Examples Of Stubbornness In Antigone

In the tragic story of Antigone, the characters demonstrate how determination is not always a virtue. Kreon, the king of Thebes, buries one out of two of Antigone’s brothers. Antigone rebels and decides to bury the body of the second brother. Antigone is caught and brought before the king. She admits to burying the body and believes that what she did was right. Both Kreon and Antigone are stuck in their ways and refuse to listen to each other’s arguments. These disagreements reach their climax when several characters kill themselves because of Kreon’s stubbornness. Throughout this play, obstinacy leads several characters to their ruin through their single-mindedness and their lack of respect for the opinions of others.
Antigone demonstrates her own stubbornness when she explains to Ismene

One scene where he shows his stubborn streak is during his conversation with his son, Haimon. While Haimon politely argues for the life of Antigone, Kreon dismisses Haimon’s ideas and immediately assumes that Haimon is “threatening” (51) him. This example shows the reader how quickly Kreon jumps to a conclusion. Throughout the exchange, he reiterates with a childish passion that Haimon will “never marry Antigone” (51). The audience can see that Kreon’s stubbornness stems from an immature impulse. Haimon appears to be the fatherly figure during this argument while Kreon seems ornery and adolescent. Kreon also shows his unreasonable views while he speaks to the prophet, Teiresias. Teiresias tells Kreon to bury the body of Polyneices and to let Antigone out of the tomb. Kreon fires back, saying “No, not if the eagles rip him for food, not if they carry him to the throne of Zeus! I’m not even afraid of that” (61). He would readily become a martyr and refuses to look at any other points of view. This demonstrates his inability to see reason. As was Antigone, Kreon is dedicated to the belief that he is