Character Analysis of Creon Antigone, by Sophocles

In Antigone, written by Sophocles, Creon dominates the play with his powerful yet arrogant personality. Even though Antigone is the name of this play, Creon, the ruling king of Thebes with a no turning back attitude, proves to be the main character. Creon rules over everyone but that does not stop the intelligent Antigone from protecting her brothers dead body. She gets caught in this illegal act by the very dynamic character of Creon. There are endless personality traits to describe Creon, but certain traits that pop out are his strength/power and his stubbornness.

Who is the man here, she or I if this crime goes unpunished?(Scene 2, lines 82,83). This quote is a simple example of how stubborn a king with that much pride can act toward his own family. We then learn that no matter how wrong he is in his decisions, he still sticks with what he believes to be the right punishment to Antigone. The other proving quote in Scene 3 (line 26) is when Creon states, Do you want me to show myself before the people? Or to break my sworn word? No, and I will not. Creon slowly starts to realize the right thing to do in his situation but something inside of him prevents him from saving Antigone. It could quite possibly be him knowing his own strength and power compared to everyone else.

His strength plays a key role in the problems that occurred. Antigone sees right through this personality trait of his. Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way.(Prologue, line 35) Also,in Scene 1 line 118 Creon says,Theres nothing in this world that is more demoralizing than money. Creon really means it when he says this. He thinks that everything in the world has a price. His strength can be translated as a waste cause he doesnt use his powers for the better of the city of Thebes. His power completely forces him to believe that no one is above him. That is where the conflict began for Antigone and Polyneices.

There was not much motivation for his actions besides his pride, which is apparently the cause of all their troubles. If Creon would have realized early on that the right thing to do is more important then power and pride, Antigone would not have of been dead. In Scene 2, (line 75,76) Choragus is right on when he says, Like father, like daughter both headstrong, deaf to reason. Creon believes that his word over all should be the final say. But when Antigone, a female at that, defies him, he flips out and sentences her to rot in a prison cell. In his mind, he was rational with the choices he made.

When it comes down to it, Creon was just trying to represent the position of the king. Unfortunately, his greed overcame his responsibility of the throne. His power against everyone else in Thebes proved to be significant when he sentenced Antigone. After the events that happened, he was still so stubborn to turn back. At the very end of this play, Creon finally realized his wrong doings and he said, I was the fool, not you. And you died for me.(Scene 5, line 92) Both his stubbornness and his power broke down and we saw the real Creon. Characters like this in Greek literature are important because the form the plot, the conflict, and the resolution. Without the Creons in plays, there would not be any tragedy or any thing to resolve at the end.