Antigone Paper
“The inflexible heart breaks first, the toughest iron cracks first, the wildest horses bend their necks at the pull of the smallest curb” (2.77-79). Though pride can be a good thing, once pride overrides reason it can be dangerous, it can destroy those who are not willing to listen. Pride can take over the noblest humans. There is nothing wrong with having pride in what you do or who you are; pride is what pushes everyone forward when they are down and feel like giving up. In Antigone pride is a constant characteristic; whether it comes from the king's unreasonable behavior or the way men think of women.
Men have a lot of pride in Antigone, they believe that women are secondary in society. With men talking down to women; for example, Creon says to Antigone “Pride? In a slave?...Who is the man here…” (2.79-82); evidently, women will eventually believe they were less than men. Ismene is an example of this when she says to Antigone “We are only women; we cannot fight with men…” (Prologue.46-47). Men also believed that women cannot be brave or courageous; this is shown when Creon says to guards “For they are but women, and even brave men
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This leads not only to his own suffering, but to his families as well. Creon believed that “the state is the King” (3.107), therefore the state must listen to only the king and obey him. This later leads to Antigone killing herself because she was locked away. Next Haimon did suicide because Antigone, his bride, was dead. Last, the queen, Eurydice, also did suicide while she was filled with sorrow for her son her son was dead. Creon carries the sorrow of their deaths, he says, “... and more than I can bear! O my wife, my son” (5.110-111). Creon’s son and wife are dead, and he is the cause of their deaths; this is his punishment for being unreasonable and