"There is none so blind as those who will not listen," Neil Gaiman once wrote. Being guided by negative character traits can lead to a character's downfall. Allowing their own beliefs and emotions to get in the way of what is right is a fatal flaw of many of the characters in Antigone. Flaws in character such as stubbornness, pride, and excessive emotion plague many of the characters in Antigone, and dangerously affect their outcomes. Amongst all the altercations and debate in Antigone, we can see that stubbornness is a very prevalent quality of a multitude of characters. Antigone herself is one of the most stubborn characters. Her tenacious loyalty to her brother becomes her hamartia, her tragic error, and ultimately causes her downfall. Creon sees the extent of Antigone's stubbornness throughout all their arguments. He says, "She's clearly the fierce daughter of a fierce father, she doesn't know how to bend with the wind" (ll. 484-485). Though Antigone boldly stands up for her beliefs, her stubbornness is ultimately the reason for her death. Antigone's disregard of her sister's pleading, and her inability to yield to Creon's law, are direct results of her obstinacy. If she wasn't so hard-headed, maybe she would have listened to Creon's edict or at least tried to plead with him before outright going and committing a major crime. If either of them had been the least bit cooperative, lives could have been spared. .
Another dangerous character flaw is pride. In small doses pride isn't necessarily a terrible thing; however, the pride exhibited by Creon goes entirely too far, and leads to tragedy. Haemon attempts to warn Creon of the adverse effects of his pride, saying, "Whoever thinks that he's the only one who can think or use his tongue or soul, no one else – these men, when you open them up, are seen to be hollow" (ll. 718-721). Haemon's warning is correct.
