Character Analysis

Sophocles' classical "Antigone" tells the story of Antigone and her battle of her religious values against Creon, the ruler of Thebes, and the civil law there. Antigone decides that religious values are more important than the civil laws of Thebes. Creon, being the firm ruler he is, enforces the law despite it conflicting with religious laws. This leads to a chain of terrible things happening to the Creon. He is the arrogant, demanding ruler of Thebes whose stubbornness eventually leads to his doom.

The cruelty and stubbornness in Creon's personality blend together to create an air of arrogance around him. When Creon spoke to the guard after finding out Polynices' body had been buried, he stated that the guard "annoyed [him]" just by asking a question and that they would all be "hanged alive" unless they found who committed the crime. Being annoyed from a simple question shows arrogance because Creon shows that he feels he is too good to be bothered by questions from someone as lowly as a guard. Threatening to hang all the guards because they can't solve a small crime is a very cruel thing to do as well. When speaking to Antigone, Creon declared that "no woman will rule while [he] lived", and he sarcastically asked Haemon if  "the city will tell [him] how rule it". His stubbornness is shown in the way that he refuses to let Antigone simply ignore the very controversial law without being punished. Again, his arrogance and stubbornness is shown because he refuses to let anyone tell him what to do or give him advice.

Creon's punishing of Antigone and his refusal to take advice make him a stock character as well as the main antagonist, but he is also a dynamic character. When Haemon confronted him, he ask if he "should rule this land for myself or for others", and he also told Antigone that she "[would] not escape the worst fate". Creon reveals that he is a typical, self-exalted leader that thinks very highly of himself. He also pitted himself directly against Antigone, making him the antagonist. After talking to Tiresias, Creon exclaims that he will "go and release" Antigone to keep any evils from falling on him. In the beginning, he refused to budge on his position against Antigone. At the end, he has a change of heart because he learns that horrible things will happen if she is not released.

The conflict in "Antigone" is man vs man, but in a way it can also be considered a man vs himself conflict as well. Antigone feels "no pain” at Creon's punishment, and Creon wants "nothing more" than "killing [Antigone]". Antigone is the criminal and Creon is the enforcer. Obviously, these two are going head to head with one another. However, Creon also battles himself and his "mistakes from thoughtless thoughts". His actions got the people he loved the most killed, destroying his life. He ends up having to battle himself and the consequences of his decision to kill Antigone.

This great leader of Thebes was too proud. His cruelty and arrogance towards Antigone and others around him brought about his own demise. He changed at the end in hopes of fixing all the wrong that had come down on him, but by then, it was far too late for Creon to do anything about what had befallen him.