Haemon’s suicide comes from his stubborn integrity and loyalty to his fiance, Antigone, when he stabs himself upon witnessing Antigone’s limp frame hanging from the grim snake, revealing that, unwavering loyalty is a quality that disallows one to think straight. When Creon retorts, questioning Haemon’s respect toward his executive authority, Haemon answers, “What sort of respect tramples on all that is holy?” (146). This represents Haemon’s disagreement with Creon’s treatment toward Antigone because he thinks that justice is decided by the gods in heaven, not Creon. The prince believes that Creon is threatening his title as king with tyranny and declares that his father is acting childishly and immaturely, sentencing Antigone to death for “burying a brother.” In his opinion, the gods are always held higher than any mortal, which means that the law of heaven rules ultimately over the human law, which is Creon’s order. …show more content…
Haemon’s integrity steers him away from following Creon’s order, but his stubbornness made him succumb to his anguish over Antigone’s death, because using death to present a point is mortally excessive. A while after Haemon and Creon’s dispute, the Messenger announces that, “Haemon is dead, / Slain by his own” (157). Aside from the obvious motivation that drives him to commit suicide, which is his desperate love for Antigone, Haemon realizes that his father has come too far to turn back. Haemon has attempted to suggest that as long as Creon offers wisdom, he will have his son’s obedience, but now that a life has lost because of his father, he believes that one of them has to carry the weight of that