In Sophocles’ Theban play Antigone, the titular character defies the orders of her king in order to permit an honorable burial for her brother, who had just rebelled against the state of Greece. By showing the flaws of the state, Antigone is successful in her suicide; Antigone’s steadfast dedication to the individual and the family unit (supported by the gods) is a harsh critique of the cold-hearted nature of the state, as well as the corrupting nature of power. While Antigone knows systemic oppression as a woman, she knows she must fight for what she feels is right; Creon is blind to what he is doing because of his lust for power as head of the state. In this play, and the actions of Antigone, Sophocles shows the effect of state authority over the individual and the family – Sophocles’ title character is a strong woman who chooses the latter over the former.
Antigone’s strength of character is a fundamental component of the play, and very progressive given women’s place in society during ancient Greece. Other characters, including King Creon, note her sense of resolve and commitment, though often in a negative way, noting her inconvenience: “the maid shows herself passionate child of passionate sire, and knows not how to bend before troubles” (Antigone). Perhaps one of the most important things about Antigone as a character is her consistent and unswaying sense of ethics; she does not go through an evolution in her character or throughline, being utterly convinced of the rightness of her actions until the very end. When Creon refuses to give Antigone’s brother’s body over to her, she refuses to accept that outcome: "He has no right to keep me from my own” (Antigone, line 48). In this respect, Sophocles places a higher respect for the law of the gods (which places family above all) than a respect for the law of man. Antigone manages to fulfill the wishes of the gods, and is rewarded for it, despite having to defy the worldly decrees of Creon. In this way, her eventual death is justified and celebrated as a worthy one.
As Antigone is an unmoving moral center in the play, it is King Creon who goes through the most change as a result of experiencing Antigone’s sacrifice. In the beginning, Creon is stubborn and hungry for power, placing the laws of the state above all (since he is the one who enforces and writes them). His arrogance and unwarranted belief in his own rightness is known as hubris, and is his tragic flaw. Creon’s perspective is very self-centered and misogynistic – much of his distaste for Antigone and inability to work with her comes from viewing her gender in a negative light: “Better to fall from power, if fall we must, at the hands of a man—never be rated inferior to a woman, never” (Antigone, lines 759-761). Sophocles, in this depiction of Creon, wishes to show the ugliness of men who achieve total power: “No man can be fully known, in soul and spirit and mind, until he hath been seen versed in rule and law-giving” (Antigone, line 278). With his unwavering dedication to the law and his own sense of authority, Creon is shown to have the same weakness we can expect of any man – the need to be in control of the world and everyone around them.
Over the course of the play, however, Creon is proven to be entirely wrong, primarily through Antigone’s dedication and her worthy sacrifice. Prophecy plays a part in this realization, as the oracle Tiresias warns him that he would lose “a son of [his] own loins” by violating the will of the Gods (Antigone). The warning falls on deaf ears, however, since Creon’s actions simply lead to the deaths by suicide of Antigone, then Creon’s son Haemon, then his wife Eurydice. In one fell swoop, Creon loses his entire family because of his own pride. At the play’s end, Creon is a broken individual, since the cost of maintaining his rule and the sense of worldly order in his state became higher than he could have anticipated.
In conclusion, Sophocles’ Antigone uses the plight of a strong, steadfast female character to show the flaws in placing the state before the individual and family values. The gods support the family, while Creon simply elevates himself with his own power. The play’s position is that Creon is clearly in the wrong, as Antigone is largely a tragic story about his downfall; Antigone’s suicide is, if anything, a completion of her divine duty and elevates her to martyr status. To that end, it is the individual who wins by defying the state, not the state by maintaining itself. While Creon and the state are all that is left at the end of the play, it is a Pyrrhic victory at best. Antigone’s unwavering loyalty to her brother and fealty to the god’s wishes is rewarded by a martyr’s death, while Creon is left to live while the circumstances he created cause him to lose his family. By the end, divine law is shown to be supreme, and the only hope by the end is that Creon will learn from his mistakes.
References
Oudemans, T. C., & Lardinois, A. P. (1987). Tragic ambiguity: anthropology, philosophy and
Sophocles' Antigone (Vol. 4). Brill.
Sophocles. (1991). Antigone. Trans. David Grene. University of Chicago Press.
Sorum, C. E. (1982). The Family in Sophocles'" Antigone" and" Electra". The Classical World,
201-211.
Sourvinou-Inwood, C. (1989). Assumptions and the Creation of Meaning: Reading Sophocles'
Antigone. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 134-148.
