In Sophocles", Antigone, a story is told of two brothers that killed each other in combat. Creon, their uncle, allowed one corpse to be honored and the other to have no burial. His tragic flaw is his lack of sympathy for others. This is shown in the way he handles the insulted corpse, and his punishment for Antigone.
Although Polyneices fought against his native city, his corpse should have been honored for the sake of his family. Antigone, Polyneices" sister, was bothered by the thought of no reverence or prayers being said for her brother. The sight of his decaying corpse was disturbing to his loved ones. Creon showed no sympathy towards the family when making the decision to insult his corpse. He was not only punishing Polyneices for his actions, but causing harm to those closest to the deceased. Creon was extremely harsh and revolting when explaining the outcome of the corpse to the people of Thebes, "he shall lay on the plain, unburied; and the birds and the scavenging dogs can do with him whatever they like,"(48-49). This is an unnecessary and heartless way to address the situation to the public.
Even though Antigone is Haemon's, Creon's son, future wife, he orders for the girl to be killed in response to her attempt to honor Polyneices" corpse. He should care about his son's feelings, but instead he wants to harm the woman he loves. Creon lacks sympathy even to those close to him. He is ruthless when ruling in the presence of .
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Haemon, "Let her die before his eyes! Here, this instant, with her bridegroom beside her!" (130-131). His son had already expressed his feelings of love towards Antigone, but Creon is merciless. .
Creon, the ruler of Thebes, is tragically flawed. He is lacking a vital attribute when dealing with the people, which is sympathy. He rules heartlessly when sentencing Polyneices and Antigone because he is inconsiderate to their loved ones.
