Antigone As A Tragic Hero Since She Is Neither Bad Nor Good In Character

Sophocles’ Antigone

Sophocles’ Antigone centers on what it means to be a just person. Through the characters in the play and their respective actions, Sophocles reflects multiple interpretations and presentations of justice. Two actions, in particular, are essential to the play’s understanding of justice. First, the protagonist Antigone’s choice to bury her dead brother over the express objections of King Creon and second, Creon’s decision to sentence her to death for her actions. Both Creon and Antigone think they are acting justly, yet they go about it in such drastically different ways that the reader is forced to determine which one of them Sophocles argues is actually acting in a just way, and which one is acting unjustly. Creon and Antigone are both concerned with the intersection between justice and morality. However, Creon perceives justice as a system in which law and order act as a reflection of inner morality, whereas Antigone views morality as coming from the divine mandate, above the power of mortality and human laws. Ultimately, Antigone’s conception of justice is more fully supported by the text as Sophocles argues through her actions that morality cannot be viewed through the binary of good and bad laws but instead must come from the will of the Gods.

This is demonstrated in the storyline when Polynices kills Eteocles and King Creon commands that Eteocles should be given a decent burial while Polynices should not be accorded a good send-off with ceremonies. Contrary to what Creon orders, Antigone has diverging opinions and wants to give her brother a proper burial. On the other hand, Ismene does not argue with the king and wants to obey the orders. The King’s messenger finds out that Antigone is burying her brother and takes her to the king to be punished; she faces him and does not deny any of the allegations. Antigone believes in the laws from above, given by God, and not human beings, like King Creon. She says, No one can “Overrun the gods’ unwritten and unfailing laws” (37).

Antigone rejects Creon’s idea that justice comes from written law, choosing instead to favor emotion and moral choice over rationality. She does not respect the supreme laws passed and implemented by the King. When Ismene tells her that she will honor what the King orders, Antigone responds that she has to bury their brother honorably, despite the fear of death looming over her head. Antigone describes that, “… Now I go to pile the burial–mound for him, my dearest brother” (24). Therefore, it is shown that this character had much pride in her actions, particularly when they pertain to what she believes is inherently right or wrong. Antigone buries her brother out of a sense of familial duty and loyalty to him, it is evident that from her perspective both her brothers ought to be ceremonially buried. Creon makes his disappointment in Antigone clear when he says: “I hate it too when someone caught in a crime then wants to make it seem a lovely thing” (38). He even goes further to say, “Never shall I, myself, honor the wicked and reject the just” (II.207-208). In this case, Creon indicates that Antigone’s morality is wicked and that his own set of laws to be just. It seems, through the quotes above, as if both Creon and Antigone have no consensus or understanding over each other’s version of justice.

Antigone acts under the guidance of the Gods in determining what is just, a moral system, which sometimes leads her to make questionable decisions in a quest for justice. As the play continues, Antigone becomes more and more prideful in her actions. When she is arguing with her sister Ismene, she tells her to tell the world about her deeds and to even publish it, which goes to show that Antigone is trying to go beyond the framework of the mortal world and seek godly justice. She does not want justice to end with her death and instead would like to leave an impact and improve the moral state of those living when she is gone. Acting justly, Antigone argues, involves not always respecting mortal authority. She makes her disrespect for Creon clear when she says, “… I please those whom I most should please.”(25) This indicates that Antigone does not obey the law passed by Creon to please him; she only pleases the Gods. This is further demonstrated when she confidently boasts about her actions and shows no fear of death, essentially considering herself a martyr. Antigone tells her sister not to worry about her and knows what she is doing. She says, “For me, don’t worry”…. (24). When the King interrogates her about the burial of her brother, she speaks with great confidence. Through her utterances, Creon feels that she is full of pride and insulting his authority. It makes Creon more aggravated causing him to proceed to punish her. Antigone ultimately understands this and chooses this path in order to demonstrate and defend her moral sense of justice for her brother.

It is without a doubt that Antigone is a tragic hero as she is neither bad nor good in character. She disobeyed the King’s order to give Polynices a right to be buried religiously and not recklessly as the king wanted. This ensures that he can rest in eternal life as well as in serenity. Antigone is also optimistic and fair as she defends her sister when Creon arrested her. In scene II, Antigone says, “No share in work, no share in death, and I must consummate alone what I began.” This shows a sign of responsibility, in that because she committed a crime, she is fully responsible for it, Ismene was not part of it. From Antigone’s argument, she values family and cares for bother her brothers. When she is conversing with Creon, she tells him that her brother was not a slave, thus he has to be honored, and “death yearns for an equal law even for those who have died” (40). Antigone says, “It was a brother, not a slave, who died” (40). Therefore, Antigone was at some point right in defending her brother’s rights, even after he had died. She shows some confidence in facing the cruel dictatorial leadership by confronting it head-on. She tells her sister that, she fits to help the dead because she died a long time ago, and therefore, Ismene should take heart. ‘… My life died a long time ago…has made me fit to help the dead.” (42).

Creon, as opposed to Antigone, believes that moral leadership comes from strict, just, laws. Creon insinuated that killing is a strategy of bringing peace in the city and that was the only way to remain faithful. When his son came to defend Antigone as his future wife, Creon explains to her son that killing her was the only option if he needed to be faithful to the city. In the process of restoring Thebes to its original peaceful state, he uses the one-sided idea of the law as human-made implementations that resist war. He advises his son Haemon to consider Antigone as a foreign enemy as this woman had turned evil and he need not be controlled by the pleasure of a woman. His son is seen to be of a conscious mind since he tells his father “Your presence frightens any common man from saying things you would not care to hear…” (46). This shows that Creon was a dictator and a killer because even his own son, whose inherently been taught his ideologies growing up, has chosen to stand up to him.

The rigidity inherent in Creon’s conception of justice is exactly what causes it to fall apart in the face of Antigone’s unpredictable actions. Creon, in this case, is portrayed as a villain. He speaks of lawful reasons throughout the play. How he has no tolerance for people who prioritize personal beliefs over the common good and how the government should have the final say and supreme authority. Furthermore, he emphasizes his human laws, which seems like a wrongful approach; through the usage of these laws as “blanket statements” he approaches every situation that needs judgment through oversimplification by being deaf to the knowledge of people, time, and place, which is the core for moral reasoning. He ignores real-life circumstances for his arbitrary human laws. Haemon his own son even says, ‘I wouldn’t urge respect for wickedness’ (48). This phrase comes in when he is talking to his father, who seems not to understand any ideas from anybody; he is deaf to any opinion that is contrary to his recommendation. Creon goes ahead and says the town should not tell him how to rule. He says, “Is the town to tell me how I ought to rule?” (48). The sentiments made by Creon shows he is a king full of ego and pride, who do not have the qualities of a good leader.

Sophocles’ Antigone portrays many complex frameworks of justice, all of which have positive and negative attributes. Creon is a King who is stubborn and does not want to hear any opinions from the public. He acts as if he is all-knowing in implementing the laws of the common good. He prefers to kill Antigone so that he can look faithful to the people of Thebes. He even fails to hear from the advice of the prophet, Teiresias, known for being accurate and wise. Antigone, in this case, reflects what justice is. Even though she disobeyed the law, she did not deserve to die because she was standing up for her brother and what she thought was morally right.

Works Cited

1. Griffith, Mark, ed. Sophocles: Antigone. Cambridge University Press, 1999.