Antigone - Sophocles’ Play

In Sophocles’ play Antigone one major theme is the danger of pride or stubbornness. Some characters become so involved with their goals that they forget of any other options and accept harsh penalties for their actions. In the cases of Antigone, Haemon and Creon the consequences of their actions wind up to be very extreme and lead to the deaths of these three characters. For her brother’s proper burial, Antigone goes to extreme lengths to fulfill her goal no matter what stands in her way. Against the new law made from Creon Antigone still buries Polyneices and accepts her punishment of death, calling it her destiny. In lines thirty six to forty five of Scene Two, the Sentry that caught Antigone explains of how she denied nothing and came quietly when arrested. Antigone argues that the gods’ laws are a greater authority than Creon’s and that it was their will to bury Polyneices. By saying this Antigone upholds one of the Greek traditions of pride to the god’s but also doesn’t admit that it was fully her own fault. With her sentence to death, Antigone defends her position and winds up committing suicide rather than suffering longer in life. Along with Antigone, Haemon also shows his character flaws of pride and stubbornness with his actions against Creon’s will. In lines seventy through one hundred and thirty-four of Scene Three, Haemon and Creon argue over Creon’s stubbornness to change his mind of Antigone’s sentence. Haemon believes that Creon’s inflexibility will cause the anarchy that he is trying to prevent. Haemon though, contradicts himself saying this because he does the same thing and become stubborn to save Antigone. Haemon’s stubbornness and pride also leads him to his location of death with Antigone. Since they were to be engaged and he loved her, Haemon wanted her to be with him forever and that guided him to dying in her arms. With his actions Haemon shows his flaws of stubbornness and pride lead to his downfall. Probably the character with the most pride and stubborn attitude in the entire play Antigone was Creon. Most importantly, Creon tried to protect his power and his manhood. In lines fort-two through forty-eight of Scene Three, Creon discusses these two fears and shows how he believes that anarchy and Antigone will destroy the city. Unfortunately he realizes his mistake to late and his pride forces Creon to cause the death of his wife, son and niece. This pride of his isn’t broken until the end where he admits to his sin against the gods’ and kills himself. This death is also a sign of his flaws because rather than living with his mistake and apologizing to society, Creon takes his life and never really admits to the city of Thebes that he was wrong. Even with his death we can see how his stubbornness and pride push him to his end.
The tragic flaws of Antigone, Haemon and Creon were a combination of pride and stubbornness. By trying to prove their point, all of these characters defend their positions until their deaths. With the suicide of these Antigone, Haemon and Creon we see how their pride pushed through until the end and they decided that they would take their own lives.

Bibliography:
Antigone by Sophocles

Bibliography: Antigone by Sophocles