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CREON. Very well. Now listen to me. You will go straight to your room. When you get there, you will go to bed. You will say that you are not well and that you have not been out since yesterday. Your nurse will tell the same story. (He looks toward arch, through which the GUARDS have gone out.) And I'll get rid of those three men.
This line appears just after Antigone has admitted to burying her brother for the first time and reflects Creon’s capacity for mercy. Despite his decree ordering the death of anyone who attempts to bury Polynices, Creon wants to save his niece from such a fate. He may only be motivated to do so because his son, Haemon, intends to marry Antigone, but his willingness to consider the well-being of others at all suggests that he is not the heartless leader that he seems to be by the play’s end.
My name, thank God, is only Creon. I stand here with both feet firm on the ground: with both hands in my pockets; and I have decided that so long as I am king—being less ambitious than your father was—I shall merely devote myself to introducing a little order into this absurd kingdom; if that is possible.
This quotation, which appears as Creon discusses Oedipus’s pride in the early stages of his argument with Antigone, reflects the straightforward and inflexible view that Creon has of leadership. To Creon, the responsibility of a king is ensuring social order whatever the cost. This perspective contrasts with Antigone’s argument that life is too complex to be organized in such a methodical and compromising way, and the remainder of the tragedy works to highlight the dangers of Creon’s worldview.
CREON. Then why not have pity on me, and live? Isn't your brother's corpse, rotting there under my windows, payment enough for peace and order in Thebes? My son loves you. Don't make me add your life to the payment. I've paid enough.
As Creon’s argument with Antigone reaches a boiling point, he attempts to appeal to her sense of humanity by describing himself as a victim. He wants to avoid having Antigone’s blood on his hands, especially since she is to marry his son, but he also feels obligated to follow through on his word as the King of Thebes. The selfish attitude that Creon expresses in this moment reflects the pressure he feels to appease both the public and private spheres of his life.
