How does Creon change over the course of Antigone?

It would seem that Creon changes considerably over the course of the play. Initially, he is a cruel, implacable tyrant. He's refused to allow Antigone or anyone else to bury the body of her brother, Polynices. Instead, he's just going to leave his broken corpse to rot out in the open. Creon's actions are not just cruel, petty and vindictive; they're also impious. In ordering that Polynices shall not be given a decent burial, Creon is defying the gods. He is guilty of displaying what the ancient Greeks called hubris, or overweening pride.

Later on in the play, Creon realizes that he's made a disastrous mistake. But it's too little, too late. Whatever sympathy we may have for Creon is tempered by the fact that in changing his mind, he's still thinking of what's best for himself and this throne, rather than doing what he knows to be right. That said, it's impossible not to feel for Creon as he enters the palace, cradling the bloody corpse of his son, Haemon. And then to hear about the suicide of his wife, Eurydice, merely compounds our sympathy.

At last, Creon has achieved a degree of wisdom. But it has been hard-won indeed, bought at an unacceptably high cost. That it should have taken such appalling suffering and sorrow to bring Creon to his senses is itself a tragedy, but one that's quite revealing of his true character.

How does Creon change over the course of Antigone?

In Sophocles' Antigone, Creon, the king of Thebes decrees that Polyneices, who has waged war against the city to regain the kingship, must not be buried. Creon declares that anyone who performs burial rites for Polyneices will be put to death. Even after Creon discovers that his own niece and soon-to-be daughter-in-law has defied his order, Creon stubbornly sticks by his decree. Even when Creon's own son tries to reason with him, Creon refuses to change his mind.

Eventually, though, Creon does change his mind after the prophet Teiresias predicts disaster for Creon unless he changes his mind about Antigone. After Teiresias departs, the chorus of Theban elders advises Creon to heed the prophet's warning. Thus, Creon changes his mind:

Alas—it’s difficult. But I’ll give up.
I’ll not do what I’d set my heart upon.
It’s not right to fight against necessity.

(Ian Johnston translation)

Unfortunately, Creon changes his mind too late. Upon arriving at the cavern in which Antigone has been imprisoned, he discovers that she has hanged herself. His son then kills himself after failing to kill his father. Finally, Creon's wife kills herself when she hears that Haemon has died.

What causes Creon's change of heart in Antigone?

The exchange between Creon and Tiresias is compelling enough for Creon to change over the course of the drama.  Tiresias enters the court and tells Creon of all that has happened in response to him not honoring the dead son of Oedipus.  Tiresias enters to help the king, as he has done in the past.  Yet, Creon's arrogance gets the best of him and he hurls insults to the blind seer, prompting lines like this to be uttered before he leaves:

And you—know well that before the sun has
run a few laps more, you will give one from
your loins, a corpse for corpses, in exchange
for those you have sent from above the earth(1075)
to below it, the living soul you have lodged
dishonorably in a tomb, and the
unhappy, unburied, unholy corpse
you hold back from the gods below.

The idea of Creon having to "exchange" a "corpse for corpses" is fairly telling.  The fact that Creon's refusal to honor one dead will result in multiple is something that dislodges him.  The stunning rebuke of "you will give one from your loins" points to Haemon, and helps to cause a change in Creon.  Yet, Tiresias continues:

....this violence comes from you. For these things,
however, the destroying avengers
of Hell and the Furies of the gods are
lying wait for you, that you may be taken
in these same evils. Consider also(1085)
if I say these things as a hired accuser,
for a short time will reveal the wailing
of men and women in your house.

It is interesting to note that while Creon has acted in the name of the public, as the king, Tiresias predicts doom on the personal level.  It is not as king where he strikes, but rather in the idea of the "wailing of men and women in your house" and that the powers of the divine have aligned against him, Creon, as a person and not as a king.  Sophocles' inclusions on this point help to bring out that while the Greek rulers were seen as kings and political heads of city- states, they broke and feared as human beings would.  Tiresias' prophecies on this level is what haunts Creon and terrifies him.

Upon such doomsday predictions, the Chorus, assuming a fairly active role throughout the drama, but really so here, is alarmed at what Tiresias has said.  Creon's response demonstrates the first moment of his change and why it has happened:

I know, and I, too, am shaking in my heart,(1105)

This is the moment when the reader understands that Creon has changed.  The prophecies of doom on a personal level have caused a shift in Creon's perception of himself and his actions.  He no longer is willing to identify his own belief system as absolute.  Whether he changes out of a sense of the sincere and genuine, or if he has changed out of fear in the predictions of Tiresias, Creon has changed in that he is "shaking in" his "heart."  Here is where transformation has happened in him, but several moments too late.

