Kreon and Antigone in Sophocles' Antigone

Kreon and Antigone, in Sophocles' Antigone, stand in stark contrast to one another in terms of the qualities important to each character. In his major act in the play---his refusal to bury the corpse of Polyneices (Antigone's brother)---Kreon shows that his major concerns are pride and revenge. Antigone, on the other hand, cares only about doing what is right according to the highest standards of humanity and of the gods. She wants to bury her brother as much as Kreon wants to prevent his burial. It is telling that Antigone determinedly maintains her ethical stand to the end, while Kreon changes his mind and buries Polyneices---although he acts too late to avert the catastrophe prophesied by Teiresias.

Antigone shows herself to be fearless in trying to bury her brother. Her sister Ismene reminds her that she will be killed if she tries to bury their brother, but Antigone simply says "He is my brother" and "Kreon is not strong enough to stand in my way" (1196). She argues that if it is a crime she will commit in trying to bury her brother it is a "holy" crime, and in any case she is determined to bury him because it is decreed by a law higher than the decree of Kreon---the "laws of the gods" (1197). She sees that her efforts may lead to death but it will be a death with "honor" (1197).

In announcing his decision to prevent the burial of Polyneices, Kreon declares that his primary principle is his dedication to doing whatever he needs to do to ensure the survival of the S

, he recognizes the error of his ways, the fact he has been driven by his "stubborn pride": (1219), but it is too late. Not only does Antigone kill herself, so does Kreon's son and his wife. The contrast between the two characters is significant because it shows that Antigone has lived and died in honor, fearlessly dedicated to the highest principles of duty, loyalty and selflessness, while Kreon has acted like a selfish, stubborn, prideful and vengeful child, until it is tragically too late. The first reaction of this reader to Antigone's sister Ismene is that she is a coward who refuses to do what is clearly the right, if dangerous, thing to do---to help Antigone bury her brother to honor him and in defiance of the king's orders that he not be buried. Ismene is so frightened that she is not even capable of imagining that there is anything she could do to right the situation when confronted by Antigone's "strange" determination to bury their brother: "Antigone, you are mad! What could I possibly do? . . . . Think of the danger! Think what Kreon will do!" (1196). Ismene has been taught to see herself as an obedient and weak woman who cannot begin to think about defying Kreon's orders. She has ben traumatized and terr

Category: Literature - K