Does the Outcome of the Antigone Suggest That Creon Was Wrong from the Start?

Sophocles' Antigone is, at its simplest, a tragedy of conflict and misunderstandings. In the play, the laws of the gods are set up against the laws of man, and the two appear irreconcilable as the values are upheld by equally opposing characters, Creon and Antigone respectively. Indeed, Wilkins and Macleod decide that in Antigone `not only is there conflict, there is also a refusal even to recognise the other's point of view' (23). Thus Chorus significantly warn against the pursuit of extremes and sing about the need for men to reconcile human and divine law:

When he weaves in

the laws of the land, and the justice of the gods

that binds his oaths together

he and his city rise high (409-12)

In this essay I intend to show how Creon systematically chose to exalt state law over divine law and how the end of the play - as Creon loses his son, wife, niece and status - tragically demonstrates the severity of his mistake. I will discuss how far Creon and his dogmatic beliefs heap tragedy on his head, whether he was correct in tenaciously pursuing those beliefs, and whether he can be blamed for demanding unquestioned obedience to the state laws. I also intend discuss the role which other characters - specifically Antigone - played in contributing to the tragedy at the end of Antigone.

There is a strong case to be put forward for Creon's personal responsibility for his tragedy at the end of Antigone. Even though the Chorus are hopeful about their new leader - `Creon, the new man for the new day' (line 174) - the first thing that the audience hear about Creon is the `martial law' (line 37) which he has imposed on the city of Thebes (we learn this indirectly from Antigone). He also sent a proclamation to forbid th...

... middle of paper ...

...les does show his audience that Creon's (and Antigone's) real crime was not to disobey (or obey) the gods' laws, but to prove himself as a dogmatic and inflexible character, whose refusal to compromise tragically led to the loss of those closest to him.

Works Cited

Aristotle. Poetics, edi. Stephen Halliwell. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998

Foley, Helene. Antigone as Moral Agent in Tragedy and the Tragic, edi. M. S. Silk. Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1996.

Segal, Charles. Sophocles' Tragic World. London: Harvard University Press, 1995

Sophocles. Antigone in The Three Theban Plays, trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin,

1984

Thucydidies. History of the Peloponnesian War: Book II, edi P. J. Rhodes. Warminster: Aris

& Philips, 1988.

Wilkins, John. Sophocles' Antigone and Oedipus The King. London: Bristol Classical Press,

1987