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How Does Creon Present The Theme Of Arrogance In Antigone

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In Sophocles Antigone Creon’s fatal flaw is his overabundance of arrogance. Over the course of the play Creon’s own pride distances him from his loved ones, his subjects, and ultimately from his own mind. During the play, Sophocles utilizes varied literary techniques such as exposition and dramatic irony to express his own view of mankind. For example, in Antigone, Sophocles expresses the idea that hubris, or excessive pride is the key element in self destruction.
For the duration of the play, Sophocles builds the character of Creon, the tyrannical king of Thebes, who seems to embody this particular flaw. Throughout the course of the play, Creon’s own pride, and self absorbance gradually alienate him those around him. An example of this …show more content…

In this scene, Haemon confronts Creon over his merciless treatment of Antigone and Creon’s reaction is to explode into an ageist themed rant against his own son, in which Creon finally blows up and calls Haemon a “degenerate” for “bandying accusations” (lines 830-831) against him. Not only is Creon calling his own son an inexperienced, inadequate fool, he earlier in the scene describes Antigone as a “worthless woman” and tells Haemon to “show me the man who runs his household well” (lines 725-739). Each of these statements not only denounce a woman’s worth and status in comparison to a man, but also succeed in fluffing Creon’s ego when he follows with “I’ll show you someone fit to rule the state”(line 740), again stating how “qualified” and “adept” a ruler he believes himself to be. Shortly after this discussion, Creon changes Antigone's punishment from public stoning to being suffocated in a tomb. This change hints that Haemon’s words may have affected Creon enough to make him doubt the populaces affection for him. Furthermore, the exchange between Haemon and Creon also serves as a reminder that a ruler should never denounce or be biased against a specific group because it leads to irrational and selfish decision making, that lead to the destabilization of the community as a

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During their conversation about Antigone’s punishment and how the public are reacting to it, he tells Creon “because of who you are, you can't perceive all the things' men say or do” which consequentially not only reveals how narrowminded Creon is by jumping to conclusions, but it also reminds Creon to listen to what people have to say (782-783). This subsequentially contrasts Haemon's logical thinking and open mind with Creon's intolerant thinking highlighting Creon's trait of narrow mindedness by displaying Creon's inability to listen, perceive and acknowledge what people say. In addition, this shows that Creon could be misinterpreting what others say or do, in this case Haemon thinks he does so with Antigone, telling him “Surely she deserves some golden honour,” suggesting to Creon that death is unfair for her punishment (792). Implying that his punishment is unfair again displays that Creon is narrowminded because the fact that he does not want to listen to what anybody says including his son Haemon, is more than enough proof that Creon is narrowminded. Overall, both pieces of evidence exhibit Haemon being a foil to Creon with Haemon being calm and logical vs Creon's narrowminded

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In the short story titled “Antigone,” the author portrays Creon as a tragic hero by displaying flaws in Creon's character shown throughout the story. Creon’s character contains many flaws which lead to many problems. His decisions end up deciding the fates of his son, his wife, and Antigone. Creon finally realizes that what he has done is sinful to the gods. He has put his own pride over the appreciation of the gods.

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Creon’s son Haemon after learning about Antigone’s fate tries to reason with his father as to why he should let her go but every point he makes only causes Antigone more trouble, rather than helping. During Haemons conversation with his father he tries to reason with his father that he is not always right and that he needs to learn to bend his own rules in order for his leadership to work. He tries to convince Creon that “for a man to learn, even a wise man, is nothing shameful, nor to learn to bend or give way”(Sophocles 39). He tries to convince his father that if he needs to learn to bend his rules or his city will snap under their pressure. He is trying to show Creon that by releasing Antigone he is not going to lose control of the city

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She thinks that,”all these men here would praise [her] if were their lips not frozen shut with fear of you” (Antigone 210). She tells him that people only obey him because they are too afraid of Creon’s wrath if they disagree with him, as the case is with Ismene. His son, Haemon, further elaborates on this point by confessing he thinks his father’s,”temper terrifies them - everyone will tell you only what you like to hear,” which further proves that Creon is an unjust and volatile ruler who cannot be depended on to make important judgements or decisions (Antigone 218). Haemon reports to his father that he hears the common citizens whispering,”no woman has ever, so unreasonably died so shameful a death for a generous act,” which reveals that the people believe Antigone is worthy of praise for going out of her way to provide for her family, and that Creon is being illogical in his decision-making in this situation (Antigone

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Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust”(Sophocles 1.5 142-146). Creon’s destruction resulted because of his misdeeds in having too much pride. His pride and his personal instability were the worst combination of possible qualities he could have. Creon’s past sins have built up and eventually burst and gave this man the worst punishment of all the characters in the play. In Antigone by Sophocles, Creon displayed many failing qualities as a king; most notably having displayed a giant ego by not accepting help from others, which warns the audience of the dangers

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“A city which belongs to just one man is no true city.” (lines 838-39) Throughout the play, Antigone, written by Sophocles, the character Haemon constantly tries to persuade his father, Creon, to listen to the people of his city and to become a more humble leader. Haemon’s words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character. Which results in the two characters having continual conflicting motivations.

