Building Characters in Antigone - Essay Example

He is a greedy king of Thebes that wants to have money. He disrespects women especially Antigone whom he distastes very much. Creon put Antigone in the tomb to starve to death.

By state and gender, Creon has the superior position of making almost the decisions for the entire city while Antigone serves as a subordinate and follower. During the burial of Polyneices, the two show different ideas that are based on similar motives of the power struggle. In this burial occasion, the author portrays a conflict of the state and the family obligations (Sophocles, and Ian C. Johnston, 23). The audience can see that mindsets of these characters are same. In spite of having conflicting opinions, their motives coincide always rather than collide. In fact, it is an arrogant sense of pride that propels the motives of these characters behind their respective opinions. Antigone is ready to defy the rules of Creon to honor the burial obligations of the family. She believes it is her role to preside over the burial and in this regard she does not want to let go of her sense of the pride in honor of Creon rules.

In conclusion, both characters die out of their arrogant pride towards one another. However, the death of Antigone is more tragic. Antigone dies a victim of her own hubris as well as the hubris of Creon. Surely, if the two characters had let go of their arrogant pride they would not have a tragic death. On the other hand, if they had been destined to die in that manner nobody would have changed it. Fate cannot be obstructed (Liu).