ANTIGONE In the story of Antigone, two very headstrong people's beliefs are matched up against each other. Creon, the king, made it law that no traitor to the Kingdom shall have a proper burial, instead they will be left laying on the ground to rot and to be eaten by the animals. This was the case of Antigone's brother, Polyneices. Antigone's love for her brother was so great that she went against the law, eventhough she knew Creon's punishment for breaking the law was public stoning, which ultimately resulted in death. Creon, who had an equal amount of determination, refused to back down from his law for his own reasons even after Antigone ignored it. He could not submit himself to the will of a woman. At that time, women were looked at as being in the same class as slaves. If he did, it would have showed weakness in him and the people would have overthrown him for letting a woman have that effect on him. So instead of the public stoning, Creon sentenced Antigone to die in a cave where she could starve to death. Instead of dying a slow miserable death, she committed suicide by hanging herself. As it turns out, this set off a string of events for the king that he could have never saw coming. The first of the tragic events that would unfold was the death of his son. Haemon was Creon and Eurydice's son and was next in line to the throne with Antigone as his wife. Creon's son was set to be married to Antigone, but after Creon sentenced her to death, Haemon turned on his father. He was outraged that Creon had taken away his future wife, in which he was very much in love with. He was so outraged, that he would even break the unique and special bond between father and son. Haemon felt incomplete without Antigone and could not stand being apart from her. He found away to solve his problem and get revenge on his father at the same time. He had taken his own life and at the same time killed the future of the family's place in the throne. Creon was crushed at what his son did, especially hearing it from someone else. After hearing of Haemon's death, Eurydice was completely devastated and felt some what violated. She felt Creon was responsible for the death of not only Haemon, but for Megareus who was killed some years before. Haemon was the only son left for Eurydice and the last only one left to inherit the throne. Eurydice's life had gone from having a picture book ending to becoming a true, old fashioned tragedy. Her last remaining son was a short time away from marrying a beautiful young woman and starting their lives together, its every mothers wish for their son. First her son's fiancee dies by suicide and then her son is torn from her life in an instant. It was too much to happen to one person in such a short amount of time. Not too many people can handle events like that, including Eurydice. She also found the same solution as her son. She did not want to live with such great sadness and could not live with Creon anymore. After all he had been responsible for the two deaths that greatly affected her life. Things could not possibly be worse for Creon, his son and his wife are dead, and there's no one to inherit the throne in his family. He knows that he was the cause of all this misery that surrounds him. He was now paying the price for such an unfair judgment against Antigone. If he had a second chance to do things over, he surely would have done things much differently. He realized that his ruling was not worth all the pain, guilt, and suffering he caused. It would not have been so bad if they had not committed suicide, but Haemon killed himself holding Antigone, his love, and his mother killed herself violently with a sword. Creon's head fills with suicidal thoughts and begins to break down. In the end, he does almost nothing but pray for death. Although the story ends with him leaving with these types of thoughts, one can only imagine he met the same fate as his son and wife. In conclusion, it is obvious to see the repercussions of Creon's faithfulness to his beliefs. He had basically lost everything, his wife and son were gone, he would not be able to maintain his position as king, and he had lost all self control. The people would have overthrown him if he continued. This was all due to the fact that he made one really wrong ruling. Too much power and control cause an increase in arrogance and can cause some people to make totally irrational thoughts. If Creon had continued to rule, these events hopefully would have taught him to consider what happens to the people with such harsh laws. Creon could have easily avoided all this if he had actually thought about what might happen if one of the law breakers was some one in his own family.
When Creon’s wife, Eurydice, finds out that her son is dead she kills herself. Creon's downfall started when Antigone choose to hang herself. “ You will not see the sun race through its cycle many times before you lose a child of your own loins, a corpse in payment for these corpses. You’ve thrown down to those below someone from up above-in your arrogance you’ve moved a living soul into a grave, leaving here a body owned by the gods below- unburied, dispossessed, unsanctified. That's no concern of yours or gods above. In this you violate the ones below. And so destroying avengers wait for you, Furies of Hades and the gods, Who’ll see you caught up in this very wickedness (1194-1205).” This quote explains that in view of the unnecessary death of Antigone he will meet his demise. This man predicts that he would lose his
Some may argue that Creon does not fit the mold of a tragic hero. They believe this is so because Creon's punishment is not excessive. Perhaps they think that the death of Creon's family members and loss of his kingdom is well deserved due to his wrongdoings. Although it is true that Creon makes a mistake, he is excessively punished even though he isn't directly at fault. This is illustrated when Creon finds out from the messenger that his wife blames him for the death of her and her son. Creon exclaims, “I am nothing. I have no life./ Lead me away.../ That have killed unwittingly/ My son, my wife./ I know not where I should turn,/ Where look for help./ My hands have done amiss, my head is bowed/ With fate too heavy for me” (Sophocles lines 1119-1126). Creon has to agonize in guilt because he knows he is the reason his family members are no longer living. One can agree that this is extremely unfair because he does not intend to lose everyone that is impo...
