Who Is Responsible For Creon's Downfall

In “Antigone”,a play written by Sophocles, a girl who wants to properly bury her brother, Polyneices. The only thing in the way is that her uncle Creon, king of Thebes, has placed a law forbidding it because Polyneices had fought against the city; Creon later kills her. Many would say that he over reacted and burying Polyneices was the right thing to do. Throughout the play, he had many chances to change his mind and could have changed his fate but he didnt. Haemon, his son, started to question Creon’s actions which then lead to Creon showing his true personality which later leads to his downfall as a tragic hero. In the play, Creon is incredibly stubborn. Once he made up his mind about punishing Antigone for her crimes, he isn’t going to change it. “Since I caught her clearly disobeying/ the only culprit in the entire city/ I won’t perjure myself before the state./ No- I’ll kill her.” Creon wanted to save face, he didn’t want people thinking he was going back on his word just because Antigone is related to him. He had already made a big

After Haemon’s big speech, the chorus adds, “My lord, if what he’s said is relevant, it seems appropriate to learn from him, and you too, Haemon, listen to the king. The things that both of you said were excellent.” Even with the mention of Haemon is being right, Creon gets all up in a ravel saying, “ And men my age- are we then going to school to learn what’s wise from men as young as him?” Creon believes that age is a measure of wisdom, so just because Creon is older, he is more smarter than Haemon. Also when Haemon says, “Then she’ll die- and in her death kill somebody else.” Creon was too ignorant to realized that Haemon is telling him that Haemon will die with Antigone. Later when Haemon dies, Creon then realizes what he had done and his foolishness had caused all this; he could have listened to Haemon and this wouldn’t have