Creon Antigone Analysis

After Creon lost both of his nephews he made a decree banning the burial of one of them. After his niece buried her brother, Creon was in a difficult position in which he had to decide if he was going to continue to be consistent with his law and punish his niece, or to go against his morals and change his decree. Creon desires to be a sovereign king, therefore, he chooses to punish his niece after she broke the law by going against the decree he made. Sophocles portrays Antigone as the protagonist, and Creon as the protagonist, but after a closer look, it becomes evident that Creon was trying to run his kingdom in a way that his subjects would respect him, rather than in a way that favours his family members.
When Creon first made the law banning the burial of his nephew Polyneices, he had good intentions to maintain his position as the king, “I claim and hold the throne and
sovereignty” (130). When he made the law he knew that he was going to have to be true to his word if he wanted to set a good example for his people. He said “Farewell to friendship, if she suffers wreck. Syc is the policy by which I seek to serve the commons and conformably I have proclaimed an edict as concerns the sons of Oedipus” (130).Being the king must be a challenging task, and this is why Creon evidently had a lot of internal conflict when he was trying to determine how to run his kingdom in a way that was honouring toward his subjects. In a conversation between Creon and Haemon, Creon said “Am I to rule for others, or myself?” (147), he goes on to say, “The State is his who rules it, so ‘tis held” (147), and later on in the conversation he says, “And am I wrong, if I maintain my rights?” (147). It is evident that Creon is trying to be true to his word. Creon may have been in the wrong for making a law banning his nephew’s death, but once he made the law he felt that it was his moral obligation to keep his decree. This should be considered to be a very respectable characteristic for a powerful leader to have. He was not going to let his family life get in the way of being a just ruler.
The law originally stated that “the penalty is death” (131), if someone were to break his law. When he heard that someone broke his law he was livid; he said,
“Yea, as I still revere the dread of Zeus, by Zeus I swear, except ye find and bring before my presence here the very man who carried out this lawless burial, death for your punishment shall not suffice. Hanged on a cross, alive ye first shall make confession of this outrage” (133).
When Antigone enters it is evident that Creon faces a large conflict, of whether or not he shall kill her.
He asks her more than one if she broke the law, and if she knew that she was breaking the law by doing so (138). Each time Antigone says that she is guilty and that she knew it was against the law. Creon gave her a chance to lie and say that it was not her but she does not deny her actions. This means that Creon must punish her for her actions. Instead of the original punishment, which was death, Creon order Antigone to be placed in a cave. He says, “Leave her alone at liberty to die, or, if she choose, to live in solitude, the tomb her dwelling” (152). This is extremely merciful for Creon to do. Instead of automatically giving her the death penalty, he has given her an opportunity to continue living. If Creon was the cold, heartless, antagonist that many people try to label him as then he would have hung Antigone on a cross rather than isolating her from the rest of the people. He had to punish her somehow, because she was guilty; therefore, he punished her as lovingly as he
could. A modern-day analogy for Creon’s decree could be when a parent tells their child “no”. For example, if a parent says no after their child has asked to watch a movie. The parent cannot say yes if the child asks again because then the child will know that the parent never stays true to what they said, but rather they have to continue saying no to prove that they are in authority. Even if the parent realizes that they did not have a good reason to say no to the movie in the first place. It is necessary for the parent to maintain their authority and continue saying no. This is similar to Creon’s position; he had to stay true to what he said. His flaw was that he made the decree in the first place and that he was overly confident in his decision of making this decree and that he could not even consider the idea that it may be wrong. Had he respected both of his nephews, then he would never have had any issues, but he was confident his decree was the right choice. When he is conversing with Theiresias he seems oblivious to the fact that he did anything wrong (155). It is not until a little later in the play when he is conversing with the Chorus that he realizes that his decree was a mistake. After Creon discovers that Antigone, Haemon, and his wife are all dead he says, “I am the guilty cause. I did the deed, thy murderer. Yea, I guilty plead” (165). It is at this point in the play that the audience may feel pity towards Creon. Throughout the entire play he has been trying his best to successfully run a kingdom, and then in the end he loses everyone close to him. Sophocles wrote Antigone by creating Antigone as the protagonist of the story, and Creon as the antagonist. As the play progresses it becomes evident that Creon may have made a mistake in making his decree, but it is admirable that he stays true to his word. He is trying to be a fair and just king, and in the end he loses his family. Antigone should have asked her uncle to reconsider the decree, rather than intentionally breaking the law, while being fully aware of the punishment. Antigone put her uncle in a difficult positon, and he did the best that he could to maintain his morals, and in the end, he lost everything.