The Aspects of Human Nature in Characters in Antigone

What is human nature? According to the dictionary, human nature is “the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans.” It is the total of our species identity, all the characteristics that make humans uniquely human. Throughout the play Antigone by Sophocles, Creon and Antigone portray aspects of the human condition or nature that are both laudable and ruinous. Creon is shown to be both heartless and conscientious. He has an untimely realization of his errors and the audience feels sorry for him as he tries to save everyone’s fate; therefore, he ends up alone and almost all his family members have died. Antigone portrays the characteristics of bravery and selfishness. She stands up for her dead brother at the beginning of the play, but wants all the glory for herself and does not let Ismene, her sister, take some of the blame for Antigone’s actions.

Creon’s heartlessness is portrayed in the start of Antigone when he discovers that Antigone was the one who covered Polyneices’ body. Even though she is his niece, he chooses to arrest both Antigone and her sister, although Ismene did nothing wrong. Creon does not bother asking what Antigone’s side of the story was, he immediately tells the guards to arrest his nieces. Creon says, “Arrest Ismene, I accuse her equally./Bring her, you will find her sniffling in the house there./ Her mind’s a traitor, crimes kept in the dark”. Creon does not even know if Ismene did anything but he still wrongfully accuses his relative and blatantly insults her. This scene and many of Creon’s other actions portray his heartless, evil side. On the other hand, at the end of the play, Creon is seen as conscientious because he tries to do what is right in order to save his family. He realizes his mistakes too late and causes almost all his relatives to kill themselves. When the prophet tells him what will happen and Choragos

What is human nature? According to the dictionary, human nature is “the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans.” It is the total of our species identity, all the characteristics that make humans uniquely human. Throughout the play Antigone by Sophocles, Creon and Antigone portray aspects of the human condition or nature that are both laudable and ruinous. Creon is shown to be both heartless and conscientious. He has an untimely realization of his errors and the audience feels sorry for him as he tries to save everyone’s fate; therefore, he ends up alone and almost all his family members have died. Antigone portrays the characteristics of bravery and selfishness. She stands up for her dead brother at the beginning of the play, but wants all the glory for herself and does not let Ismene, her sister, take some of the blame for Antigone’s actions.

Creon’s heartlessness is portrayed in the start of Antigone when he discovers that Antigone was the one who covered Polyneices’ body. Even though she is his niece, he chooses to arrest both Antigone and her sister, although Ismene did nothing wrong. Creon does not bother asking what Antigone’s side of the story was, he immediately tells the guards to arrest his nieces. Creon says, “Arrest Ismene, I accuse her equally./Bring her, you will find her sniffling in the house there./ Her mind’s a traitor, crimes kept in the dark”. Creon does not even know if Ismene did anything but he still wrongfully accuses his relative and blatantly insults her. This scene and many of Creon’s other actions portray his heartless, evil side. On the other hand, at the end of the play, Creon is seen as conscientious because he tries to do what is right in order to save his family. He realizes his mistakes too late and causes almost all his relatives to kill themselves. When the prophet tells him what will happen and Choragos convinces Creon to go, he says, “It is hard to deny the heart! But I will do it: I will not fight with destiny”. Creon seems to have learned from Oedipus’ mistakes and decides to do what the prophet says. Sadly, he missed the boat and fate has won once again. Creon’s evil side had control over him for a bit too long before his conscientiousness took over and by then, the sliver of time Creon had to save his family was gone. The audience feels sympathetic for him because it was his fault that his entire family killed themselves. Besides Creon, Antigone also portrays the characteristics of the human condition.

In the play Antigone, the character Antigone shows how humans can be both brave and selfish. At the beginning of the play, she stands up for her dead brother, Polyneices, even though she knows it can get her killed. She wants to honor him and believes that he did not die a traitor. No matter what he was, he was still her brother. Antigone does not care that Creon would be very upset, but shows her bravery by saying, “He is my brother…/Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way…/ But I will bury him; and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy…”. She is willing to do anything in order to honor her brother, even if that means dying. These actions clearly show the courage Antigone portrays. But, she also shows selfishness when she wants to die in order to create a strong reputation for herself; she refuses to share her glory and recognition with anyone else. Later in the play, Ismene tries to take some of the blame for burying Polyneices. Antigone coldly declines Ismene’s help, “No, Ismene. You have my right to say so. You would not help me, and I will not have you help me”. She seems to want everyone, specifically the gods, to see that it was only her that performed this religious ceremony for her brother. Perhaps she wants some sort of reward in the afterlife all to herself. The way Antigone refuses all of Ismene’s help shows truly how selfish humans can be, even if they are offered assistance, which is this case may have been survival.

The characters in Antigone by Sophocles clearly portray both the good and bad of human condition. Their traits are shown through both their praiseworthy, but also destructive, actions. Creon shows characteristics of heartlessness and conscientiousness, while Antigone shows bravery and selfishness.