opinions. He gets carried away with his powers and believes that following his laws is the only way to maintain a unity and peace. Also, the kingdom is in a condition where a strong leader is necessary to lead them out of misfortunes. If Creon changes his mind immediately and does not stick to his original rules, the citizens will see him as a weak and vulnerable ruler, which does not match with his expected reputation. However, after realizing that he was being selfish and finding out that his actions can hurt his family, Creon considers opinions of others and tries to free Antigone. “And the guilt is all mine—/can never be fixed on another man, /no escape for me. I killed you, /I, god help me, I admit it all!” (1441-4), he cries as he regrets the mistakes he made. It is after the death of his family when he truly learns his

“A city which belongs to just one man is no true city.” (lines 838-39) Throughout the play, Antigone, written by Sophocles, the character Haemon constantly tries to persuade his father, Creon, to listen to the people of his city and to become a more humble leader. Haemon’s words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character. Which results in the two characters having continual conflicting motivations. These conflicting motivations cause the characteristics of anxiety, anger, and selfishness to be highlighted within Creon’s character. Ultimately, these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by giving Creon his free choice that makes his downfall exclusively his own fault and the character interactions advance the plot by pushing King Creon to insanity and showing that even the King’s own family was trying to urge him to change his decree, and develops the theme of love and loyalty by showing the struggle between faith and family.

Antigone is one of the greatest tragedies ever written by Sophocles. There is a controversial question about this play: Who is the tragic hero? Could it be Antigone or Creon? Even though the play’s name is Antigone, but as I read the story. A sensible and responsible king, Creon, is a tragic hero because of his power madness, self-righteousness, and ruthlessness. He is the center of the play, which causes events to happen.

In the play Antigone, by Sophocles, the characters face tragedy, and in every tragic play there is a tragic hero. A tragic hero must accommodate the following five elements; noble stature, tragic flaw, free choice, excessive punishment, and finally, increased awareness. There are two strong characters in the play, Creon the King and Antigone the princesses, that consist of those elements, all but one, the final element, increased awareness. The character that embraces all five elements of a tragic hero is Creon. Creon has the increased awareness of discovering the outcome of his choices, unlike Antigone who dies without ever knowing what her choices got herself into. Creon realizes that his tragic fall, was due to his pride.

The gripping play of Antigone written by Sophocles reveals a massive tragedy which is caused by the main character Antigone. This play reflects how Creon who is a prideful and arrogant man deals with Antigone who does not abide by his rules. The play of Antigone presents different ways selfishness and overconfidence along with extreme pride can cause unrepentable mistakes. “No woman, while I live, shall order me.” (Sophocles pg 29) articulates Creon as Antigone forces him to terminate her for her rebellious deed of burying her brother Polyneices although Creon voiced not to do so. According to this statement it is thoroughly clear that Creon is immensely hubris therefore he denies being ordered by a “woman”. Notice that he said woman instead of just plainly stating that he will not let anyone order him. Creon using “woman” in the sentence births a belief that he considers himself better than women. Creon is prideful to be a man who has extreme control on what he does as he is the king as well. This tragic flaw of pride will later haunt the overly-prideful and arrogant Creon.

In the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, Creon is the king of Thebes. He is highly regarded and looked up to. He is a fair ruler and he does well to capture his peoples trust. However, Creon’s excessive pride leads to his downfall. He does not realize what his fate is because he is too busy trying to get revenge on Polynices.

Creon’s conflict involves two choices that seem equally righteous--that is, between the stability of the state an obedience to divine law. He thinks Polyneices is attacking the state and he wants to defend it by declaring, “He is to have no grave, no burial, [n]o mourning from anyone; it is forbidden.” (165-167) With this edict, he is opposing the gods’ law. Creon’s tragic flaw is his hubris, or excessive pride, and he makes three errors in judgement, not allowing the proper burial of Polyneices, sentences Antigone to death, and unwilling to listen to advice. Creon’s actions portrays him as an arrogant and narcissistic tyrant whom caused the downfall of himself and intense suffering from guilt because of his subsequent punishment. Creon is being convicted of the errors in his actions by four different people.

Antigone is a tragic play about two sisters, a tyrant, and the bond between them and their families. Antigone is devoted to the son of Creon, and they are soon to be married. Because Antigone buried her brother against the will of Creon, he wants her dead. Haemon, Son of Creon, is very disappointed with his father, and he politely rejects his ideology of punishing Antigone. In his blind rage, Creon dismisses his own son with insults. The young couple responds by committing suicide, and Creon is devastated by his own doing. Antigone is a play about the humanization of Creon, Tyrant of Thebes, because he is very unreasonable at the beginning; he refuses to listen to the pleas of his loved ones, and he realizes his mistakes in the end.

“Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing. Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust,” are the last words in the play said by Creon. This statement shows that a powerful king of Thebes once had fallen apart. In the play “Antigone,” written by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald as Antigone as the protagonist and Creon as the antagonist, it is clear that Creon was cast away in distress, misery, and sorrow. By reading this play I was able to get a depth insight of several of the characters, question the norms of society I live in today and analyze the specific relationship between Antigone and Creon. I learned Creon’s villainous character had gradually become benevolent by the end of the play. Also, that the norms of society I live in are something I do not completely agree on, such as gender roles based on biological sex.

The third reason Creon illustrates the tragic hero of Antigone is because his son Haemon and the citizens of Thebes disagree with him. Haemon thinks Creon should not “be so single minded, self-involved or assume the world is wrong and [he is] right. By stating this, Haemon shows he believes Creon should take others opinion into account (Pg.95). The people of Thebes “mourn for this young girl,’No woman,’ they say, ‘has ever deserved death less,” however, Creon does not listen to what the city believes

At the start of the play, he announces to the chorus, “Anyone who’s well disposed towards our state, alive or dead, that man I will respect” (327). Creon is positive anyone who does not agree with what he has to say deserves a punishment. Creon quicky sentences Antigone to her death which leads to her suicide. Creon needs to listen to the people around him, especially Antigone’s different, religious point of views to avoid such consequences. His ignorance and power lead to the suicides of Antigone, his son Haemon, and wife Eurydice, leaving him alone in the world with no family. Creon’s quickness to anger through his stichomythia dialogue interactions with Antigone and concludes “she’s lost her place living here with us” (362). It is important to note that Creon has just become king and is very quick to make demanding laws. His rulings are odd as he refuses to bury Polyneices, who was supposed to be sharing the throne with his brother Eteocles. The altars in the town are in ruins due to Creon’s disregard for the community so he is unable to undo the situation he has gotten himself into. Creon’s rash decisions and behavior show he is destined for failure from the start which propels the rest of the story

Thesis: Sophocles, in Antigone says, if we cannot control our fate we should live with the wisdom to focus on bettering ourselves as individuals, in order to obtain happiness no matter the unpredictable circumstances; by willing to yield to the helpful opinions of others, and putting our pride aside.

Giving even the most well-meaning person power can change that person into a hungry tyrant. Sophocles, the author of Antigone, writes a character that does this exact trope. By presenting two separate monologues by Creon that are mere pages of each other, the reader can see this sudden change in character due to the increase of power. Before the monologues, King Oedipus has left Thebes after the tragic events of the opening scene, and his two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices are both dead by fighting each other over the control of Thebes. In the Greek play Antigone, Sophocles uses the characterization of Creon to depict the corruption of absolute power.