In the play Antigone, you are introduced to Creon who is the king of Thebes, father of Haimon, and the uncle of Antigone herself. He is proud man who we all can relate to sometimes. Antigone committed the crime of burying her brother Polynecies. As her punishment Creon has sentenced her to be sent to a cave with little food. In the process of making this decision Creon ignores the advice of many people. Many times his stubbornness collides with his conscience and makes his fate a whole lot worse. Creon verses himself through his pride and integrity, his ability to admit his flaws, and by his rightful intentions coming to late.
First off, it is easy to detect Creons hubris and arrogance by the words he speaks to his son Haimon. At one point Creon says, " You consider it right for a man of my years and experience to go to school to a boy?"(Sophocles.95). In that one sentence Creon demonstrates the ignorance of half of the adults in our world. Sometimes it is difficult to take the advice of someone younger and less experienced then you, but sometimes it is the best thing to do. Whether you are black or white, young or old, or female or male being right will not change. It is difficult for Creon to take the words of a young boy seriously because he is so strong-willed. It is a wonderful act to have pride in ones self but too much of a good thing can turn into a horrible thing.
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Along with pride comes perfection. Creon is the apotheosis of a stickler. Creon can not admit when he is wrong due to his enormous ego. Day to day we along with Creon allow ourselves to believe that being right is always the best thing, but that is not always true. As human beings one our characteristics is failure. We all must be wrong at one point in our lives. It was hard for Creon to let himself be wrong because he is in such a high power that he believes if he is wrong the people will know that he is not perfect.
