The Struggle For Pride In Sophocles Antigone

Thesis: Sophocles, in Antigone says, if we cannot control our fate we should live with the wisdom to focus on bettering ourselves as individuals, in order to obtain happiness no matter the unpredictable circumstances; by willing to yield to the helpful opinions of others, and putting our pride aside. Once someone begins to carry themselves with pride, it begins to lay a ground of irrationalism and arrogance in the way one thinks and processes, causing people to get hurt. Creon in the beginning of the play carries himself in a high and mighty manner in order to show his kingdom that he’s a fit ruler. This leads him to become blinded to the reason of others and causes him to make irrational decisions. Creon continues to ruin himself and those

The only reason Creon began to change his ways were because of the advice he was being given. He was told by his son Haimon, “never yield to [your own] reason!” (Scene 3 l.79). Since Creon believes that his reason is the only correct one and that he doesn’t need to yield to anyone’s ideas, Haimon tries to explain to him. But he doesn’t take the word of his son and ends up jeopardizing everyone's life. Creon finally begins to take diligence to the words of Teiresias, the gods’ prophet, due to the fact that he is warned that the he will be punished. Teiresias tells him, “Think:... a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil” (scene 5 ll. 34-35). Giving into the prophet's words, Creon knows that he must listen to others’ voice of reasoning or he will be damned. He comprehends that he “should be able to yield for your [his] own good” (l. 40). At first he couldn’t care less of the gods punishing him, but Teiresias installed the appropriate amount of fear that Creon needed to begin yielding to his words. This was important because before Creon firmly stated, “ I would not yield...no man can defile the gods” (ll. 47-48). Once Creon began to yield for his own good, he started to become the better man he had to

To become a better person is to work on changing our unnecessary actions or thoughts and replacing them with beneficial ones. Choragus tells Creon, “You will do well to listen to him...if what he says is sensible” (scene 3 ll. 92-93 emphasis added). Instead of thinking unreasonably to what he is told, Choragus tells him that it’d be wise to think sensibly so that he could make a smart decision. This advice that is given to him is due to a conversation Creon is having with his son that is trying to help him become a better person too. “Do not believe that you [Creon] alone can be right…a man like that, when you know him, turns out empty” (ll. 565-569). Haimon tells his father that he will soon turn into emptiness if he doesn’t start working on himself and start listening to others. The next major conversation on bettering himself is with Teiresias and he tells him that he needs to “control a wiser tongue in a better head” (scene 5 l. 87). Teiresias is telling Creon that he needs to think more intelligently in order to speak sensibly with reasonable purpose to better himself. He starts to get the hang of becoming a better individual and is ready to fix his mistake. Choragus exclaims, “Creon, yes!...cancel the folly of stubborn men” (ll. 98-99). By sticking to his improvements and changing, Choragus encourages him to proceed with mending his actions. By working on himself and fixing