Greek Tragedy of Antigone - Essay Example

Hubris in Sophocles’ “Antigone” A great deal of Greek tragedy rests upon the great moral sin of excessive pride. Although Aristotle identified the primary characteristics of Greek tragedy as beginning with what he termed ‘hamartia’ and is today translated to mean a fatal flaw (“Aristotle”, 1998), a great deal of tragedy is formulated upon the fatal flaw of possessing excessive pride or hubris. For many characters, including characters discovered in Sophocles’ play “Antigone,” this hubris in one’s position or knowledge causes the character to make the mistake that brings about their own ruin. “Antigone” picks up the story of King Oedipus approximately one year after Oedipus’ ruin. Oedipus’ sons have inherited the crown and have agreed to share it by allowing one brother to rule one year and then the other brother would rule the following year. Pride of place compels Eteocles to refuse to honor the agreement while Polynieces has no option but force to assert his rights. Antigone, the boys’ sister proudly announces to her sister Ismene that she is going to defy the new King Creon’s orders that Polynieces not be buried because he has led a force upon the city but the character most afflicted by the sin of hubris in the play is King Creon himself. While it is easily argued that Antigone shares her father’s fatal pride and spontaneity in bringing about her own death, King Creon is the most obviously prideful individual within the play. This is discovered very early in the action as he confides to his courtroom advisors. Like Oedipus before him, these words will eventually come back to haunt him. When Creon first appears, he recaps recent events to his advisors, effectively catching the audience up on what has gone before. Looking at the succession of kings that have ruled before him, Creon illustrates how Laius, Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynieces have all made foolish mistakes in pridefully fighting for their own interests. Instead of acting so foolishly, Creon tells his advisors his own reign will be characterized by placing the good of the state over and above the pride of its ruler at the same time that he reveals his own boastful nature: “[…] if any, being supreme guide of the State, cleaves not to the best counsels, but, through some fear, keeps his lips locked, I hold, and have ever held, him most base […] For I […] would not be silent if I saw ruin, instead of safety, coming to the citizens” (Sophocles, 442 BC). This statement reveals the pride of Creon in his presumption that he will make a better leader than Laius, Oedipus, Eteocles or Polynieces because he is made of finer moral material. This idea is then reinforced as Creon’s decrees his decision regarding what should be done with the bodies of the two brothers who have killed each other without ever having consulted with his advisors or measuring the response of the citizens to the event. Creon decides that Eteocles should be given full burial rites with all pomp and formality, “in all renown of arms, shall be entombed, and crowned with every rite that follows the noblest dead to their rest” (Sophocles), because he was the ordained King at the time of the battle and he died in defense of the city. Polynieces, on the other hand, “who came back from exile and sought to consume utterly with fire the city of his fathers and the shrines of his father’s gods – sought to taste of kindred blood and to lead the remnant into slavery” (Sophocles), Creon determines should be left on the plains to rot and for his body to be carried off by wild animals, “a corpse for birds and dogs to eat, a ghastly sight of shame” (Sophocles). It is later in the play when Antigone reveals the tremendous degree to which this ruling goes against the beliefs of her culture. The people to whom the play was presented would have been well aware of the depth of hubris in Creon’s decision as they shared many of these same beliefs. “Eteocles and Polyneices, Antigone’s brothers, fought over alternating turns to rule Thebes after their father’s death. Polyneices attacked Thebes after Eteocles’ refusal to step down after his year of rule” (Uzoigwe, 2004). In this sense, Eteocles was the brother who wronged the city through his dishonorable actions rather than Polyneices who was simply standing up for his rights, yet Creon never considers the justice of the situation nor the consequences of the gods should he disobey their rules in his zeal to enforce his own authority. Creon’s pride runs so deep that he remains largely unable to comprehend the warnings of others until it is too late. Although Antigone has a strong point in her argument that a mortal should not have greater authority than the gods, “I did not think / anything which you proclaimed strong enough / to let a mortal override the gods” (Sophocles), her presentation coupled with Creon’s pride only allows him to see a young girl defying his authority. Although he might have conceded Antigone’s point in other circumstances, he tells her in open court, “While I live, no woman shall rule me” (Sophocles), indicating that it is pride and not justice that determined his decision. Having been so publicly questioned, Creon then finds it impossible to listen to the wiser counsel of his lead advisors on the political front or his son and Antigone’s fiancé on the emotional front. In confronting his son, Creon insists men of his age should not need to be governed by men of his son’s age and therefore refuses to listen on pride of age. When he is confronted with the idea that the people of Thebes are against Creon’s death sentence on Antigone, he insists as King he should not be ruled by his people. It is only when Teirasias confronts him that Creon is able to understand that his pride will also bring him to ruin although he only accepts this because Teirasias told him he would and not because he truly foresees it for himself. Only at the very end of the play, after Antigone, Haemon and Eurydice are all dead, does Creon finally understand where his pride has led him. As he is led away into the wings, he cries, “Lead me away, I pray you; a rash, foolish man; who have slain thee, ah my son, unwittingly, and thee, too, my wife – unhappy that I am!” (Sophocles). This final message as Creon is led away offers the audience the understanding that Creon is aware of his own actions in these deeds but also suggests to today’s audience that he is perhaps about to embark on a journey in which he takes the same degree of pride in his future suffering as he once did of his authority. His concerns are never focused for long upon the feelings of his son or his wife but are instead focused almost entirely upon how things will affect him, even in the end when he laments their loss because he now has nowhere to turn for support. Hubris is a tremendous force within the human soul, as Sophocles play reveals. Every character at some point reveals a touch of pride in their actions that gets in the way of effective communication and rational behavior. However, it is King Creon who demonstrates the greatest inability to see past his pride to put the needs of others before his own personal interests. This is ironic because he recognizes that this was the primary fault of those who had ruled immediately before him. Despite his stated determination to rule with an eye toward what is best for the city instead of what is the result of personal pride, Creon defends his decision regarding Polynieces burial purely on reasons of personal pride. First he refuses to give in to the logic of a woman, then he refuses to bend to the counsel of a younger man and finally he will not allow royalty to be dictated to by the populace. He has crossed the line from being an effective king to a spoiled tyrant, which is when Teirasias finally confronts him. However, at this point, it is already too late for Creon to right the wrongs he has committed and he loses everything. Works Cited “Aristotle.” Critica Links. The University of Hawaii, 1998. June 5, 2009 Sophocles. Antigone. (442 BC). The University of Adelaide Library. R.C. Jebb (Trans.). June 5, 2009 Uzoigwe, Chioma. “Private Experience vs. Public Good.” The Scientific Aesthetic Quarterly. (Fall 2004). Read More