Theme Of Pride In Antigone

Pride is defined in various ways. Depending on its cultural context, pride can be referred to a company of lions, the best of a group, or even a body decoration (“Pride”). However, people oftentimes think of pride as being “a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity” (“Pride”). When used according to this definition, pride either has a negative or positive connotation, meaning it can be detrimental to oneself or beneficial to a person. A negative connotation of pride is best revealed in Antigone, a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in 441 BC. This play chronicles a constant conflict regarding Antigone and Creon’s disagreeing reverence for Polynices’s dead body. Exhibiting an unrestrained level of pride, or hubris, leads to one’s hamartia,

This concept of defiance is best illustrated in Antigone when Antigone views Creon’s edict with odium. Although Creon exercises omnipotent authority as the king of Thebes, Antigone defies him with hubris by disobeying Creon’s mandate to ban Polynices’s burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon’s law, and she alternatively decides to bury Polynices herself. This act of defiance causes Creon to think that Antigone is “guilty of double insolence...Breaking the given laws and boasting it...Who is the man here, she or I, if this crime goes unpunished” (Sophocles 16). This quotation exemplifies Antigone’s pride because she believes she exceeds Creon’s power, and thus she is superior enough to disobey Creon’s orders. Antigone unapologetically boasts about her insubordination to Creon, as she openly admits that she committed this infraction. Even though this event is not seen to be a significant event in this play, Antigone’s pride resulting from Polyneices’s burial marks the beginning of a domino effect: an increasing conflict between Antigone and Creon which causes the gods to be angered, Creon’s family to fall apart, and the mass corruption of the city of Thebes. Collectively, these effects characterize Creon’s and Antigone’s downfall. Despite Antigone knowing the severity of her defiant actions, she states that “Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way”

Pride-induced arrogance is beneficial when utilized at a small extreme, but a considerable amount of arrogance can lead to one’s ruin. Such idea is prevalent in Creon’s ruling of Thebes. While Creon believes he holds almighty power over the citizens, he thinks, “As long as I am King, no traitor is going to be honored with the loyal man. But whoever shows by word and deed that he is on the side of the State-he shall have my respect while he is living and my reverence when he is dead" (Sophocles 6). In this quotation, Creon orders citizens to respect his ruling by instilling fear to them. In addition, Creon states, “I now possess the throne and all its powers...these are my principles, at any rate, and that is why I made the following decision concerning the sons of Oedipus” (Sophocles 6). Both of these quotations display Creon’s arrogance stemming from pride because he deems that no one should resist against his orders. However, as stated earlier, his arrogance and pride become excessive, to an extent that his authority overrides his moral duties as a leader. In other words, his pride leads to his downfall that he cannot control because by the time he realizes his mistake about Polynices’s burial, it is too late to change. Arrogance resulting from pride is optimal when moderately monitored, but too much has negative