In the Greek drama “Antigonệ”, by Sophocles, “When Creon forbids the burial of Polyneices, and not only taints the air with the decaying corpse, but also affords opportunity for the dogs and birds of prey to drag about pieces torn from the dead body and thus defile the altars-and action so offensive to both gods and men is not politically virtuous, but a political crime”(Johann Eckermann) Sophocles uses the traits of his character’s to develop them and to help explain their actions .Creon is portrayed as emotional and clueless toward his environment. This portrayal explains how he could commit such an offending crime continue to make other poor decision such as the punishing of Antigone. The most prevalent traits of Creon are his excessive pride and atė which help Sophocles to portray his character as emotional resulting in an impairment of his judgment.

Creon is portrayed as a very prideful charcter. During his conversation with Antigonệ he claims that “Now truly I am no man … and bring no penalty” (Sophocles 82-110) which shows his great pride. He believes that he would no longer be a man if Antigonệ should disobey his laws without penalty and therefore to maintain his pride Creon must punish Antigonệ. This shows that Creon’s pride can cause him to be emotional which impairs his judgment. Creon also exbits his pride when he asks “Am I to rule this land by any other judgment other than my own” (Sophocles 82-110) showing his belief that he is of such high merit that only his judgment will be need to make the correct decisions to correctly rule. This belief shows his high self esteem in his self and tremendous pride.

Creon can also reveal atė at times. He can overlook important factors when making decisions showing his impaired judgment. His dialogue with his son, Haemon “reveals Creon’s stubborn inability to yield to reason and lack of understanding of and isolation from his son Haemon that leads inevitably to disaster” (Romains 3165). according to a critic. Within this same dialogue Creon also exclaims” Shall Thebes prescribe to me how I must rule” (Sophocles 82-110) revealing his blindness towards to the big picture of his kingdom. Later the blind prophet Teiresias gives Creon the advice “All men are liable to err.. and does not remain stubborn” (Sophocles 82-110) When Teresias gives Creon this fine advice he is blind to its meaning and only takes offense. He is blinded to the truth of the situation that he need to correct his mistake which reveals his atė. This blindness causes his judgment to be impaired.

In conclusion, the two main traits of Creon are his pride and his atė which cause his character to be emotion and his judgment to be impaired .His pride causes him to act emotional and irrational ways as does his atė which cause him to ignore factors during his decision making process. The traits and actions of Creon show the nature of humans to allow emotion in their decisions making process.