A master artisan and innovator of the
Greek tragedy, Sophocles's insightful plays have
held their value
throughout countless time periods and societies. Through the use of common
literary
techniques, Sophocles was able to express themes and ideas that reflect all of
humankind. On particular idea was that Sophocles
believed that hubris is destructive and will
eventually lead
to one's demise.
Creon, the proud king of Thebes has such a
fatal flaw. His hubris alienates
Teiresias,
Haimon, and his
people. Teiresias attempts to explain to
Creon the severity of Creon's
actions, but
Creon only shuns Teiresias. No matter
how potent the signs, Creon "would not
yield,"
(Scene 5, Line 47). Creon's hubris
prevents him from recognizing his self-destructive
behavior. Instead, he accuses Teiresias of disloyalty
and succumbing to bribery. He feels
Teiresias has
"sold out" (Scene 5, Line 65) and that Creon was "the butt for
the dull arrows
of doddering
fortunetellers" (Scene 5, Line 42). Such inventions of Creon prove to be both
counter-productive
and foolish, for Teiresias did speak the truth and Creon is only further
drawn into his
false reality dictated by hubris.
Creon's fatal flaw overcomes him in a
discussion with his son. Haimon
confronts his
father about
Creon's reckless and unreasonable actions dealing with Antigone. His hubris
transcends his
better judgement and causes Creon to become defensive. Creon then ignores his
son's
recommendations on the basis of age and seniority as follows: "You consider it right for
a man of my years
and experience to go to a school a boy?" (Scene 3, Line 95). His anger
intensifies until
he explodes at his son, "Fool, adolescent fool!" (Scene 3, Line
114). At
that point, Creon
was far too immersed in his own foolish pride to recognize his
perverseness.
His hubris had
reduced him into a raving lunatic only capable of destructive behavior.
Not even the Choragos was too insignificant to
suffer the wrath of Creon's fatal flaw.
The Choragos
asked if the gods might have had some part in the burial of Polyneices. To this
he replied in a
most vile manner, "Stop! Must you
doddering wrecks go out of your head
entirely? "The gods!" Intolerable!" (Scene 1, Line 92). The attitude of Creon's response
demonstrates the
counter-productivity of his fatal flaw.
The resolution of Antigone is Creon's loss of
everything dear to him. Creon is left a
pitiful wreck,
"I am alone guilty.", "My own heart... darkness to final
darkness", "I have
been rash and
foolish.", "To risk everything for stubborn pride." (Scene 5, Lines 121, 87,
143, and 93
respectively). Creon is in such a
position because he allowed hubris to cloud his
judgement.
While Creon did not directly kill his family,
his foolish pride did, "I have killed my
son and
wife." (Scene, 5 Line 135). Antigone committed suicide because her
situation, which
was dictated by
Creon, seemed hopeless, "hanged herself... father had stolen her
away..."
(Scene 5, Line
60). His hubris had led to the
destruction of all he loved.
Creon is the representation of all humanity and
his misfortunes were brought about
through hubris,
which eventually leads to unhappiness, demise, and or destruction. Sophocles
presented this idea
to his audience over two centuries ago, and it is still a subject of much
conversation. His plays have influenced past works and they
will continue to affect literary
works to come.
--------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment