Creon's Character In Antigone

Since the writing of the Greek drama Antigone by Sophocles, many have come to love the strong, determined female protagonist of the play, Antigone. She is not afraid to express her opinions and is willing to risk her life to follow her beliefs. While facing the new King of Thebes, Creon, she does not surrender to him, and instead defends her own word. Their conflicting motivations contribute to Creon’s development as the tragic hero and their interactions with each other advance the plot of the play.
For one thing, Antigone is a completely different person from Creon looking at her actions and ideas. Antigone goes against all laws of the state and takes “Polyneices’ corpse and [buries] it,” (318) to stay true to her loving nature. Contrary

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

Haemon expresses his opinions on Creon’s decisions over Antigone during a heated argument says “For any man, even if he’s wise, there’s nothing shameful in learning many things” (353). Creon is so set on his ruling and is not willing to learn or grow from anything anybody tells him. He does not recognize his mistakes until the end of the play which makes him feel like an ultimate failure. He fails to realize what he gains and how he may become a wiser person. To add on, Antigone feels she has no free will as “the curse arising from a mother’s marriage bed” (361) seals her fate. She purposely defies Creon’s word, but her punishment was a harsh, unmerited death as the God’s need to each Creon a lesson. Antigone is not fully responsible for her fate. She just happens to be under the ruling of a bad King that stops her from what she thinks is most important in life; burying her brother. As shown, the themes of the play develop just as the characters reveal their true intentions.
All things considered, Antigone is by far the largest contributor to the plot. Her distinct actions cause conflict between herself and Creon leading to Creon’s development as the tragic hero of the story. Many crucial lessons can be taken from their interactions. Rash thinking and anger cause lots of distress and can majorly affect the lives of others. Any action can affect another, so it is crucial to look back