What makes Creon a dynamic character in "Antigone"?

Creon's change does not really occur until the very end of the play. Throughout most of the play he has displayed "hubris" or the idea that he is above the law of the Gods and his decrees cannot be disputed. This sense of pride causes him to lose his son, his wife and his niece. At the very end of the play, however, Creon returns to the palace, carrying the body of his son. He learns that his wife has killed herself and he is wracked with grief about his losses. He says to the Chorus:

Let this rash man be led out of the way,

who, my child, unwillingly slew you,

and this woman, you, too—alas! I have

no where to turn to, nothing to lean on,

for everything goes cross in my hands,

and a difficult fate falls on my head.

By calling himself a "rash" man and by taking responsibility for the deaths of his wife and his son, Creon finally admits that he was wrong. He goes into exile a broken man. The chorus sums up the change in the last lines of the play.

Knowledge truly is by far the most important part

of happiness, but one must neglect nothing

that the gods demand.

Great words of the over-proud

balanced by great falls

taught us knowledge in our old age.

Why is Creon characterized as he is in Sophocles' Antigone?

Sophocles uses Creon to present several morals in the play Antigone. Sophocles wrote the play at a time when Athens was a democracy. It has been pointed out that Sophocles was not only a playwright "but also a member" of the Athenian government ("Historical Context"). It has also been said that Sophocles uses the themes of the Oedipus trilogy to convey social and political messages to his audience. In particular, he uses the character of Creon to "warn against the dangers of dictatorship" ("Historical Context").

Creon acts as a dictator in several places. He especially acts as a dictator when his own son Haeman advises Creon to release Antigone, warning that the whole city is mourning her death and saying that "she's the least worthy of all women to die to badly for such noble deeds" (705-706). Creon's response is to say that he refuses to be ruled by his own city and that the city belongs to the ruler, rather than the ruler belonging to the city, as we see in his lines, "The city will tell me how I ought to rule it? ... Isn't the city thought to be her ruler's?" (745, 749). Hence we see that one reason why Sophocles develops Creon's character in the manner he does is to warn against the evils of dictatorships.

Another moral that Sophocles portrays through Creon is that it is important to temper one's views of what is right with the council of others. As literary critic George Eliot phrases it:

Perhaps the best moral we can draw is that to which the Chorus points--that our protest for the right should be seasoned with moderation and reverence, and that lofty words ... are not becoming to mortals. ("The Antigone and its Moral")

Even Tiresias says it best when he says, "Obstinacy brings the charge of stupidity" (1031-32). Therefore, we can also say that Sophocles characterizes Creon in the way he does in order to show just how foolish stubbornness can be. 

How does Creon's character change in lines 584-636 of Antigone?

In these lines, Creon is becoming more and more proud and insistent on his own way. His heart is hardening and will kill anyone who gets in his way, including the fiance of his own son. He has determined once and for all that Antigone will die even though he has been warned not to put the state ahead of the gods. Here his anger is turning to all women, not just Antigone. He says to Ismene and Antigone, :

"Waste no more time, but
bring them inside now, maids. From now on, they
must be women and not wander free"

The chorus comments on Creon's hardening heart. He calls it "madness" several times in the next lines ( 598,633). He predicts Creon will be "burned" because he is "walking on hot fire"--a comment on both Creon's decision and his anger.

Where does Creon start to change his mind in Antigone and what causes this?

Creon's resolve to punish Antigone begins to waver when Tiresias tells him that his actions will come back to haunt him through the loss of his own children and the gods taking their vengeance upon all of Thebes itself. Horrified by this, Creon begins to change his mind about how to treat Antigone for her civil disobedience, which was more motivated by piety and love than a desire to hurt anyone.

Creon realizes he has defied the gods in burying a human alive. He decides to free Antigone, but it is too late. He condemns himself for all he has done.

At the end of the play, despite all Creon has done, one might feel pity for him. He realizes the error of his ways and mourns the loss of human life more than the loss of his own pride. Creon has become a sadder but wiser man, lending some redemptive quality to the tragedy.