Sunday, October 14, 2012
Creon is more pitiful than Antigone
Creon is the character that makes me feel more pity in Antigone because Creon is a more relatable and pity inducing character for a number of reasons. First off is that Creon, unlike Antigone not only got an unexpected result but has to live with his choices and consequences, basically what I am saying is that Antigone knew she would die from the very beginning and embraced death, she said that she chose to die on page 88 when she says to Creon "You chose to live, I chose to die". She even regarded her own death as glorious on page 84 when she tells Creon "Give me glory!" while Creon was sentencing her to execution. This shows that Antigone wanted death and got exactly what she wanted, her own self fulfilled "glorious death" so she pretty much died with no/ few regrets. Creon on the other hand had it a lot worse. As far as I am concerned Creon was handed down a city still in a whole lot of turbulence after the civil war and really had no choice but to be harsh in order to enforce law and ensure another cicil war, which could have resulted in the death of him and many others, did not break out. He had to be strict with the law and make an example of traitors lest he invites more people to join in the traitorous acts. But his fatal flaw is that he was too stubborn and went to far in being harsh which lead to his downfall/ families mass suicide. First of all I can relate to this tragic flaw as I am also stubborn like Creon, and for that reason I have found myself in trouble for not being able to let something go just like Creon (though to a lesser extent). Second of all remember what I said earlier about Antigone dying with no regrets. Well Antigone also didn't have to stick around to see the bloody and depressing aftermaths of her actions on account of her being dead and all, meanwhile poor Creon now lives a sad life having to live with the fact that his actions caused his family to commit mass suicide and curse his name/ try to kill him with a sword. That is why Creon is the character that makes me feel more pity in Antigne.
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Griffen,
ReplyDeleteYou've made some really compelling arguments here. You raise a fantastic question. Is is very pity-inducing for one to die if that is her choice? Antigone seems to want to become a martyr. If that is the case, it's not quite as sad that she dies, is it?