Haemon - Oedipus Plays (Antigone)

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Haemon is a passionate and straightforward character. His arguments with Creon are rational. He says that reason is a gift of the gods, a nd he cautions Creon against being single-minded and proud, noting that there is no such thing as a one-man city. He asserts that everyone has to give way somewhat, listen, and change. He shows more maturity and reason in comparison to his stubborn father, which is a strange contrast since it is the father that should be giving the wiser image rather than the son. The Leader of the Chorus advises them to listen to each other, but Creon refuses to be told what to do. We have also learned that Haemon was to marry Antigony. It was a fair move on Sophicles’s part to introduce this part of the story at this moment. Just before this scene, Creon indicts both Ismene and Antigony as mad, and he sends them both to be locked away for later execution. In the beginning of the play, Antigone might have been seen as irrational and foolish. As for Creon, we might not have known too much about him aside from the fact that he is a strict ruler. Now, upon hearing what he had to say to Ismene and Antigony, we discover that he is in fact ruthless and irrational himself, and that Antigony, despite being irrationally headstrong at times, seems to take on a nobler persona in comparison to Creon’s stubborn character. Sophicles then introduces Haemon, which not only further depicts Creon as an unreasonable tyrant, but also backs Antigony’s argument in a more rational way. Haemon, in a sense, represents the people of Thebes; as Antigony says, “[The people of Thebes] think as I, but trim their tongues to you”(212). Haemon acts as proof that it is not just Antigony that feels Creon is wrong; Haemon is a representation of the people in that he opposes Creon along with Antigony. He states his opinion clearly and logically to Creon, his own father, just as the

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