pride in antigone essay

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The Power of Pride in Oedipus Rex and Antigone Sophia Phouvong Fulton College

What happens when pride takes control of a human? In the plays Oedipus Rex and Antigone, Sophocles paints a dismal picture of what happens, where pride is depicted as both an obstruction to sight and an obstruction to hearing. According to Sophocles, the pride of Antigone, Creon, and Oedipus blinds them from seeing their own stubborn determination and deafens them from hearing the wise counsel of their advisors. These characters’ pride produces tragic consequences not only for the arrogant characters themselves, but also for those closest to them. Sophocles utilizes the prideful determination of Antigone, Creon, and Oedipus to illustrate how disregarding wise counsel leads to fatal errors in judgement.

First, Antigone’s pride takes the form of a stubborn desire to act on her own volition. In the opening act of the play, Antigone, in her arrogant persistence to get her way, does not listen to the counsel of her sister. This initiates a chain of events that leads to her demise. Insightfully recognizing Antigone’s fiery determination, her sister declares “You have a hot mind over chilly things” (Ant. 88) and warns her against the dangers of acting against their powerful uncle Creon, who has commanded that no one can bury...

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The Ancient Greek Tragedy “Antigone” Essay

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The modern person’s interest in ancient tragedies is quite extraordinary. In their works many centuries ago, Ancient authors raised ethical and philosophical issues relevant to their time. After more than two millennia, these same problems find a response in the heart of modern man. A modern person unexpectedly finds answers to many difficult questions when he gets acquainted with the works of ancient poets, philosophers, and playwrights. This tragedy raises many questions, the importance of which is reflected and relevant even today, and the main character can teach people of the twenty-first century a lot.

The ancient Greek tragedy “Antigone” was written by Sophocles and narrates about a woman fighting against a royal decree that hurt her personal feelings and principles. Antigone is a girl who has crossed out her future by her act and has incurred the wrath of King Creon. She has the following features: courage, pluck, and some notes of asceticism. The heroic line intersects with the lyrical one: she cries and does not want to die, making Antigone a living person with a lively character. A distinctive feature of the main characters of Sophocles is their pronounced individualization.

The conflict began with the fact that Antigone’s brothers – Eteocles and Polynices – fought with each other and, unfortunately, died. According to the decree of the Theban king Creon, Eteocles was to be buried as a hero. The body of Polynices was ordered to be left unburied, under the scorching sun, as a traitor who went to war against Thebes. Disobeying the decree, Antigone herself buries her brother’s body according to the funeral rite established by the gods. For this, Creon ordered Antigone to be walled up in a cave, but the girl, faithful to her duty to fulfill sacred laws, did not humble before Creon. She preferred death to obedience to a cruel king and committed suicide.

The key feature of the image of Antigone is her fantastic willpower. She demonstrates this feature in the struggle with Creon for the right to bury her brother according to the ancestral rite. “I know that I will die— of course I do— even if you had not doomed me by proclamation. If I shall die before my time, I count that a profit” (505-510). She honors the ancient law of the tribal society, and she does not doubt the correctness of the decision made. Feeling that she is right, Antigone boldly challenges Creon. Sophocles’ Antigone consciously goes towards death, but, like any person, it is bitter for her to part with a life that promises so many joys to a young girl. She does not regret what happened, but about her dying youth, she is dying, not mourned by anyone.

By the power of her mind and a big heart that knows how to love, not hate, Antigone chose her fate, which confronted Antigone with Creon. Creon embodies the image of a stern and inflexible ruler who puts his will above everything. This man considers any resistance to his order as an anti-state act, and he is ready to apply the cruelest laws to people who go against the state. From the very beginning, the dialogue with Ismene reveals the strong personality of Antigone, which, according to the choir, she inherited from her father. “Be as you choose to be; but for myself I myself will bury him. It will be good to die, so doing” (80-85). Antigone is shown as a determined and firm girl who challenged the autocracy of Creon.

One of the most profound conflicts of modern society – the conflict between generic unwritten laws and state laws – is revealed in this tragedy. In the ancestral community, religious beliefs, rooted in the depths of centuries, prescribed a person to sacredly honor blood relations and observe all rites about blood relatives. On the other hand, every citizen of the polis in Sophocles was obliged to follow state laws, which sometimes sharply contradicted traditional family and tribal norms. Sophocles’ Creon is a supporter of the idea of unswerving observance of state laws, written ones. On the other hand, Antigone puts family and ancestral laws, sanctified by religious authority, above these laws.

The great tragedian wanted to carry out in his work the idea that for the happiness of the citizens of the polis, unity between state and family-generic laws is necessary. The condemnation of tyranny is also expressed at the end of the tragedy in Creon’s remorse and self-flagellation. The theme raised by Sophocles in the play is the theme of duty and family, which is still relevant to this day. Only a person whose thoughts are pure and whose actions are guided by virtue can realize the concept of duty and family and the need to defend it. Sacrifice in the name of the family is another cornerstone theme of this play, the relevance of which has not disappeared even today.

