Antigone Sophocles, an Athenian Politician and Dramatist,

Antigone

Sophocles, an Athenian politician and dramatist, wrote Antigone and Oedipus the King, two famous works, known for the connection of tragedy between generations of the characters. Indeed, Antigone's fate is shaped not only through her own actions, but through Oedipus' sin as well. Any analysis of Antigone is therefore incomplete without first taking into account its linkages to Oedipus.

Both Antigone and Oedipus have the same theme of the hubris or arrogance of even the most powerful of men (Oedipus and Creon) ultimately having to bow down before 'the supreme will and power of the Gods', as exemplified in "But if any man comes striding, high and mighty, in all he says and does, no fear of justice, no reverence for the temples of the gods -- let a rough doom tear him down, repay his pride, breakneck, ruinous pride!" (Chorus: Oedipus) and again in Antigone:"Isn't a man's right to burial decreed by divine justice? I don't consider your pronouncements so important that they can just...overrule the unwritten laws of heaven."

The common theme gets magnified since Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Creon, his brother-in-law and the sense of continued tragedy. "For once a family is cursed by God, disasters come like earthquake tremors, worse with each succeeding generation"(Chorus: Antigone.)

In both plays, Sophocles uses the self-realizations of their characters to underscore the themes of their tragedies. Both Oedipus and Creon move from being prideful, heroic kings to self-realization through tragic fate that humbles them in the end.

In Antigone, the virtues in Creon's character are established upfront at the beginning of the play. He is shown as a valiant warrior, a patriot and loyalist to his State, who ascends the throne not by design but by an accident of fate after the deaths of Oedipus' sons in battle.

It is perhaps Creon's very virtues and strong sense of right vs. wrong that is the cause of his willfulness in insisting that Polynices not be given a proper burial. Creon's strong convictions and contempt for lesser mortals come through very clearly when he says, "Such the spirit of my dealing; and never, by deed of mine, shall the wicked stand in honour before the just; but whoso hath good will to Thebes, he shall be honoured of me, in his life and in his death."

It is the same arrogance that leads him into inviting the wrath of the Gods by going against his own religion which decreed that when a corpse was left uncovered to be eaten by birds and animals, the Gods got insulted and angry. His hubris is left unshaken even after the discovery of Polynices burial and the speculation by one of the Leaders that perhaps the burial was the work of the Gods.

Creon's pride and willfulness is reflected in the vehemence of his response to the Leader "... For thou sayest what is not to be borne, in saying that the gods have care for this corpse. Was it for high reward of trusty service that they sought to hide his nakedness, who came to burn their pillared shrines and sacred treasures, to burn their land, and scatter its laws to the winds? Or dost thou behold the gods honouring the wicked? It cannot be. No!"

He continues, unshaken and unwavering, even when faced with the fact that the culprit was none other than Antigone, his son's fiance and a heated confrontation with his son ("Don't think you have a complete monopoly of the truth.") Even Haemon's threat to commit suicide fails to move him from his decision to bury Antigone alive as retribution for her crime.

It is not until Teiresias' angry warning ("... ere one begotten of thine own loins shall have been given by thee, a corpse for corpses"), that we see realization dawn on Creon.