Not Listening In Sophocles 'Antigone'

Antigone Not understanding or listening to the opinion of others can frequently have unfortunate consequences and even lead to tragedy. In the play, Antigone, written by Sophocles, the two main characters, Antigone and Creon, both failed to listen which led to the death of several people. It was exhibited how important it is to acknowledge the truth and this was the central theme of the play. The conflict between Antigone and Creon started because they had opposing viewpoints of whether or not Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, should have been buried after he died in battle. Antigone strongly believed that Polyneices should have because it was the law of the gods and they are eternal, while man’s laws are not. However, Creon, on the other hand,

In the end, the result or tragedy of not listening to the perspective of others in this case, was the suicide of Antigone. Her trait of being stubborn has allowed for her to act this way. When Antigone demonstrated this behavior, it was when she was talking to her sister, Ismene. As the two sisters were arguing about their brother, she tells Ismene, “Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, for your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, it will not be the worst of deaths ––death without honor” (1, 77-81). Antigone being stubborn led her to ignore and fail to recognize her own sister’s view on Polyneices’ burial throughout their conversation. She was furious at her sister for not agreeing with her so she didn’t bother to acknowledge what Ismene had to say if it involved not burying Polyneices. Completing this action led her to going to prison and committing suicide which is considered the tragedy of the play. Sometimes you won’t always get what you want to hear, but you should still try and see where the person you are talking to is coming from. After Antigone got caught for somewhat burying Polyneices, Ismene tried to take the blame and says, “You are laughing at me. Why, Antigone? Antigone: It’s a joyless laughter, Ismene” (2,

Similarly to Antigone, he faced a great deal of hardship as well. After Antigone committed suicide, so did Haimon, which led Eurydice, Creon’s wife, to kill herself too after finding out the horrendous news. This is considered a tragedy because he lost his family which is a devastating thing to experience. Starting out, Creon didn’t listen to Antigone since he didn’t approve of burying Polyneices. He told the servants: “Take her, go! You know your orders: take her to the vault and leave her alone there. And if she lives or dies, that’s her affair, not ours: our hands are clean” (4, 710-713). Creon felt no need to even consider acknowledging Antigone’s point of view because he was too furious that she went behind his back and somewhat buried Polyneices. So instead of trying to understand her perspective, he just commanded the servants to take Antigone to her “dungeon.” Failing to recognize her opinion and not coming to a compromise, allowed the tragedies to later occur: Antigone committing suicide, along with Haimon and Eurydice. When discussing with the blind prophet, Tiresias, about Creon’s refusal to bury Polynices and his punishment of Antigone, he tells him, “Do what you will, go into business, make money, speculate in India gold or that synthetic gold from Sardis, get rich otherwise than by my consent to bury him” (4, 820-822). Tiresias told King Creon that the Gods will put