Creon's Pride In Sophocles Antigone

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In the story of Antigone, by Sophocles, Antigone’s uncle, King Creon, is a prideful, power-hungry, unyielding ruler who faces a serious dilemma, which becomes the central plot of the story. Antigone is sentenced to death for disobeying her uncle’s order to not honor the body of her deceased brother, who was killed while challenging her uncle’s reign as king. Despite the pleas of his followers and the advice of his counsel to show leniency to his niece, the unwavering ruler follows through with his order and sentences Antigone to death in the confines of a cave. Consequently, the king’s excessive pride interferes with his duty to be a great ruler by causing him to dishonor the laws of the gods, disregard the advice of others, and ultimately lead him down the path to his own demise.…show more content…
She reminds him that the gods have a law that states the dead should receive a proper burial: “It was Zues who issued me this order. And Justice – who lives below – was not involved. They’d never condone it! I deny that your edits - since you, a mere man, imposed them - have the force to trample on the gods’ unwritten and infallible laws.” (487-492). Creon knows of this religious law of the gods, but he is too prideful to realize that he himself is a criminal for making a city law that violates a religious law. Creon will soon come to understand the punishment by the gods for dishonoring them and their

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