Creon's Hubris Caused the Conflict of Antigone

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Pride is the cause of the main conflict in Sophocles’ play, Antigone. Everyone should have pride, but Creon had too much of it and that blinded him. His pride in his power and abuse of authority was his tragic flaw that ultimately led to his downfall. On the other hand, Antigone takes pride in her beliefs and has the courage to speak out for what she thinks is right. For this, Antigone is seen as an honorable character and the hero of the play. It is shown that there are often two sides to things; pride can be both a source of strength and self-destruction.

Creon has just become the king of Thebes and is letting his great power go to his head. He is deaf to reason and even accuses those who try to change his mind of “selling their soul for silver”. Creon believes in order to uphold peace and order, the laws set by the ruler must be obeyed when he says “Anarchy, anarchy! Show me a greater evil.” Everyone else in the town and even his royal advisor Choragos believes Creon’s decree is wrong but they are too afraid to speak out in fear of punishment. This is an example of Creon using h...

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