The Characters of Antigone and Creon in Antigone by Sophocles

The Characters of Antigone and Creon in Antigone by Sophocles

Antigone is story of divine retribution and human imperfectness. In

this tragedy a powerful king, Creon is brought down by the Gods

because of his contempt against their divine laws and true justice is

shown to triumph at the end. Creon makes the mistake of putting his

personal views over and above the divine laws and fails in the eyes of

the Gods. He makes the mistake of testing the Gods' power and the

remaining story is basically the degeneration of Creon. After the

'crime' of Antigone, Creon is increasingly shown to be lone warrior in

his cause and family and well wishers start deserting him. As the

tragedy progresses Creon becomes increasingly more hostile and finally

by the destruction of his own family he is justly punished by the

Gods. Antigone on the other hand, is shown to be an instrument of

Creon's doom as it is her death that sets of a chain reaction to the

former.

Antigone has two brothers: - Eteocles and Polynices', both of them

fighting for opposite sides in the Theban war. Whereas Eteocles is

fighting for the protection of Thebes, Polynices' is fighting to

conquer it. At the end of the war and the beginning of the story it is

shown that Thebes has won but both the brothers have perished. The

story moves on to state that Polynices' has been condemned a traitor

by Creon(and the city's edicts) whereas Eteocles is hailed as a Hero

and a martyr. The refusal of burial of one brother and his

condemnation to a worse afterlife forces Antigone to sacrifice herself

for his sake.

. Both the protagonist, Antigone and the antagonist, Creon are driven

towards...

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...nd finally makes the former see the truth.

Antigone, Haemon and Eurydice are shown as the instruments for Creon's

destruction. Their death sends the final message of God's disapproval

to Creon's actions and they die due to Creon's faults. At the end,

Creon himself is forced to acknowledge his guilt and banishes himself

from the society by his own decree. This is the only time in the play

when Creon actually acts like a true King and not just by mere words.

So, the king who banishes a women for her 'sins' is forced to pass the

same judgement on himself on realization of his faults.

The Final Destruction of both the characters is a culmination of their

blind belief in their own morals as well as their insistence on their

impulsive decision making in defence of their ideals. They are a

victim of their own misjudgements.