Pride In Sophocles Antigone

Pride is a vital facet in the multi-sided diamond1 that is human psychology. In Sophocles’(n.d.) Antigone, the famous philosopher demonstrates how the mind can be clouded so effortlessly and bear such tragic repercussions when influenced by pride. In this dismal sequel to Oedipus Rex, also written by Sophocles(n.d.), both sides of the moral battle have plenty of justification for their actions.

Creon 's human flaws and emotions such as pride and arrogance lead to his ultimate downfall, which ties into him being the tragic hero. Creon 's ego prevents him from listening to any advice given to him. He states "My voice is the one voice giving orders in this city". Creon is not willing to listen to anybody, because he believes that going back on a decision will somehow destroy his pride. In an intense discussion with the prophet Teiresias, he warns Creon "a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong. The only crime is pride"(Literature for Composition. Scene 5. Page 459. Line 35). Creon however, does not heed to the warning and is too late in his attempt to reverse the watershed event that he has created. Creon 's pride is the flaw that leads to his downfall.

In the story “Antigone”, Sophocles shows Creon as a powerful kind ruler. Creon shows excellent intelligent reasoning for his laws and punishments. But Creon’s ego had control over him and leads him to his own downfall. He does not understand how bad his pride has hindered within him controlling his issues until Teiresias come and explain his prophecy but by then it is way too late for Creon. Everything Creon has done leads him to be a truly tragic character.

Haemon attempts to stroke Creon’s ego “Father I’m yours. For me your judgements and the ways you act on them are good-I shall follow them” (lines 720-722) so that he can try and talk his father out of killing Antigone. He later goes on to say “Father, the gods instill good sense in men--the greatest of all the things which we possess. I could not find your words somehow not right-I hope that’s something I never learn to do” (lines 776-779) yet goes on to say “But other words might be good, as well” (line 780) in an attempt to get Creon to see another point of view. However, this just makes Creon even more determined to do as he said he will. He accuses Haemon of acting as a woman “You foul Creature-you’re worse than any woman” (lines 846-847) and “You woman’s slave-don’t try to win me over” (lines 845-855) which is the greatest insult to Creon because he sees women as inferior. Creon also believes that his word is law and that no one should question him. His word is law and is the only correct point of view. “Am I to rule this land at someone else’s whim or by myself” (lines 836-837) and “According to our laws, does not the ruler own the city” (lines 840-841) is what Creon says when Haemon questions his reluctance to listen to anyone else’s views but his own. All of this makes

Creon’s first error is thinking he can go against god's laws or by having hubris. We learn this when Creon says, “The laws of the gods are mighty and a man must serve them” (scene 5, line 109-110). Creon is saying he should have never gone against god because he is just a man. Creon should have listened to everyone when they told him god's law is above his or he’ll be punished for it. Creon is feeling remorse when he finds out it is too late to fix his errors. He’s feeling regret when he says, “The father murdering, the murdered son - and all my civic wisdom” (scene 5, line 89-90). He is pointing out that his son warned him what would happen if Creon did not listen; unfortunately he still did not listen. His son was where all his strength and wisdom was at and now Haimon is dead. If only Creon had done things differently or changed his mind

King Creon believes that his power shows that he has superior knowledge over his family or his peers. This leads him to believe that he does not need to listen to their advice. Haimon realized after Antigone’s arrest he should take his father’s advice because, ‘...you are right...over this woman.’ Haimon is intelligent enough to realize that his father is right. However, he warns him, ‘your temper terrifies...like to hear.’ Haimon reminds Creon that he is feared because he

This trait is shown in line 651 after Ismene, Antigone’s sister asked if Creon would kill Antigone, his son’s own bride “ Why not? There are other fields for him to plow.” This shows his selfishness by him coming right out and saying he doesn’t care if he is executing his own son’s bride, his law comes first before all. If Creon is this selfish to not even spare his son’s bride, it will cause even more problems when his son figures it out. Another example of this trait is on line 760 when Creon was trying to comfort his son after telling him his wife Antigone was going to die “ No. We must obey whatever man the city puts in charge, no matter the issue- just or unjust.” In this quote Creon is saying right to his son that he doesn’t care if what he does is wrong or unjust, it must be followed. Creon is just indirectly saying that he is always right even when he is wrong in the citizens eyes. This teaches us that when we ignore the words of others and only listen to ourselves, people will rise against you. In the end of the play these were the three traits that proved Creon to be a tragic hero.

