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Lily Sundaramoorthy

Szwajkowski

Freshman Honors English, Period 5

2/17/23

Heads or Tails?

Two of the main characters from Sophocles’s Antigone, Haimon and Kreon, have very

different ideas of what logic, or logos is, and where they stand when it comes to expressing

empathy, or pathos, and ethicality, also known as ethos. While having extremely similar

communication styles. That is to say, none at all. Starting roughly around line 650 Haimon enters

his Kreon, his father’s chambers, to try his hand at dissuading the king from killing his would-be

bride, Antigone. However, this attempt is fruitless due to both of them being extremely set in

their ways. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Haimon’s argument in scene three to convince his father to

keep up with the times proves ineffective due to his father’s stubborn mindset.

In the argument between Haimon and Kreon, it is evident that Kreon is exceedingly

stubborn, and arrogant. On line 719, Kreon states, “Don’t throw away your judgment, son, for

the pleasure this woman offers. You’ll feel her turn ice-cold in your arms-you’ll feel her scorn in

the bedroom.” Him saying this proves that one, the king is incredibly misogynistic, and two, he

truly believes this is the logical way of going about things. It is also important to note that he

sees people that defy him as lower, or worthless. On the other hand, Haimon, Kreon’s son is

much more reason based, though he does share his father’s stubbornness. On lines 781-782,

Haimon tells his father that “attitudes are like clothes; you can change them” to coerce his father
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into cooling down, and seeing his view of what’s really happening. Sadly, this was doomed to

fail, because Kreon refuses to see what he does not wish to see until it is too late. One of the

main reasons Kreon refused to listen to him is because of the age gap between them. This

indicates that he may greatly value tradition, and may be a little stuck in the past. This may make

it seem that Haimon is much more flexible, but throughout the play, Haimon sticks to his opinion

to the very end. The father and son using the literary tool logos results in neither one truly getting

their point across. The Father is arrogant and adamant. The son is a logic based thinker and also

stubborn.

The Father-son duo’s emotions end up overpowering their argument, near the end. It is

especially clear to see in Haimon, who says to his father on line 769 that “Thebes aches for this

girl.” This implies that he is a rather empathetic individual, and takes notice of his citizens'

issues. If Kreon wasn’t as cold-hearted, then this tactic would have worked, but this wasn’t the

case. Kreon’s emotional outbursts show in a much more different way. On lines 813-814,

Haimon argues that Kreon “...talk[s] like a boy.” while Kreon’s response is ”Should I yield to

them, or rule Thebes myself?” This is a clear indicator that Kreon is a bully when it comes to

power, and values power over the wellbeing of his subjects. As Haimon said, he does, indeed,

talk like a boy. In the end, Pathos does not resolve the issue, because one is thinking of others,

while the other is only worried about themselves.

Near the end of the argument, Kreon finally listens to Haimon, not because of him, but

because of his minister, who he deeply trusts. On lines 802-807, the leader decides he finally has

had enough and says “King, if he has said anything to ease this crisis, you had better learn from

it. Haimon, you do the same. You both spoke well.” In the book, It doesn’t explicitly say that
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actively made Kreon think, but with the high regards the king holds for the adviser, It is likely

that comment made Kreon stop, and think about his actions somewhat at least. Kreon by himself,

however, is extremely unethical. This is shown on line 811-812 when Haimon exclaims “your

fellow citizens would deny it[his way of ruling]“ and Kreon’s response being “Shall Thebeans

dictate how I should govern. Kreon basically just implied that he is only there for the power, by

saying that line. This obviously shows that he was a rather apathetic ruler, and wasn’t too ethical

either.” In the end, Kreon really only took advice from the leader, and was an unethical person in

general.

Kreon is a cruel, adamant, arrogant, stubborn person. Haimon on the other hand is

empathetic, stubborn, and opinionated. One cannot overpower the other, like different sides of

the same coin. The only one that can bring them to agreement, is the rim of the coin, or the

Leader. These days, people don’t really use common sense as much as they use the other two.

Without a healthy balance of all three, writing will be flimsy, and poor.

Works Cited
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Lutzke, Jaclyn, and Mary F. Henggeler. “The Rhetorical Triangle: Understanding and Using

Logos, Ethos, and Pathos.” Louisiana State University, November 2009,

https://www.lsu.edu/hss/english/files/university_writing_files/item35402.pdf. Accessed 9

February 2023.

Sophocles. Antigone. The Oedipus Cycle, translated by Robert Bagg, Harper Perennial, 2012. pp.

241-317.