Creon's Moral Message In Sophocles Antigone

It’s been proven ever since the dawn of time that humans will always return to similar stories, with similar morals and messages. Look at all the versions of the same fairy tale cropping up millions of miles apart. Cinderella has appeared in Europe and in East Asia, despite the fact the two cultures had not mingled before then. The stories of dragons and sea creatures, of Gods and deities. The Greeks, especially, loved to tell morals and messages through story. In the play “Antigone,” Sophocles uses the medium of storytelling to deliver his moral message through the tale of a stubborn Antigone and a prideful king, Creon.. One message he delivers through a conversation between Creon and his son, Haimon. To convince his father to not punish Antigone,

In his attempt to persuade his father not to carry out Antigone’s punishment, he appeals to his father’s reason. After Creon finishes ranting about Antigone and the danger of women and lust, Haimon takes the chance to voice his own opinion. He opens his speech with “You are not in a position to know everything/That people say or do, or what they feel:/Your temper terrifies them--everyone/Will tell you only what you like to hear” (Scene 3 lines 57-60). He establishes that Creon is unable to properly understand the wants and wills of the people he is ruling over, and that Creon is in an echo chamber of people who will agree with him and support him, no matter what they actually think. He then says, “They [Thebe’s citizens] say no woman has ever, so unreasonably,/ Died so shameful a death for a generous act:/….’Death?--she should have all

Haimon’s argument is well-structured and thought out. Its heavy use of logic and reason gives it stronger weight towards the audience than Creon’s raving does. Creon’s speech relies heavily on pathos, on appeal to emotion and ideals such as son’s should be subordinate to their fathers and constant misogynistic comments about Antigone and women in general. Compared to that, Haimon’s argument is heavy on appeals to reason. Even his metaphor with a trees’ main sway is its reasonable qualities. Sophocles wrote their speeches to contrast each other, but more importantly, to get the audience to be more swayed by Haimon’s argument than Creon’s. Haimon’s argument, which is driven entirely on the idea of the importance of listening to other people and taking their advice. Even the Choragos, leader of the Chorus whose one of many roles is to affirm the outlook of society, says, “And you, Haimon,/Must listen to your father. Both speak well” (Scene 3 lines 92-94). Sophocles, in writing this, was attempting to send a message on the importance of listening to others. However, in the end, Creon’s pride prevents him from listening both to his son and to the Choragos. Creon’s hubris is what leads to him ignoring reason. Hubris, which by the Greeeks, was considered a great sin. Sophocles uses Creon’s hubris to send the message that being prideful and having hubris will