Antigone Essay

crime is pride /

pride is crime

While everybody makes mistakes, the person who has too much pride to admit that he is wrong only causes further damage. In the play Antigone, by the Greek playwright Sophocles, there is a perfect example of this shown through the character Kreon. The brother of the late queen of Thebes, Jocasta, and brother-in-law of the late king, Oedipus, Kreon assumes the throne of the city of Thebes. He regards his nephew Polynices, the attacker of Thebes, as a traitor. Consequently, in his first act as King of Thebes, he forbids the burial of Polynices under pain of death, a ruling that appears to violate an ancient moral law and sacred tradition: the right of all families to bury their dead. Antigone, the sister of Polynices, condemns the decision. After learning of it, she tells her sister, Ismene, that Kreon has decreed an honorable burial for Eteocles, enabling him to enter the afterlife as an esteemed and worthy soul, but has ordered Polynices to lie unburied, a feast for the vultures, dooming his soul to wander aimlessly. Though only a girl, Antigone decides to defy the decree. Ismene, horrified, urges Antigone to keep her place in a male-dominated society that surely will not tolerate the defiance of a young woman. "No, we should be sensible:/ we are women, born unfit to battle men;/ and we are subjects, while Kreon is king. / Now, we must obey, even in this, / even if something could hurt more" (Lines 73-77). Here, Ismene is telling Antigone that she should not try to bury the body of her brother- instead she should ignore her desire to satisfy ancient traditions to instead satisfy the traditions of a king and his patriarchal laws. This dilemma of what standard to adhere to- what values to place pride in, for both Kreon and Antigone becomes the cause of individual downfall.

A wise prophet once said, "The only/Crime is pride." This quote is both legitimate and compelling; for it applies to two very different characters in Antigone for two very different reasons. King Kreon's innate character embodies virtue and nobility; he is an essentially good man of high position who takes pride in his role as king. However, he also possesses the tragic flaws of excessive pride and an oversized ego. This pride causes the tragic reversal that leads to his emotional ruin and eventual remorse and repentance.

The character Antigone is someone who takes pride in her beliefs, and it is her beliefs that account for her actually being charged with a crime. Antigone has a sense of universal humanity and she is willing to risk committing a crime to protect that sacred belief. "No, /Even if you were willing to "be senseless"/ I wouldn't want the help you could give. / It's too late. / You must be as you believe. / I will bury him myself. / If I die for doing that, good:/ I will stay with him, my brother;/and my crime will be devotion" (Lines 82-90). The pride of Antigone is her devotion, it is her reasoning "You must be as you believe", that lead to her crime. For Antigone it is too late, because the man in charge is "being senseless" - but also living in accord to his beliefs.

As king of Thebes, Kreon makes many difficult decisions. As a new ruler, he feels it necessary to prove himself to his citizens; therefore he rules his state with a firm hand. "It's my job to rule this land. / There is no one else" (Lines 885-886). It is the stubborn attempts of Antigone that actually seem to threaten Kreon- he wants to make sure that he is the only one in charge. It is Kreon that decides the punishment for the devotion, pride, of Antigone and orders her death. "Now they'll have to be women and know their place. / Even men, rash men, run / when they see how close death is to life" (Lines 716-718).