The Similarities Between Antigone And Creon

“There are many strange and wonderful things, but nothing more strangely wonderful than man” (388-389). The characters of Antigone and Creon are related through blood and yet each of them possess characteristics almost completely opposite from the other. Antigone is characterized as selfless, daring and superstitious while Creon is motivated by logic, reason and his relentless blindness to respect and love. In Antigone, Sophocles uses the characters of Creon and Antigone to illustrate conflicting motivations through Antigone’s belief that burying her brother, Polyneices, will please the gods and Creon’s juxtaposed view that Polyneices’ disgraceful acts have pegged him as a shameful citizen that is not worthy of a proper burial; in this way,

Creon’s character is unraveled to become a tragic hero fueled by his ignorance toward Antigone’s belief.
Antigone’s unique perspective of the Creon’s proclamation concerning her brother shapes her actions as well as separates her from a reality. Creon’s primary proclamation triggered Antigone in a very personal and heartfelt way. One of her brothers would have a proper burial while the other would not because he had been a disgrace. It is clear that Antigone possessed a very passionate and firm belief that her brother, Polyneices, should have a proper burial due to the stark contrast in reaction when compared to her sister, Ismene’s reaction. “Oh poor sister, if that’s what’s happening, what can I say that would be any help to ease the situation or resolve it?” (48-50). Ismene, too, is related through blood to Polyneices and yet her reaction to Creon’s decree is more realistic in the sense that she offers verbal consolation to Antigone, someone that is currently alive, rather than offer an act to change the fact of the matter. Antigone on the other hand finds her motivation in a more discrete, and inanimate way. “Yes. Zeus did not announce those laws to me. And justice living with the gods below sent no such laws for men. I did not think anything which you proclaimed strong enough to let a mortal override the gods and their unwritten and unchanging laws” (508-513). The Greek culture plays a role in Antigone’s motivations due to the aspect of gods, more specifically concerned with what pleases the gods. She believes that because the gods have been in existence, according to Greek culture, forever, their rulings void Creon’s decree. Antigone is saying that Creon’s written law is not enough to make Antigone abandon the duty she feels to both the gods and her brother.
Differing incentives between Antigone and Creon reveal Creon’s characteristics of a tragic hero.

Antigone’s reasoning for wanting to bury her brother Polyneices despite knowing that he acted against the state, is relentless and passionate. First and foremost, she claims that Creon does not possess the power to veto the gods’ everlasting rule over everything. Creon, on the other hand, believes firmly in a structured and consolidated state that respects the law and him as the ruler to advocate the greatest good for his people. “CREON An enemy can never be a friend, not even in death. ANTIGONE But my nature is to love. I cannot hate” (597-598). Creon and Antigone’s fiery opposition is realized in these lines. The two characters are in opposition because Antigone’s motivation for her actions are based on love and loyalty to her brother, while Creon’s motivation, both for the proclamation and for the death sentence of anyone who disobeyed, was based on hatred and loyalty to the state and himself. Love and hatred represent two completely opposite concepts. Furthermore, Creon is compelled to go through with his sentence of death for Antigone to punish her for burying Polyneices. As king, Creon has all the power to change laws or say and do whatever he wants. When Antigone confidently admits that she was the one behind her brother, Polyneices’ burial, Creon feels the need to go through with his punishment in order to obtain respect and essentially, pride in his masculinity. “Well, in this case, if she gets her way and goes unpunished, then she’s the man here, not me” (548-550). His reasoning for punishing Antigone, despite the fact that she is a close relative and his son’s bride, is that if he does not punish her, she will have had power over him and he hates the idea of being inferior to a

woman.
As Antigone and Creon verbalize their conflicting motivations, their actions work to advance the plot by showing how Creon is a tragic hero. When Creon sentences Antigone to her death because of her disobedience to the state, Creon has all the power to change that. However, in order to remain superior to women and to retain respect from the people, he follows through with it. This interaction shows the aspect of being a tragic hero because Creon had free choice to prevent her death and thus his son, Haemon’s death, making his predicted downfall his own fault. This aspect advanced the plot by presenting a conflict both with Haemon due to the fact that Creon was going to kill his bride and an internal conflict in Creon that second guessed his sentence because of possible, negative repercussions.
As Creon and Antigone interact, their conflicting motivations allude to a stark contrast in ideals that further actualizes Creon as a tragic hero and advanced the plot through conflict. Despite the relative blood relation Creon and Antigone possessed, both suffered due to their
differentiating viewpoints and in the end, neither deserved what they got. Man can truly be a complicated thing to understand, as everyone has their own worldview and would perhaps die to defend it.