Unfortunately, the family is gradually moving into second place in the modern world, giving way to a career. People increasingly prefer to live for their pleasure, travel, build a career rather than start a family and have children. Of course, each person decides how to live, but the family was and still remains the foundation of human society. Antigone is a character who loves desperately and furiously; she does not put any restrictions or conditions on love. Perhaps this is the kind of dedication and passion that modern people lack because they most often prefer comfort and safety. On the other hand, Antigone represents love and rage, which neither the king nor even death itself will stop. The themes of self-sacrifice, love, family and the conflict between the written and unwritten laws are reflected in this play and are still relevant.

• Mythology. Dogon: The First Words
• "Oedipus Rex": The Gods’ Role in Human Affairs
• Antigone’s Courage in "Antigone" by Sophocles
• The Ancient Greek Play Antigone by Sophocle
• Sophocles’ “Antigone”: The Synopsis of the Play
• “Antigone”: Evaluation and Synthesis
• The Figure of Hector in Homer’s “The Iliad”
• Hubris (Pride) of Odysseus and Oedipus
• Telemachus: The Son of Ithaca Tsar, Odysseus, and Penelope
• Neoclassicism and Aurora and Cephalus (1811)
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Antigone — Characteristics of Creon

Characteristics of Creon

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Published: Jun 14, 2024

Words: 676 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

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Stubbornness and inflexibility, hubris and pride, bibliography.

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When analyzing the history of Greek Tragedies it is impossible not to address one of the main focuses of tragedies; the fatal flaw of some of the characters. Fatal flaws are the negative traits of a character that eventually leads to their downfall. One key fatal flaw that is repeated throughout many Greek tragedies is hubris, being the Greek meaning for pride. Hubris is present in many different places throughout Sophocles’ Antigone; however, it is clear through the actions of Antigone, Creon, and Haemon that the worst consequence of hubris is that it eventually leads to one’s downfall.

In the play, Antigone shows hubris in her opposition to royal authority, which eventually leads to her punishment of death. Although one could argue that the things that Antigone does throughout the play are all positive things. However, positive or not positive she defied royal authority in order to obey divine authority, and in the way that she did this demonstrated hubris. Perhaps Antigone’s pride in her act of defiance against royal authority is best demonstrated when Creon confronts her about her rebellion, and the pride that she has over it and says “disaster is linked with disaster” (595). Antigone goes against royal authority to help bring justice to something that she views as being a “disaster,” the way that she defied authority and buried her brother. However, Creon brings to her attention that disaster only leads to more disaster. Perhaps Creon is foreshadowing that as a result of Antigone’s disastrous reaction to the death of her brother, it will only bring more disaster (to her).

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Although some people may argue that Antigone’s act was morally the right thing to do, it was not without self-seeking intentions. An act is not purely whole if the intentions behind it are self-seeking. She proves to the audience that she did not commit this act without self-gain numerous times throughout the play, including when she says “I will suffer nothing as great as death without glory” (112-113). Everyone in the play sees her dying for her brother as a huge heroic act that results from nothing other than the good of who she is as a person. However, this isn’t necessarily the pure case. While she is very brave for doing what she believes to be the right thing for her brother, and risking death, she is seeking favor from the gods. Therefore, one could argue that she buried her brother with selfish intentions. She did what she did in order to gain favor from the gods, as well as to gain “glory.” All of her actions put together make a strong case that the fatal flaw of Antigone was in fact her pride towards her action. In the end her sense of pride led to her being punished and buried alive.

The contrast to Antigone, Creon, also displays a large amount of hubris, leading to his downfall in the death of his son. Creon is the ruler of the land. But as the leader of the land Creon believes that he has divine right to be in charge and make orders. Creon’s sense of pride in the way that he rules is best demonstrated when he states “Am I to rule this land for others –or for myself” (823)? The intentions behind Creon’s rule can appear to be completely self-motivated. On a similar note, it is the divine right from the gods for a person to have a proper burial. However, due to the fact that Creon takes this right away from a person as a result of his personal opinion, he is demonstrating that he believes that he has authority over the god’s wishes. Creon’s pride and arrogance dig him into a deeper hole when he talks to his son about Antigone’s punishment and he states “Spit her out, like a mortal enemy –let the girl go. Let her find a husband down among the dead (728-730). In response to his father’s opinion on Antigone, Creon’s son threatens to hang himself due to his father’s harsh convictions. When Creon doesn’t listen to him he realizes that his son has committed suicide, the consequences of his pride are brought to life.

In conclusion, pride is never a good quality to possess. However, in the usage of a Greek tragedy, pride can lead to your downfall. As demonstrated in the various characters of Antigone, you have to be careful with pride otherwise it could lead to your downfall.

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