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Mrs.Tatum
9 September, 2018
In Sophocles classical Greek tragedy, Antigone, where Antigone is fighting hard for the
proper burial of her brother, Polyneices, who was put to death by his brother, Eteocles, in
war. Creon is Antigone’s uncle, who becomes king when the king and queen die. Creon does not
believe that Polyneices deserves a proper burial, although Antigone says the divine laws say
otherwise. Creon’s interactions with Antigone, highlights Creon’s stubbornness which causes his
downfall, ultimately proving to the audience that people in power should not only listen to
Creon makes his laws stating whoever buries polyneices will be killed in front of the
kingdom, this makes Antigone mad and she wants to revolt. Antigone says to Creon, “They share
my views, but they keep their mouth shut, just for you” (Sophocles 578-79). Antigone explains
to Creon that the other people in the kingdom agree with her and not him. Creon is not going to
believe this, so he acts like she is lying. Antigone feels as though Creon’s new laws are unjust
and go against the “divine laws which require her to bury a family member” (Bobrick 44). These
laws show interactions between Antigone and Creon by creating a conflict of belief between the
two.
included, telling Creon his laws are wrong. After arguing about the law, Antigone retorts to
Creon, “There is nothing shameful about having my mothers child buried” (Sophocles 580-81).
Antigone and Creon do not agree on the burial of Polyneices, this demonstrates Creon
stubbornness by showing that he always has to be right. Creon and Antigone “both suffer from
excess of being right”(Bobrick 42). Creon is not being considerate of everyone else’s thoughts,
when Antigone wants to bury her brother, the stubborn Creon makes laws for bidding it.
Antigone keeps trying to get her point across to stubborn Creon to do the right thing for
Polyneices.
People in power should take into consideration other people's ideas and not just their
own. Antigone explains to Ismene the wrongful act Creon is bringing on them, “ he’s honouring
one with a full funeral, and treating the other one disgracefully.” (Sophocles 27-28) , Antigone is
disgusted by the way Creon did not take into consideration her feelings and wants to get Ismene
to help her show Creon what should have happened to both brothers, a burial for Polyneices and
Eteocles. Creon’s placement in the kingdom gives him a rite to lots of power: “ It is important to
stress again that Creon, although not a sympathetic character in the play, is not simply a villain.
Although he does acknowledge his fault, attempt to undo it, learn from it, and grieve intensely
because of it, tragically, it is inside and change occurred too late.”(Lansky 51). Creon had no bad
intentions, he just wanted to do what he thought was going to make the kingdom better.
humans that we need to rely on constructive criticism to be the best we can be for ourselves and
for the people around us. If Creon would have listened to his peers sooner, he could have
avoided many tragedies that occurred in the play. If Creon was not in a position allowing him to
have great amounts of power he would have most likely listened to his peers. His stubbornness
prevented him from being the best he could be, making up his “flaw”.
Works Cited
Bobrick, Elizabeth. "Sophocles’ Antigone and the Self-Isolation of the Tragic Hero."
Psychoanalytic Inquiry, vol. 35, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 40-46. EBSCOhost,
V oi:10.1080/07351690.2014.957128.
Sophocles. Antigone. Trans. Ian Johnston. SpringBoard English Language Arts, Grade 10, ed.