Creon Sacrifice

Why does death tend to gravitate around Creon? What is it that attracts so much death to the life of Creon? In the play Antigone Sophocles presents Creon as a stubborn, overruling, power craving man. Creon is the King of Thebes, and is presented as the Tragic Hero. Although he may be the Tragic Hero, he can also be considered the antagonist. By the end of the play, almost all of Creon’s family dies and not just by coincidence. People close to Creon tend to meet their demise because of his stubbornness and desire for social and political order. In the play Antigone, Creon’s first flaw is his yearning for order of every kind. For example, when he initially greets the chorus and Choragos, his first decree is, “Polyneices, I say, is to have no burial” (692). The fact that this law is so outrageously unnecessary shows that Creon would rather defy the laws …show more content…
For example, when Haimon was giving him advice and telling him not to kill Anitgone and the Choragos agreeing, Creon responded, “You consider it right or a man of my years and experience to go to school to a boy?” (708). This displays that even though he is getting good advice from multiple people around him, he still refuses to listen. In addition, it shows he refuses to accept help from anyone he feels authority over, and being the king he feels authority over just about everyone. Another example of his obstinacy is when he is advised by Teiresias, the infallible blind prophet, that if he kills Antigone the gods will be angry, however Creon remains hardheaded and responds, “It seems that prophets have made their especial province” (716). This means he believed Teiresias must have taken a bribe to tell him that prophecy. Secondly, it reveals that even after being warned the same thing by many others he refuses to listen to the voice of reason. In conclusion, Creon does not realize his tragic flaw of stubbornness until it is too