Sophocles's classic play Antigone is considered a tragedy, where the main character suffers extreme sorrow and loss as a result of the protagonist's tragic flaw. Creon is considered the protagonist of Antigone, and his tragic flaw is his hubris, which significantly clouds his judgment and negatively influences his decision making. Creon's hubris motivates him to remain stubborn and initially dismiss the blind seer Tiresias's message regarding Antigone's unjust punishment. Creon also considers his own will to be higher than the will of the gods, which is why he severely punishes Antigone for burying her brother Polynices against his decree. Despite Antigone's moving argument that she defied neither the gods nor justice and only the decree of an unjust man, Creon is determined to punish her, and he has Antigone entombed alive.
After Creon argues with Tiresias, a messenger enters the scene and informs the chorus of the tragic events that have transpired. According to the messenger, Antigone committed suicide inside the tomb by hanging herself. Shortly after Creon and his entourage finished burying Polynices, they heard the sound of Haemon's voice wailing from Antigone's tomb. When they arrived at the tomb and saw Antigone's lifeless body, Haemon attempted to stab Creon but missed and turned the sword upon himself, committing suicide. Once Eurydice learns about her son's death, she also commits suicide, leaving Creon a heartbroken, depressed ruler. The only main characters who survive the play are Creon, Ismene, and Tiresias. Creon continues to rule Thebes while the future of Ismene is untold, and Tiresias continues to receive his wisdom from the gods.
Antigone: Creon walls up Antigone in a cave. This is due to the Greek notion of miasma or ritual pollution. As Creon is afraid that killing her (a blood relative of his) would anger the gods, by placing her in the cave and leaving her to die rather than actually killing her, he makes her life or death a matter of the gods' will rather than murder. While in the cave though, Antigone commits suicide.
Creon survives at the end of the play, retaining rulership of Thebes, gaining in wisdom as he mourns the death of his wife and son.
Haemon, Creon’s son, commits suicide after Antigone's death.
Eurydice, Creon's wife, commits suicide after hearing of the death of her son Haemon.
Ismene, Antigone’s sister, is alive at the end of the play. We do not learn of her eventual fate.
Tiresias, the prophet, is also alive at the end of the play. In the Odyssey, his shade appears when Odysseus visits Hades.
Like Shakespeare's Hamlet, a tragedy of a later age that nonetheless resonates with the themes and conflicts of its Greek antecedent, we can summarize the conclusion of Antigone with the familiar pithy line - "everyone dies at the end."
Of course, this is not entirely true. Creon lives, but, as the other posts here have made clear, the other major figures die by suicide.
Perhaps the irony of the play's conclusion is...
See This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this answer and thousands more. Enjoy eNotes ad-free and cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
found in the fact that the one figure that refused to obey the dictates of the gods is the only person left alive.
"[Creon] has a regard for the external forms of religion but no understanding of its essential meaning" (eNotes).
His life becomes one of suffering, as Creon loses his wife, his son and his rule in Thebes - all because he puts his self-interest above the gods interests.
Creon's transgression, ultimately, can be seen as the animating force behind Antigone's death. If she had been allowed to do her god-mandated duty and bury her brother, tragedy may have been avoided.
Antigone proclaims her innocence in this regard, saying, "You will remember what things I suffer, and at what men's hands, because I would not transgress the laws of heaven." The play ends with a statement from the chorus pointing blame directly at Creon, the sole survivor of the tragic events:
"There is no happiness where there is no wisdom;
No wisdom but in submission to the gods."
With Antigone, Haemon and Eurydice all dead by suicide, Creon is left alive to lament his folly and suffer his hard-earned wisdom.
Antigone commits suicide soon after she is put in a cave to die. Haemon, distressed over her death, also commits suicide in front of his father. Eurycide, Creon's wife, also commits suicide after she hears about the death of her son and dies bringing down curses her husband. Creon goes into exile after learning he has lost everything he has loved. Ismene's fate is not directly stated but it can be assumed that she continued living after her sister's death, the only surviving child of Oedipus. Teiresias also continues to live. The chorus and choral leader, who have been observers of the play, are assumed to have survived to comment another day.
This play isn't called a tragedy for nothing. At the end of the play, Antigone commits suicide, hanging herself. Haemon, upon finding out about Antigone's death, attempts to stab his father, and unable to do so, stabs himself, thereby committing suicide. When Creon's wife Eurydice finds out about their deaths, she also commits suicide, leaving Creon alone, ranting and raving.