After being locked up in a dark, damp cave, Antigone was fed up with wallowing in her own pity, and takes her own life by “hang[ing] by the neck in a fine linen noose, strangled in her veils,” (1347–1348). Seeing the graceful young woman embraced in the arms of his own son, Creon immediately swells with anger towards un-masculine Haemon because of his display of love, and the significance of Antigone’s death goes straight over his head. Her strong sense of self – knowing who she is, what she values, and what makes her happy – enables her to make regretless decisions that alter her time to come. One of those decisions instigated Haemon’s fate to be sealed as well, prompting Eurydice, mother of the prince, to join her son in the underworld. Not long after becoming aware of her child’s downfall, Eurydice sacrifices her life at the heart of the palace, and “raised a cry for the noble fate of Megareus, the hero killed in the first assault, then for Haemon, then with her dying breath she called down torments on [Creon’s] head–[Creon] killed her sons,” (1429–1432). Creon’s heart fills with grief, for the fault of these three deaths lies with him, and pathetic self-pities are the only thoughts running through his mind. Despite the three-deceased’s blood lying
Sophocles describes the father-son relationship in Antigone as extremely prejudiced, demonstrated by the difference in observed power of the Creon and Haemon, respectively the king and his son. During the argument between the pair on the punishment of Antigone, Haemon states “I am your son, sir; by your wise decisions/My life is ruled”. Initially, he believes that he is completely inferior to his father, and he states that “there is nothing I can prize above your happiness and wellbeing”. His disposition throughout their conversation is always underlying, and initially he is unable to stand up to his father’s demands. Creon is absolutely non-tolerant to his son, initially praising Haemon as “the man/You can depend on”. However, as Haemon begins to voice his individual opinion, Creon begins to feel insulted and tells his own son that he is a “despicable coward”. At the conclusion of the argument, the hidden rebellious nature of Haemon has surfaced, and he threatens his father, tell...
though she was the daughter of his sister, Jocasta. Creon believes that if he does not
Antigone was caught and death was the price to pay as ordered by Creon, not to her surprise. Death to Antigone seemed wanted, it was the only thing left as honor for her. Haemon, the son of Creon and Antigone’s fiancé has enough respect for his father that he does not interfere with Creon's decision to put Antigone to death.
to use time and symbols to convince her to seize the day. He uses the
taken a royal wife to his bed, the daughter of the ruler of his land, Creon" (Lines 17-19,
Creon believes that his laws are absolute and must be followed above all else, even Divine Law. Therefore when Antigone, in accordance with divine law, goes against Creons edict by burying her brother she is forcefully imprisoned and sentenced to death by Creon. In Creons opening speech he says, “Of course you cannot know a man completely, his character, his principles, sense of judgment … Experience, there’s the test” (Sophocles, p. 67). How Creon handles Antigones unlawful actions serves as his first test as the new king of Thebes and ends up showing the Thebans a glimpse of his true nature, that of a tyrannical ruler. This can be seen again when Haemon comes to Creon with the hope of dissuading him from his current course of action. He does this by trying to make Creon understand that the citizens of Thebes don’t agree with his use of power and planned execution of Antigone. Again Creons authoritarian nature comes to light in his response to Haemon, “And is Thebes about to tell me how to rule… Am I to rule this land for others – or myself?” (Sophocles, p. 97). To which Haemon counters by saying that “its no city at all, owned by one man alone” (Sophocles, p. 97). Creon, being the tyrant he is, fails to heed the wisdom of his sons’ words, which ultimately leads to his downfall. Creon, like Machiavelli, believed that it was
Creon reveals a high level of distrust by holding the very sentry who has come to admit his failure accountable for the crime that he was put in charge of preventing, and takes this distrust a step further by spreading the culpability to the entire unit of sentries and assuming a conspiracy among his own men. Creon’s immediate judgement that he has been betrayed by the people he has put in charge of enforcing his law shows his great insecurity as a leader. It can be seen that this insecurity comes from the feeling that he lacks control over the people that he rules because of the threats that immediately follow his conclusion that the crime was a conspiracy, which are a clear attempt at asserting his power. Creon’s insecurity and the resulting
...ut her son’s death, she goes and slits her throat. Creon then feels Antigone’s direct action when he is all alone at the end of the play. His edict caused so much pain in suffering for his family, he led them all to suicide.
...lines 1445-1446). Creon just could not take the guilt anymore, knowing that the cause of their death was his fault, all because of his excessive pride. Pride can be portrayed as confidence, it can bring one great success, but it is a deadly emotion that can also take everything away from one when it exaggerates. When it is too late to fix an issue, the only thing left are regrets of what could have been said or done to prevent the obstacles caused.
Creon first abused his power when he decided to go against the God’s law that every human deserved to be buried after death not depending on what that certain per...
... last, in death. Having hearing this news Eurydice, Creon’s wife kills herself; her last words were a curse on Creon for causing so much wrong in his life. Creon goes to pray for his mistakes to the gods, but they do not listen anymore. Choragos tells him “Then do not pray anymore: the sky is deaf” (244)
Although Creon didn’t kill himself, he has to live with his knowing that he brought this tragedy on himself. Both characters were challenged together in separate ways, with both unfortunate outcomes. In both stories we know that Okonkwo and Creon rule by fear and they both believe that having power is the most important thing; it isn’t (SP1). That trait of fear of weakness may as well have been both Okonkwo and Creon’s tragic flaw which caused the two their devastating downfall. Likewise, to make decisions, they use their own reasoning rather than consulting or listening to others.