Haemon's Roles In The Play Antigone

In a Historical context the play Antigone was always seen as a form of propaganda against Thebes’s monarchy. The Athenians at the time were often encouraged to demonstrate against Theban culture in term of traditions, arts and religious beliefs [1]. On one hand Sophocles’ plays can be described as a cultural protests against the tyranny of the Theban government of the time; And on another they can be considered as Sophocles weapons of choice as a deviation from the Theban style of writing and creating a new identity to the Athenian plays .He achieves this by radically changing the style of language, the role of the chorus and status of genders generally seen in the Greek plays of the time. An example of how Sophocles changed the character

In the course of the play Haemon presents himself as a defender of Antigone 's actions and sense of morality which involves her determination to bury her deceased brother, Polyneices who has been sentenced as a traitor by Creon. The father and son part in anger, as he demands his father to make the right judgment for Theban society by granting Antigone’s request, while his father follows his obstinate path of aggression. Haemon’s actions eventually lead him to commit suicide due to his desperate situation, this eventually leads to the death of his mother when she also takes her own life. The death of his family ultimately lead to Creon 's insanity at the play 's climax.[1]
Haemon 's entrance in Antigone takes place right after he was informed of father’s verdict on Antigone’s life. He decides to reason with the king by explaining the sentiments of Theban people, while secretly attempting to plea for Antigone 's life. The conversation quickly changes into a verbal battle between the king and the prince at which, Haemon declares that he will take his own

Sophocles gives purpose to Haemons’s suicide by demonstrating that its cause was not only his love but also to expose his father’s illogical and prideful actions. He states “Then she’ll die—and in her death kill someone else.” after Creon refuses to change his mind because of his pride. He states this in love because he doesn 't want to live without her so he 'll die with her. The character attempts to convey his emotional frustration as the final possible way of getting his father 's attention on this subject. His father responds by saying “are you so insolent you threaten me?” he answers “where’s the threat in challenging a bad decree”. It 's like saying whether the hurt in dying for something worthy? In this he says death isn 't so bad when it 's for a just reason. Playwrights often use stereotypes, stock characters, and mainly what others say about a character to explain what he or she is like but in this case we have a character that serves his purpose as secondary character but also has a significant impact on the viewpoints of other characters.
In conclusion the Sophocles uses the character of Haemon as “pseudo-protagonist” with very complex moral values and inner conflicts regarding his loyalty to his family or the woman that he loves this was shown through the authors use of language