Core Values In Antigone

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Pages: 3

People say that the choices and decisions you make, define what your values are. Everyone makes choices, and we get to them by doing what we think is important. We all have core values that affect our daily lives and the decisions made in them. Creon like everyone else has core values, such as putting city over family, pride over wisdom, and his belief in the men are better than women. In Antigone, Creon's core values influence his choices and decisions throughout the play. Numerous times it is shown that Creon puts his city before his family. This value influenced Creon to establish the law that none can bury the body of polyneices. Although Polyneices was Creon's nephew, he still refused to honor a traitor. Creon also arrests and sentences his niece and sons bride, Antigone, to death for putting her brother to rest. When Haimon talks to Creon about Antigone's arrest in the beginning of scene 3, Creon states “ If I permit my own family to rebel, how should I earn the world's obedience?”. Creon feels his family should not be treated any differently for it is unjust, and this idea of putting his city first influenced those choices. …show more content…
In his argument with Haimon, he states “ the state is the king.”. This is showing he feels that his laws overrule the gods, causing him to go against them in not having a burial. Creon's pride causes him to lash out against Haimon and not free Antigone, up until after the warning Teiresias gave. Even then when Teiresias gave the warning Creon was too stubborn to admit he was wrong, and thought he was bribed. By the time Creon realized his wrongs, Antigone had hanged herself, which later resulted in the death of Haimon and Eurydice. Creon allowed his hubris to cloud his judgment until it was too late. He valued his pride rather than be wise, influencing the choices that ended up killing everyone he