Antigone Creon Character Analysis

Antigone, The Gone Girl

In the play, “Antigone” by Sophocles, a young girl is trying to bury her brother after Polyneices and Eteocles have been killed in battle. The king, Creon, will not allow a burial for Polyneices. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development demonstrates the stages of moral development the mind goes through. The fifth stage of Kohlberg’s Theory, “Social Contract”, best describes Creon throughout the play. The stage best classifies Creon because his social mutuality will change over the course of the play. Because of Creon’s actions in the beginning of the play and the end of the play, the fifth stage of Kohlberg’s Theory best demonstrates Creon’s actions throughout the play.

Kohlberg believed that people progressed in their moral reasoning through a series of stages. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development consists of three levels with six stages divided

into two stages per level. “Kohlberg’s Theory was started when he performed tests on very young children as his subjects. Kohlberg found out that children are faced with different moral issues. Kohlberg wanted to find out the reasons why these children think that the character is morally right or not” (Sincero). Kohlberg believed that individuals could only progress through these stages one stage at a time. Kohlberg believed that most moral development occurs through social interaction. Kohlberg's Theory is about how people justify behaviors and his stages are not a method of ranking how moral someone’s behavior is.
Creon, at the beginning of the play, is an individual man that finds himself to be the best king of the world. Creon thinks he is the person to make the decisions of the world. Creon only thinks about himself. At the beginning of the play, Creon states, “Polyneices, I say/ is to have no burial: no man is to touch him or say the least prayer for/ him; he shall lie on the plain, unburied; and the birds and the/ scavenging dogs can do with him whatever they like” (1. 169-173) Creon also says whoever buries Polyneices is to be killed. This statement categorizes Creon in Level 1; stage 1 of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development at the beginning of the play. The statement by Creon shows that he wants obedience from the people of the kingdom. If the people of the kingdom do not want to obey the law of Creon, then the people shall be punished by death or removed from the kingdom.
Creon is a dynamic character throughout the play because of the actions he makes.

Creon changes his morality throughout the play. Creon states “I will go./Bring axes, servants:/ Come with me to the tomb. I buried her, i/ will set her free./ Oh quickly!/ My mind misgive/ the laws of the gods are mighty, and a man must serve them/ to the last day of his life!” (5.874-880). The statement by Creon shows how he begins to care for the life of Antigone and he goes to free her from the cave cell. The statement by Creon categorizes him in Level 3 at stage 5 in Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development. This statement by Creon shows that he has change and looks at the values of different people to make his decisions. Creon listened to Choragos to make his decision into going to get Antigone, setting her free and burying Polyneices. This change for Creon categorizes him as a dynamic character in the play. At the beginning of the play Creon was at stage 2 and towards the end of the play, Creon is at stage 5. Creon has changed throughout the story and moved down stages on Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral

Development.
In conclusion, Creon has developed different types of morality while he was king throughout the play. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development is universal principles that people follow in order to be categorized on Kohlberg’s Theory. Creon was about obedience and punishment at the beginning of the story and towards the end of the story he developed into a person who looks at values of different people before coming up with a decision. Creon at the beginning of the story locked, Antigone up inside a cave cell to die of starvation for burying Polyneices. Later throughout the play, Choragos tells Creon “Go quickly, free Antigone from her vault And build a tomb for the body of Polyneices” (5.867-868) This shows that he made a big mistake for locking up Antigone and he has to let her out. Creon goes to unlock Antigone but finds she killed herself. This changes Creon for the rest of the play.