This shows that Creon’s arrogance and pride challenge the laws of the gods, which in turn leads to his downfall. Because of Creon’s excessive amount of pride Antigone, Haemon, and Creon’s wife die. This hubris clouded Creon’s thinking because he was too busy living his life with his untouched dignity that was later challenged by the gods. Creon’s excessive pride ended up being the downfall of him, therefore proving that he is a tragic hero. Because of the deaths of his family and fall of his kingship, Creon’s eyes are finally opened towards the end of the play.

/ Must you doddering wrecks / Go out of your heads entirely? ‘The Gods’! / Intolerable! / The gods favor this corpse? Why? How had he served the?...Is it your senile opinion that the gods love to honor bad men? / A pious thought” (107-115). This shows how Creon’s temper is very short and he does not take advice from others even when they may be right. When talking with Creon’s son, he loses his patience and says, “Go join them, then; if you must have your love, / Find it in hell” (135-136). Cren’s temper while talking to his son shows how he loses his patience easily. Haimon says, “You are not in a position to know everything / That people say or do, or what they feel: / Your temper terrifies them -- everyone” (60-63). The people of his town do not follow his rules because they will better them, but because they are afraid of what the consequences will be. In the text it says, “Creon’s rage has been mounting steadily, but the sentry is too intent / upon his story to notice it” (97-98). This shows how Creon loses his anger easily just from talking to other people. Along with Creon’s anger, his stubbornness also makes him very

Creon accepts his mistakes when he knows he losing everything that he has been telling the people he will protect. On page 64, He ask the priest what he must do and the priest says “Go quickly: free Antigone from her vault and build a tomb for the body of Polyneices.”. Then on page 65, Creon says that “It is hard to deny the heart! But i will do it: I will not fight with destiny”. This shows that Creon is finally accepting his mistake because it is hurting the way of his ruling for the country. Not many people accept their mistakes of their actions but for Creon he had to because he was fearing the end of his ruling. On page 67 All of Creon’s actions that he had caused are going downhill and he says that “Nothing you say can touch me anymore. My own blind heart has brought me from darkness to final darkness. Here you see the father murdering, the murdered son--And all my civic wisdom!”. This is showing that he has no other option but accept his mistakes and move on. The mistakes he had done only left him with one option which was accepting the things that had done wrong. On page 68 Creon goes on to say “It is right that it should be. I alone am guilty. I know it, and I say it.”. This where he accepts his mistakes because he knows that he could have prevented everything by just letting one thing go. All the Mistake that Creon had done were only leaving him with less and less options for escaping the problem. With letting that one thing go Creon could have gone to be a great

In other words, they have to be enlightened. The audience is then supposed to feel pity and fear for the tragic hero because of his tumultuous journey. Creon realizes his tragic flaw when he states, "Oh it is hard to give in! but it is worse / To risk everything for stubborn pride" (Scene 5, Lines 99-100).

How far will you go for love? There are people who would give their life for love, and those who do not find it worth giving their life for. Haiman, a character in Antigone, loved someone to the point he would fight for their freedom. Even though his intentions were good, his pride overcame him and affected the people around him.

C.S Lewis starts the chapter out by mentioning what he calls the great sin. A Christian moral that no one is free from and one that everyone barely recognizes in themselves unless they are Christians. This great sin is the sin of pride. He states that he does not recall ever hearing someone other than a Christian admit they are guilty of pride.

Is excess the enemy of success? Historical examples and the characters Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Antigone demonstrate that this is the case. In World War II era Japan, pride made their army strong, but eventually destroyed it due to the soldiers’ refusal to surrender even in the face of imminent defeat. In Hitler’s Germany, loyalty originally made the nation strong and rebuilt the economy, but eventually caused that same nation to look away while their leader committed heinous acts. Parallels can be drawn between these historical examples and the characters Oedipus and Antigone, who each experience a fall from grace due to their tragic flaws, excess pride and blind loyalty respectively.

There are no options for an individual who can no longer function in his or her given environment. The environment in which an individual is placed in is strategically molded by a set of rules that construct the society. Because it is impossible to define an ideal life, defining the society of the individual gives a clearer image of how that individual can expect to live. Defining society can be narrowed down into family, church, and state. These three institutions work together but often conflict. Once an individual is not of use to the three institutions or has been rejected by them, there is no way for the individual to live in the society, yet the three institutions make it impossible for them to escape. Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Sophocles’ Antigone prove that the individual becomes trapped with little to no options after either being rejected by society or no longer having a functioning role within one of the three institutions that constitute society.