I’ll always speak out when I see Thebes choosing destruction rather than deliverance,” (712). Antigen is stubborn ND possesses excessive pride, which leads to her downfall.
Antigen is devoted to maintaining and protecting divine laws, which includes burying her brother, “ The city is forbidden to mourn him or bury him- not tomb, not tears. Violate any provision- the Sentence is you’re stoned to death in your own city,” (707). Antigen is the plays tragic heroine because she refuses to relinquish her desire.
Antigen defies Green’s rule by burying her brother’s body, and pays with her life in the end.
Akron is an older king that also demonstrates flaws with his stubbornness and excessive pride. Green’s only concern is with social and political order, and he has committed himself to the throne in the kingdom of Thebes, “ Our country is the ship that must keep us safe. It’s only on board her, among the men who sail her upright, that we make true friends. Such are the principles I will follow to preserve Thebes’ greatness,” (712).
Akron ordered Antigen’s crime covered up to save her from damnation and death, but Antigen refuses to accept anything other than what she wants to do, ‘ Take me and kill me- is that your whole plan? Then what stops you? Are you waiting for me to accept what you’ve said? I never will.
” (719). Because Antigen is reluctant to accept Green’s forgiveness and wants to do her own thing, Akron has no other choice then to sentence her to death, “ Both my mind and your mind. No more delay, men, take them in.
Make sure they behave like women.
Don’t let either slip away. Even the brave will try to run when they see death closing in. ” (721). Antigen and Akron cannot communicate their points of view to one another effectively because they will not get past their pride and stubbornness. Antigen exemplifies her excessive pride and stubbornness because of the persistence she has to fulfill her own desires, which go against Tate law and Akron, “ I’ll be the last to arrive, and the worst off, going down with most of my life unlived.
I hope my coming will please you father, comfort my mother, and bring joy to you, brother, because washed your dead bodies, dressed you with my hands, and poured blessed offerings of drink on your graves. ” (729). Akron exemplifies his excessive pride and stubbornness by showing the people Of Thebes that he will not change his mind about sentencing Antigen to death. Akron also believes that laws and discipline IS what saves good people, “ Discipline is what saves the lives of all good people ho stay out of trouble.
And to make sure we enforce discipline-never let a woman overwhelm a king.
Better to be driven from power, if it comes to that, by a man. Then nobody can say you were beaten by some female,” (724). After Antigen’s death Akron realizes and acknowledges that his edict is in violation of divine law, but his pride and stubbornness causes the death of his own son, niece, and wife. Akron, while mourning the loss of his son, realizes how he let his pride get the best of him, “ Oh, what errors of the mind have made! Deadly, bull-headed blunders.
Your life was cut short not through mad acts, but through mine. ” (739).
After Akron realizes his mistakes due to bull- headiness after his son and wife’s death, and his stubbornness has now left him alone. Green’s concern with discipline and his own ego caused everyone’s death in his family and he acknowledges that in the end when no one else in his family is alive, ‘ There’s no one I can blame, no other mortal.
I am the only one,” (741). Antigen’s relentless pride and ego leads to her overall downfall and ultimately, she pays with her life because of her excessive pride. Akron is too devoted to maintaining order through civil laws, and discipline.
Antigen is too devoted to maintaining and protecting divine laws.
Akron and Antigen’s excessive pride and bull-headiness lead to and prevent them from communicating their points to one another effectively, which causes them to both plummet. Antigen pays with her life because she is too stubborn to not fulfill her desires, and Akron pays with his son, wife, and niece in order to maintain civil laws and discipline in his kingdom. At the end of this tragedy Antigen is dead, and Akron is alone. Their excessive pride and bullheadedness is what ultimately leads to their downfall.
