Creon's View Of Justice In Sophocles Antigone

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 of principles, who is devoted to the state as well as upholding the law in a dominant and control freak type of manner. Creon uses his first speech as a way to explain his ideas, expectations of the people, and his first law regarding the body of Polynices. Knowing the people of Thebes will disregard his word, he explains to the populace that, “Whoever places a friend above the good of his own country, he is nothing”(67). He brings up the threat of death due to the uncertainty of future rebellion and clearly states, “Our country is our safety”(68). This type of indoctrination starts from the head and trickles its way down to the people regardless of whether they want it or not. Bribery is another one of his major concerns. Knowing that corruption leads to dysfunction, rebellion, and torment, Creon poetically makes another law regarding, “Money! Nothing worse in our lives, so current, rampant, so corrupting… No limit, you make them adept at every kind of outrage, every godless crime-money!...

In the play Antigone, Creon starts off as the loyal king of Thebes. He is loyal to the gods and loyal to the welfare of Thebes. However, over the course of the play, Creon degenerates into a tyrant. His degeneration is showing his character development. Creon’s pride about the human law also develops throughout the play, creating conflict with the divine law. When Antigone rebels against his law, he becomes stubborn, and makes myopic decisions and grows into his hamartia. Besides his hamartia, Creon’s position as the king makes him a power hungry man. His power madness degenerates him into becoming a ruthless and vindictive man, even to his family. However, over the course of the play, Creon begins to see that because of the laws of men, he was being blinded of what’s

     Finally, Creon is a dynamic character. He undergoes changes in emotion throughout the work. He realizes his mistakes when Tiresias forecasts the future. Thus, Creon attempts to correct himself by releasing Antigone. But he is too late. He is forced to live, knowing that three people are dead as a result of his actions. This punishment is worse than death. Although Creon’s self-righteousness and inflexibility did not change until the end of the play, his motivations traveled from patriotic ones to personal ones. This created a major portion of the

Creon orders the guards to take Antigone away not caring for his son's feelings, since she is his fiancée. Creon feels the law should stand despite the fact that Antigone was his niece or how moral her act was. "Bring her [Antigone] out! Let her die before his eyes..." (Scene 3, 130). This quotes shows that Creon took his position as king seriously to the point where in he was willing to sacrifice the feelings of his own son. He was willing to be the cause of son's destruction just to prove that he is the king and always right. "I will go... I buried her, I will set her free" (scene 5, 102,104). Not only does this quote show leadership but also stubbornness he was risking his relationship with his son to prove that he was the leader of Thebes. Creon says another quote which shows his loyalty to his kingdom, "I call to God to witness that if I saw my country headed for ruin, I should not be afraid to speak out plainly," (Sophocles, scene 1,24-26). It shows his strong sense of leadership which catches up with him in the end causing destruction.

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.

Throughout the play, Creon shows many examples of how he is imperfect. One example would be how he believes that the state is primary to his family and relationships, “If this is your pleasure, Creon, treating our city’s enemy and our friend this way … the power is yours, I suppose, to enforce it with the laws, both for the dead and all of us, the living,” this quotation said by the leader of the chorus describes how the elder people of Thebes respect their family more than the state, but they held back on their opinions, knowing of what Creon, the leader, wanted to hear (235-240). Another example of how Creon shows the audience of how he is imperfect is when, Creon meets with Haemon. Creon argues with Haemon about how people should act towards the country which they reside in, “But whoever steps out of line, violates the laws or presumes to hand out orders to his superiors, he’ll win no praise from me. But that man the city places in authority, his orders must be obeyed, large and small, right and wrong,” Creon believes since he has the highest throne in his country, that he should be obeyed whether the circumstance (745-751). Lastly, Creon demonstrates to the audience that he is imperfect by wanting to protect his country too much. This is visible when Creon sentences Antigone to a slow death, because of burying her brother, who was outcasted as a traitor. Creon put the state over his family which will lead to the complete

In addition, Creon also has an inaccurate view of his place in relation to the gods. He believes that man’s laws are more important than the laws of the gods. Antigone tries to defend her decision to bury her brother by proclaiming, “I do not think your edicts have such power that they can override the laws of heaven…If I transgressed these laws because I feared the arrogance of man, how to the god’s could I make satisfaction” (line 408)? Creon’s hubris causes him to think that he must put Antigone to death because she chooses to follow the god’s laws over his.

Creon is first portrayed as a leader with rational laws and consequences for breaking them. But by the end of the play, Creon is a completely different character; he has let his excessive pride and hubris take over him. He doesn’t realize his change in character until it is brought to him through the prophecy of Teiresias, when it is already too late. Creon can be identified as a tragic hero because he shows great signs of stubbornness and pride. Considering he is the King of Thebes, he follows his rules and laws without listening to his citizen’s concerns, nor does he care about the gods wishes. His role as a hubris influences many of his choices, he believes in only his own thoughts and wishes. Creon abuses his power just because he can, without thinking of the consequences.

Even if he believes he is right and his son should obey him, he doesn’t show an ounce of sympathy for Haemon, who loves Antigone. Creon details his thoughts on the importance of the rule of law over other loyalties, and his belief that to allow any anarchy or, seemingly, freedom would threaten the state. Creon’s method of executing Antigone is interesting. By entombing a living person, Antigone, and denying burial to a dead person, Polynices, Creon’s laws seem to go against common sense, tradition, and nature itself. Creon does not keep a cool head, as a wise leader should, or look for a way to compromise. He is as stubborn as Antigone, as if this were a street fight, he feels he could never back down.

Creon has more to offer than just his nobility, he has flaw. Creon arrested Antigone's sister Ismene for no reason at all, just because he thought that she did something, and when he had no proof of it whatever. He thought that he had enough courage to pull ismene into the house and accuses her of something she didn’t do. Creon thinks that sense he’s the king then everyone needs to talk to him in a certain way. He gets mad when people talk to him like he’s just a person but he doesn’t realize that their trying to tell him something important and he won’t listen to

I remember a time when I was younger, my mom told me to clean up my room and I didn’t want to at the time, so I said no. She got mad and yelled at me to go to timeout. I was being really stubborn. I didn’t want to hear or do anything people were telling me. Creon is the same way. He doesn’t care what people say about his ruling. In the play “Antigone” written by Sophocles, Creon is the king of a town named Thebes. He is a stubborn old man that wants everyone to obey his ruling, he is also quick to judge, and in the end, understanding. I’m going to talk about Creon’s power hungry ways and why he does what he does. Creon is a very stubborn person that only thinks that he is right, when he interacts with Antigone, he is very rude and mean, he won’t listen to anything she says.

Pride acts as another major theme; it is what got Creon in this situation in the first place. Creon has too much pride to admit to anyone that maybe he was wrong. Even when he has Antigone he has too much pride to let her go. Creon's own son questions him and he replies, "Am I to stand here and be lectured to by a kid? A man of my experience"(1063)!Creon shows that here he is too proud to change his decision for his own son even if he made the wrong choice. The king's friend the Leader tries to convince Creon to change his mind by telling him "My king, ever since he began I've been debuting in my mind, could this possibly be the work of the gods"(1050). The Leader was trying to tell

Creon’s bad decision leads to his eventual downfall and demise. Creon realizes his hubris and his wrong decision a little too late. Antigone is already dead, and he cannot correct his wrong-doing. This makes the audience feel pity for him, for he

He lost all that was dear to him.  By the end of the play, Creon was doomed to live with his own pain and guilt, realizing that he had ultimately caused the death of his niece, his son, and his wife.  He lost his will to live when his downfall was accentuated by the destruction of his family.