The Similarities Between Antigone And Creon

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“There are many strange and wonderful things, but nothing more strangely wonderful than man” (388-389). The characters of Antigone and Creon are related through blood and yet each of them possess characteristics almost completely opposite from the other. Antigone is characterized as selfless, daring and superstitious while Creon is motivated by logic, reason and his relentless blindness to respect and love. In Antigone, Sophocles uses the characters of Creon and Antigone to illustrate conflicting motivations through Antigone’s belief that burying her brother, Polyneices, will please the gods and Creon’s juxtaposed view that Polyneices’ disgraceful acts have pegged him as a shameful citizen that is not worthy of a proper burial; in this way, …show more content…

Antigone’s reasoning for wanting to bury her brother Polyneices despite knowing that he acted against the state, is relentless and passionate. First and foremost, she claims that Creon does not possess the power to veto the gods’ everlasting rule over everything. Creon, on the other hand, believes firmly in a structured and consolidated state that respects the law and him as the ruler to advocate the greatest good for his people. “CREON An enemy can never be a friend, not even in death. ANTIGONE But my nature is to love. I cannot hate” (597-598). Creon and Antigone’s fiery opposition is realized in these lines. The two characters are in opposition because Antigone’s motivation for her actions are based on love and loyalty to her brother, while Creon’s motivation, both for the proclamation and for the death sentence of anyone who disobeyed, was based on hatred and loyalty to the state and himself. Love and hatred represent two completely opposite concepts. Furthermore, Creon is compelled to go through with his sentence of death for Antigone to punish her for burying Polyneices. As king, Creon has all the power to change laws or say and do whatever he wants. When Antigone confidently admits that she was the one behind her brother, Polyneices’ burial, Creon feels the need to go through with his punishment in order to obtain respect and essentially, pride in his masculinity. “Well, in this case, if she gets her way and goes unpunished, then she’s the man here, not me” (548-550). His reasoning for punishing Antigone, despite the fact that she is a close relative and his son’s bride, is that if he does not punish her, she will have had power over him and he hates the idea of being inferior to a

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