"Antigone on Civil Disobedience"
... caught and brought before Creon who cites her stubbornness as a weakness, comparing her to “spirited horses you can break with a light bit”(Sophocles, 533-34). Later he gets a similar reprimanding himself from his son Haemon who tells him “haul your sheets too taught, never give an inch, you’ll capsize”(Sophocles, 802-03). Creon fails to see until the end of the play that he is more stubborn and rigid than anyone surrounding him. His raging arrogance is made apparent when he asks if he should rule for the people or for himself (Sophocles, 824). He answers his own question, saying, “The city is the king’s”(Sophocles, 826). In this statement he is saying that everything and everyone in the city is for him. His selfishness is at an extreme at this point. Antigone holds the most moral character and strength in this play. Her decision is made to break Creon’s law, holding more immediate consequences, in light of the religious laws being broken. She shows her courage when her sister Ismene is too intimidated by threat of death, saying that she is “forced, I have no choice – I must obey the ones who stand in power”(Sophocles, 79-80). Antigone is outraged at the stance that her sister has taken and curses her shortsightedness, making the point that she has “longer to please the dead than please the living here”(Sophocles, 88-89). Antigone realizes that secular law is purely material, earthly, and therefore trivial compared to being loyal to her gods and religion. Creon is gradually proven wrong throughout the play until he finally admits his mistake in the falling action. He adopts a little humility and says “my better judgment have come round to this – I shackled her, I’ll set her free myself”(Sophocles, 1235-37). Antigone had acquired the people’s support making statements of truth and finding fallacy in Creon’s arguments and actions. She tells him “Nor did I think…that you, a mere mortal, could override the gods”(Sophocles, 504-50...