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.
Creon has forgotten that the ruler is supposed to do what is best for the city and its citizens. Creon is under the impression that he is always correct in his judgments and his beliefs. Before the sentry even explains the event that has occurred, the sentry states that he is only a messenger and has not committed the crime. Yet Creon still accuses the sentry of receiving money to do the crime and threatens to punish him.
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
...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.
After Antigone was found to be guilty of burying her brother Polyneices, Creon said “I suppose she’ll plead family ties, well, let her. If I permit my own family to rebel then how shall I earn the world’s obedience?” (III, 29-31) Creon was so egotistic and sententious that he would even look down on his own family. He really did not care at all that he was sentencing his own niece to death. by the end of the play Creon began to realize just how terribly he had treated his family so he said “Lead me away, I have been rash and foolish. I have killed my son and wife.” (Exodos, 134-135) Creon killed his son and wife because he chose to ignore the fact that he was single handedly tearing his family apart. He was conceited and too self-absorbed to notice just how much damage he had been causing. This proves that he was a bad father and husband and that he felt no obligation to his family as long as he was in charge of
First off, Creon’s belief in civil law caused him to do a grave action which in time lead to his downfall, he lied to the city of Thebes. Creon was never meant to be the king of Thebes, until the deaths of both princes, Polynices and Eteocles, he had no choice but to step up to the throne. He was unprepared and unqualified, he had to tell the city of Thebes the story of how both man died. So, Creon lied about what happened between the two brothers, making one the hero and one the villain; “Well, what else could I have done? People had taken sides in the civil war. Both sides couldn’t be wrong; that would be too much. I couldn’t have made them swallow the truth.” (Anouilh
He chooses to lock up Antigone for her crimes against the state. His prophet Teiresias then tries to warn him that he’s made a mistake, “Then take this, and take it to heart... corpse for corpse, flesh of your own flesh... you have thrust the child of this world into living night” he chooses to disregard him. (Antigone, 5. 75-76, 79-82). However, when the Choragos tells him that Teiresias has correctly prophesied what will happen and he's made a mistake in locking away Antigone and leaving her fate up to the Gods, Creon gets his epiphany and states “My mind misgives- The laws of the gods are mighty, and a man must serve them to the last day of his life” (Antigone, 5.
Creon is enraged to discover his decree has been disobeyed. When he learns it is Antigone, his niece, he asks her if she has heard the decree. She says yes, that the decree was declared publicly and openly -- she answers that she understands the consequences. Creon further asks Antigone if she is blatantly defying him. She replies that she is answering and obeying a higher law. Creon condemns her, and in doing so violates the unspoken law of loyalty to the family. Creon's will be done!
Creon wants to be respected and feared as a king because this will prove him to be the
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.
...o because he cannot alter his fate even though he admits he is wrong. One can learn that there should always be room to fix their errors no matter how astringent they are.
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
Creon abused his power by thinking that he can change or brake the laws of the Gods and not allowing other people to brake his laws. He did not want to burry Polyneices' body, but one of the God's law is that every human deserves to be buried after death not depending what that certain person did in his lifetime. Creon caused fear among his people by making a public announcement that nobody is allowed to burry Polyneices. He said that the state of Thebes consists of only him, and that there are no other laws then his.
Creon's insecurity blinds his ability to direct order in his country properly. After Antigone buried Polyneices Creon felt he needed to take a strong stand or people would think he would always be lenient toward criminals. However, to achieve this Creon felt he needed to take drastic action against Antigone. He once even said to his son, Haimon, who was about to marry Antigone, "The woman dies. I suppose she'll plead family ties. Well, let her. If I permit my own family to rebel, how shall I earn the world's obedience?" (19) This quote shows that Creon feels that to prove himself to the country he needs to earn the "world's obedience".
Creon seemed to be a loyal king, would wanted to prove his worthiness to the people of Thebes, but Creon also had a stubborn side. This stubborn side of Creon rooted from his love of power. Creon strongly believed in a powerful kingdom and felt that everyone should obey his rules as king and this revealed that he was truly self centered person who thought highly of himself. However, Creon will experience a change of heart toward the end of the play.
...e world that you can name” (237) Creon receives a very similar punishment. He too, loses all he deems valuable in the world. Creon will not allow Haemon to marry Antigone. He condemns their marriage and greatly distresses his son, Haemon. As a result of Creon’s actions, Haemon commits suicide, “his blood spilled by his very hand” (120). Eurydice, Creons’s wife, also kills herself. She is so wracked with anguish by Haemon’s suicide, that she “stabbed herself at the altar” (126). Creon “murdered… his son… and his wife.” (127). He has nowhere to “lean to for support” (127) and no-one to “look to” (127). The chorus sums up his and Oedipus’s fate when they say “ The mighty words of the proud are paid in full with mighty blows of fate, and at long last those blows will teach us wisdom” (128)