Importance Of Creon In Antigone

How important are the characters other than Antigone and Creon in Sophocles' Antigone?

Characters other than Antigone and Creon could be considered as minor due to their limited time on stage, throughout the play. However, their significance cannot be underestimated. Throughout Sophocles’ Antigone, written in 441 B.C. set in Thebes, characters other than Antigone and Creon hold a vital role as they help to emphasise Antigone’s and Creon’s personalities and alike irrational minds. They are an essential part of the play as they contribute to and influence Antigone’s and Creon’s decisions. Some characters even help highlight the customs of the ancient world. For this reason and many more characters other than Antigone and Creon have a crucial

She only speaks for a few lines but her presence has a large impact. Eurydice’s silence, when she finds that Haemon is dead, influences the climax of the play. Eurydice’s minor role has a lasting impact and also creates suspense as the audience are left hanging, wondering how the mother would react. She is still mourning for her first son, Megareus. She heard “a voice filled with sorrow” which she can instantly recognise as the sound of grieving, since she is familiar with sorrow. She has the ability to sense family sorrow and this refers back to the suicide of her first son. The death of Megareus has a drastic effect on her as the thought of another dreadful news awaiting her makes her fall back “terrified” as “everything went black”. Another reason for Eurydice’s presence in Antigone is that she helps emphasis the hatred Creon’s family is feeling. Similar to Haemon, the audience is told that Eurydice during her “dying breaths she called down torments on your head” referring to Creon. Eurydice clearly blames Creon for the death of both her son and sees no value in living. This helps shows the severity of the outcomes of Creon’s hasty decisions. Eurydice is unfortunate as she is not deserving of the fate she is given, the tone of her words is very upsetting as she says “sorrow and I are hardly strangers”. This shows the love she had for her children and exaggerates Eurydice’s grief which makes me feel pity for

The chorus have a significant role. The chorus presence is felt throughout the play as they never leave the stage. The chorus includes “the older citizens” since they are older they are thought to be wiser and more sensible which makes them crucial. The chorus reflect on the action in Antigone which guides the audiences’ response. Their view is valued as they portray the citizens of Thebes so can also indicate the views of the citizens of Thebes. They are structurally important as they break up each episode and divide the drama so that the audience is given time to understand and process the events of the play. As each character enters the stage, it is the chorus’ role to introduce them to clear any uncertainty in the audience for example in the line “I see Antigone make her way to the bridal vault” , in this particular phrase the chorus comments on Antigone’s path to her death. The chorus describe her death bead as her bridal vault. This comment brings to alight that Antigone is yet to be married, alike all other women her age she would have dreamed of getting married and having a family. She is being led to her death and still has not fulfilled any of her wishes, which emphasises the harsh consequence she has to face due to her irrational actions as the beginning of the play. In my opinion, Antigone should receive sympathy as she is young and inexperienced yet she is going to