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In this quote, she is trying to harn Creon that although he thinks very highly of himself, he will never be able to anything to disrupt the gods and their unwritten laws (being that all men deserve burial). Additionally, the word choice and tone used by the characters also differs. When Creon talks he makes it clear that he thinks of himself quite highly and is convinced that he is above everyone else because of his excessive pride and noble stature. This leads to a tone in his speech that is very obnoxious and off-putting. To the contrary, Antigone regards herself quite low and stands for

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Pride can be one of man's strongest qualities. In Sophocles' play, Antigone, the Theme of pride becomes the cause for destruction for both Creon and Antigone in the play.. Creon's Pride blinds him to the injustice he commits against Antigone and the gods. Antigone's pride leaves her no choice but to be killed because of her beliefs. They Both automatically surrender to their own hubris and demonstrate how uncontrolled pride leads to personal downfalls and destruction in Antigone.

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The play, Antigone, is a tragedy written by the Greek poet Sophocles. A common theme among tragedies is that they have a tragic hero, and Antigone is no different. The tragic hero of this poem is Creon, the King of Thebes. Creon is faced with the difficult task of punishing his niece, Antigone. She has broken one of his laws stating that no one is to give proper burial rites to Polyneices, Antigone’s brother, because he tried to overthrow Creon.

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In Sophocles’ play Antigone, Creon, the king of Thebes, best represents a tragic hero. Creon demonstrates goodness in his intentions for Thebes as well as his fragile state due to the fact that he recently lost several family members. Creon, newly named king, finds himself as highest ranking official around, showing superiority. Creon often acts stubborn and prideful, his tragic flaw. And lastly, he must come to terms with the fact that he caused the death of his wife, son, and niece.

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The tragic hero is a character in a book that comes from a noble background that has a tragic flaw which brings the character the greatest suffering which results in their downfall. In “Antigone”, there are two characters who can be considered the tragic hero of the story: Creon and Antigone. Antigone is a brave and fearless women who dies for a noble cause, while Creon is a controlling and powerful king of Thebes. Both Creon and Antigone have qualities to make them the tragic hero, but Creon is the true “tragic hero” because his hamartia causes his downfall. Creon is the tragic hero of “Antigone” because his hubris muddles his judgment and makes him cause his own undoing.

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As demonstrated throughout the Greek tragedy Antigone, Creon’s tragic flaw is hubris which causes his downfall . The downfall begins when Creon refuses to give Polyneices, the son of Oedipus and the brother of Antigone, a burial. Creon believes that Polyneices did not die an honorable death as he broke exile and raised the sword against his home city, Thebes, so in return he will not receive a burial. Creon’s pride takes over and so he believes he is a man not only superior to women , but a king superior to the gods. He claims, Go out of your heads entirely?

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In lines 599 to 601, Creon’s states that, due to his selfishness and stubbornness, he will not allow a woman, that woman being Antigone, to change his mind and defy his judgement. He declares that, if Antigone chooses to not change her ways, she will be killed, as to not waver from his own decree. Antigone therefore dies as a result of Creon’s insufferable and ignorant ruling, causing her to suffer at Creon’s hand. Creon’s ruling for the murder of Antigone also causes Haemon to suffer. Creon finds Haemon, in his last moments, mourning the loss of Antigone, “now among the dead, his father’s work,” as described by the messenger in line 1364.

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From world wars to present day national elections, pride can always be connected to many appalling, life-changing issues. Pride has always either been negative or positive, and it has been around forever. In the epic play Antigone, Sophocles demonstrates how Creon’s hubris allows for the downfall of himself and the killing of his family. Creon’s fatal flaw is his hubris. Creon not only loses his family, he also loses the trust of his people.

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Creon was completely blinded by his pride and power that he lost those closest to him. Starting with his son... “Then she’ll die-- and in her death kill someone else. ”(Haemon; line 859). Creon thinks that his son is threatening him, and doesn’t pay attention to what his son is feeling towards Antigone.

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