In the play, Antigone by Sophocles when a new man Creon becomes king he forbids a traitor's body to be buried so that he would be an example, this man being Polyneices, Antigone’s brother. Antigone, fearless in her actions, will not let her brother's body rot in the street even if it's against Creon's rules, but Creon due to his pride will not listen to anyone including Antigone. This will lead to pain and suffering for Creon later in the story. The main character Creon is foolish, for killing Antigone for trying to give her brother a burial. Because he would not hear out Tiresias or others. The first reason Creon is foolish is because he is Ruthless in killing Antigone for trying to give her brother a burial. It shows that he is careless of his son Haemons …show more content…
Another reason Creon is foolish is because he is so arrogant. He will not take into consideration anything anyone else says like Tiresias the blind prophet or everyone who says the seer has never been wrong. Creon is outraged by Tiresias’s prophecy and thinks he is lying or taking bribes because he doesn't like that Tiresias thinks that he and the city of Thebes will be if he continues to disallow the burial of Polyneices and doesn't let Antigone free. When the leader of the chorus tells him to take the advice the seer had given him he goes to bury his nephew and release his niece but it is too late. The last reason Creon is foolish is because he is stubborn. He says in the story that he will not allow Antigone to change his mind and defy his judgment. Creon has too much pride and probably takes Antigone questioning his judgment as an insult to his authority being the king of Thebes. He doesn't want to make changes to his rule of letting Polyneices’ body rot and anyone who tries to bury him be stoned and look weak. Creon is foolish in his action and by choosing to not
Creon’s fatal flaw is that he is very hubris meaning that he is overly arrogant. His arrogance forbids him from
He is trying to be just but his vision and actions are clouded. Creon explains that he will not allow the burial of Polyneices because of what he did to his people which was betrayal. In Sophocles, Antigone it says “whose one idea was to spill the blood of his blood and sell his own people into slavery—Polyneices”. This shows that Creon is doing this for his people and to respect the fact that they deserve justice. Creon is just trying to help his empire and he believes it is fair for Polyneices to not get buried because of his actions against his people.
Creon is emotionally crushed. This could have very well been avoided if he thought through his decisions rationally. Another explanation for Creon’s strongest flaw is his openness to want to punish himself. In the text it continually states, “Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish.
Creon shows an extraordinary amount of stubbornness throughout the story. An example is seen when Antigone wishes to give her brother, Polyneices a proper burial so he can have a pleasant afterlife with the Gods. Creon, as king wishes to have him rot in the fields because he turned his back on the state in which the events occurred.
Creon does not keep an open mind, and refuses to see her point of view. Antigone said she buried the body because of God’s law, but Creon puts his law above the God’s. This shows an extreme amount of pride and confidence. Another example of Creon showing hubris is when Haimon says. “It is no City if it takes orders from one voice,” (221).
In the play, Creon makes many decisions based on his intuition, and it is these choices that develop him as a tragic hero. An example of an event that contributes to his eventual downfall is when Creon declares his proclamation regarding the fate of Antigone's brother: "Polyneices, who returned from exile, eager to wipe out in all-consuming fire his ancestral city and its native gods, keen to seize upon his family’s blood and lead men into slavery—for him, the proclamation in the state declares he’ll have no burial mound, no funeral rites, and no lament. He’ll be left unburied, " (Sophocles, lines 227-234). In this passage, Creon shows his self-assurance in his authority as a ruler. His belief in his own judgments and unwavering commitment to punishing those he deems traitors based on his own assumptions demonstrates his trait of being self-assured.
A Greek tragedy would not be complete without an evil or immoral character. In Antigone, Creon was not only the tragic hero, but he was also the most immoral character. Creon’s excessive pride results in his downfall, and it negatively influences many of the other characters in the play. If it wasn’t for his title of ruler of Thebes, readers would not act as sympathetically towards Creon throughout the play. The most obvious immoral decision that Creon made in Antigone was the decision to deny Antigone a burial for her brother, Polyneices.
As demonstrated throughout the Greek tragedy Antigone, Creon’s tragic flaw is hubris which causes his downfall . The downfall begins when Creon refuses to give Polyneices, the son of Oedipus and the brother of Antigone, a burial. Creon believes that Polyneices did not die an honorable death as he broke exile and raised the sword against his home city, Thebes, so in return he will not receive a burial. Creon’s pride takes over and so he believes he is a man not only superior to women , but a king superior to the gods. He claims, Go out of your heads entirely?
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.
This contributed to the fact that he was mentally lost. He had clouded judgment because of his idea of what is right for the city is the only way he would rule. As Burt describes “Creon remains adamant, and his judgment on Antigone and Ismene, along with his subsequent argument with his son, Haemon, reveals that Creon's principles are self-centered, contradictory, and compromised by his own pride, fears, and anxieties. ”(Burt). Creon can only think in his mindset and any other view to him is impossible to understand.
Against the warning of others, Creon goes on with his plan to essentially sentence Antigone to her death. Creon continually ignores what others counsel him to do because he believes that just because he is king, everything he does is right. It is this thinking that ultimately leads to the death of not only Antigone, but also Creon’s son and wife as well. All tragic heroes suffer from a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. Creon suffers from two tragic flaws, pride and stubbornness.
All of these three reasons are connected to each other, when Creon has too much of self-righteousness and too much of a pride because he is a king, he does not listen to others and so the problems occur. So, all the things that he did comes back to him and strike him hard. He lost all his love ones, his son killed himself, his wife cursed him of as being the killer of her son before she died. Also, Antigone has to die because of him, his characteristic of a tragic hero in this tragedy in not to follow. We can learn from Creon that do not make ourselves higher than other and be self-centered.
Creon almost seemed like he wanted Haimon to be angry so he put Antigone in the vault. He couldn’t see that Haemon was in love and Antigone was just trying to honor the dead because of his hubris. Creon also says, “My own blind heart has brought me from darkness to final darkness.” This shows he knows he didn’t use his intelligence to solve his problems. He was already heading the wrong direction with his pride and it finally was too much.
Creon was completely blinded by his pride and power that he lost those closest to him. Starting with his son... “Then she’ll die-- and in her death kill someone else. ”(Haemon; line 859). Creon thinks that his son is threatening him, and doesn’t pay attention to what his son is feeling towards Antigone.
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.