Creon's Pride In Sophocles Antigone

In the Greek tragedy “ Antigone” written by Sophocles. We meet the tragic hero King Creon of Thebes and we learned how his decisions based on his traits spitefulness, stubbornness and sexist contributed to his downfall. Which costs the lives of his loved one including his son Haemon. Haemons serves as a foil for Creon by bringing out Creon’s traits of pridefulness , stubbornness and sexism. These traits cause Creon to make fateful decisions that contribute to his own downfall and shows the theme that it is the trait of wisdom that creates happiness.

In scene five of Antigone, a Greek tragedy by Sophocles, the prophet Teiresias foresees the downfall of Creon, the king of Thebes, and warns him to change his mind and give Polyneices a proper burial and free Antigone. Within the speech given by the prophet, Teiresias uses the rhetorical strategies of ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade the king into righting his own wrong. The prophet uses ethos and builds up Creon’s character when he states how the past can not be changed, but explains, “All men make mistakes / but a good man yields when he knows his course / is wrong / and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride,” (v. 32–35). Creon can not change his previous actions, but having the understanding that doing the right thing and letting Antigone go will cause the citizens to like him more and appreciate him as a king.

Blind pridefulness can lead people in the wrong way because of the uncontrollable urge to be in charge and be in the right. In the story of Antigone for Creon this was his hamartia his palpability to be the best king, he blindly saw his failure. For his peripeteia in power led to his family’s destruction. Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, she wanted to avenge her brother Polyneices from his grave battle with Eteocles. Creon as he had just become the king had made his first decree that whoever touches the traitor Polyneices will be stoned in public.

Creon’s excessive pride, or hubris, is a reoccurring theme throughout the play. His confidence in himself and his authority causes him to lose sight of what is really relevant. Creon’s holds his authority above everyone and everything, including the Gods. When Creon’s son, Haemon, tries to rationalize with him Creon simply responds by saying, “But when a city takes a leader, you must obey, / Whether his commands are trivial, or right, or wrong” (l. 666-667) . This quotes is evidence that Creon’s pride radiates whenever someone tries to try his authority, even his own son. However fate

The qualifications of a tragic hero vary between Aristotle and Shakespeare. Aristotle thinks of a tragic hero as someone who is a noble character by choice and makes his/her own destiny, while Shakespeare sees a tragic hero as someone who is born of nobility and born to be important. Although both tragic hero's end in a tragic death that effects many people, not all tragic hero's fit perfectly into both categories. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Creon is considered a tragic hero. Creon follows Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero by being a noble character by choice, having important potential, and falls due to "miscalculations" with circumstances that are beyond control.

Tragedy always involves human suffering, but not everyone who suffers is a Tragic Hero. According to Aristotle, there are five basic criteria that must be met for a character to be considered a Tragic Hero. Aristotle’s ideas about tragedy were recorded in his book of literacy theory titled Poetics. In it he has a great deal to say about the structure, purpose and intended effect of tragedy. His ideas have been adopted, disputed, expanded, and discussed for several centuries. In this essay, I will examine these criteria in regards to Antigone’s Creon, King of Thebes.

Antigone is a tragic play written by Sophocles in about 441b.c. The play is a continuation of the curse put upon the household of Oedipus Rex. Sophocles actually wrote this play before he wrote Oedipus, but it follows Oedipus in chronological order. The story of Antigone begins after the departure of Oedipus, the king of Thebes, into self-exile. Oedipus’ two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, were left to rule over Thebes. An argument over rights to power forces Polynices to leave Thebes. Some time passes and Polynices returns with the army from Argos and attempts to overthrow his brother. The two brothers fight and kill one another and the war ends. Creon, the uncle of the two

Creon is a man who has just become the king of Thebes and has a flaw of having too much pride. He can’t control the power of being over other people and he lets the power go to his head. “ I now possess the throne and all its powers. No, he must be left unburied, his corpse carrion for the birds and dogs

Soon after his decision of the fate of Antigone, Creon’s tragic flaw blooms the greatest. This Hubris focuses on the Creon’s relentless, uncompromising, and egotistical attitude. Many try to convince Creon to reconsider on his misguided decision, however, Creon does not yield. It is at this point when one realizes the Hubris of Antigone. Creon possesses a false sense of pride and/or confidence in his intelligence. He believes he cannot be wrong, therefore his uncompromising and egotistical attitude shines brightest. It portrays him as “superficial, pigheaded, self-important man.” (Porter) This is Hamartia, his relentless,

Creon fits Aristotle’s tragic hero traits as a significant person who is faced with difficult decisions. Creon is significant because he is king. This makes him both renowned and prosperous. Creon is not completely good nor completely bad; he is somewhere in-between, as humans are. The audience can relate to this and they admire his qualities of intelligence in political affairs. They can also relate to his ability to make hard decisions with apparent ease. These hard decisions are

Creon obviously doesn’t want to cognition with the situation any longer. After all the reckoning, Teiresias then enters the palace. As he chants with Creon he then clearly remarks, “All man make mistake, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong… The only crime is pride” (34-35). Every man makes mistakes and only a good man will admit that they are wrong and ultimately knows how they should fix their errors.

“...And justice for all” is the last line of the Pledge of Allegiance for the United States of America. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the official definition for the term “justice” would be: the process or result of using laws to fairly judge and punish crimes and criminals. Creon has a very unique understanding of government, an unsuccessful search for justice, and learns about putting his pride before people he loves.

The second criterion for being a tragic hero is that one is neither purely evil nor pre-eminently great. Although Creon possesses many good kingly qualities, as far a honor and nobility, his imperfection lies in his excessive pride and hubris, as well as his self indulgence as King of Thebes. Creon shows his power and pride

John Lennon said, “Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.” Hubris, or excessive pride, was one of the biggest themes in Ancient Greek culture. It has what killed heroes, and destroyed villains in mythology and even real life. In the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, I share the battle that Creon has regarding a conflict of personal character, which leads to the deaths of others caused by his tremendously large ego.

After everyone else has failed to convince Creon that he is wrong about sending Antigone away, and old, fervid Prophet comes to visit him. Teiresias is a blind old prophet who tells Creon that the gods are angry at Thebes and will curse it if Creon does not change his arrogant ways. “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong… The only crime is pride” (232) At first Creon is stubborn still, and insults the skill of prophets, but Teiresias goes on despite the king’s words. Teiresias eaves with a final warning saying if he does not heed the God’s word, he will be punished. After consulting his chorus and hearing Teiresias’ speech Creon finally recognizes that he was wrong. His moment of recognition is “Oh it is hard to give in! but it is worse to risk everything for stubborn pride.” (235)