The Three Theban Plays by Sophocles

On page 737, the last lines of the Choragos are, “There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; No wisdom but in submission to the gods. Big words are always punished, and proud men in old age learn to be wise.” While this quote can seem confusing, but the explanation is really simple. You cannot be happy unless you are intelligent, and arrogant men can only gain this happiness once they are mature enough. This rings true to Creon’s character arc throughout Antigone, he only loses his pride once he learns his lesson and lost everything.

Pride is a quality that all people possess in one way or another. Some people take pride in their appearance, worldly possessions, or position in society. The story of Antigone written by Sophocles has two characters who have a tragic flaw of pride. I will show how Creon’s pride of power leads to his destruction, and how Antigone’s pride makes her an honorable character who should be treated as a hero.

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.

“Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” says the writer C.S lewis. Indeed this is evident in Sophocles’ Oedipus The King. The rather disturbing events that takes place during the play. The pride of Oedipus, the tragic hero of the play, sets off a chain reaction of events that could have been avoided if Oedipus kept his pride in check. However, he can not and his ego inflates to the point his persona can only be described as a mental disorder. Through analyzing Oedipus’ behaviour and his interactions with the other characters in the play, it can be concluded that he suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Pride, which becomes a major life lesson that is being taught throughout this book, concludes that pride it self is a life changing characteristic that one may chose to attain. In attaining pride one may seem arrogant or stubborn or one may chose to toss the pride aspect of life aside, yet seem somewhat less respectable. This book entails that pride should be taken into serious consideration since it has a major impact in everyday

Throughout the tragedy by Sophocles, the king Oedipus relies on his personal glory to attain long lasting fame and balks when confronted with anything that might shatter this perception that he is the best. While both characters have done marvelous deeds in the past, their inherent arrogance, which is part of the tragic flaw of each of the characters,

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.

Of the many characteristics that can describe Creon, prideful is one of the strongest descriptions of him. Throughout the tragedy, Creon reveals indirectly that he has a major tragic flaw: Self-pride. Antigone is considered to have the tragic flaw of excess ambition, exemplar by this quote: “…Is less of importance; but if I had left my brother lying in death unburied, I should have suffered. Now I do not.” (Sophocles 2. 79-81) Her ambition lies in this quote because she is defying the King Creon. However, many characters in stories have the ability to obtain the trait of ambition; whereas self-pride is a more unique trait. Creon’s pride may have gotten him into a bad situation and his trait may have caused him to pay for his own consequences, but a tragic hero has the ability to learn from their own actions. Creon learned

This quote explains the main conflict of the play. Creon has ordered that Polynices, Antigone’s brother, cannot receive a proper burial because in Creon’s eyes he is a traitor. Polynices fought against his brother to claim the throne of Thebes, the pair ended up killing each other. Tiresias tries to tell Creon that he is wrong to do this because it is angering the gods that he is denying them a body. Tiresias even warns Creon not to be stubborn, “Stubborness/ brands you for stupidity-pride is a crime.” (1137-1138). Pride in Greek tragedies is most often the cause of a characters downfall and Creon is no exception.

Creon was born of noble birth and that's the reason why Creon possess the tragic flaw of being to proud. This means Creon has too much pride. For example, "Antigone: No, they are with me. But they keep their tongues in leash. Creon: maybe but you are guilty, and they are not." This quote is an example of how Creon has too much pride. Antigone is saying how everyone agrees with what she did but Creon doesn't want to admit

Pride is an attractive trait to possess. Acknowledging the other point of view of ways pride could be an unattractive quality to possess. Too much pride can damage others and even yourself. In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis,” the narrator stated, “Let’s go Doodle, he didn’t answer… he fell backward onto the earth, he was bleeding from his mouth to his neck (pg 176).” Doodle was scared and frightened of what his brother would do.

The reason for Creon’s behavior is that he inherited a city that experienced destruction among the people and he felt it was his responsibility to restore it. He attempted to maintain stability while keeping a higher status. He first came into conflict when Antigone believed that no human law could supersede the divine law created by the Gods. Creon decreed that Polyneices was to remain unburied in order to punish the enemy of city and give a sense of justice to the mayhem caused by the civil war. She decided to disobey his edict and to defend her actions in front of the chorus and the city of Thebes. Creon did not accept the validity of her decision and was offended by her disrespect. He sees her impudence as treason and states “If you must show them friendship, go and do so down below! But while I live a woman shall not rule” (Sophocles 41). His sentence for Antigone’s death goes beyond her breaking the law, it was meant to

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

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

Sophocles used Oedipus’ pride to characterize Oedipus as a tragic man. It showed that he was destined to make himself miserable because of the hubris he was born with. He also uses it to show that there is fate, but we are a part of it and it is only what might happen based on the person we are. Oedipus came about his tragic discovery not because of an evil act or an evil trait but because of the person he was. When the oracles stated that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother, he stated what could happen. Oedipus’ fate might have been avoided if Oedipus was not the type of person he was.