Créon

Summary

Dominique Pagani almost always discusses Creon alongside Antigone, in a Hegelian reading of the tragedy. He sees him as the figure of the State and of the political bond, wholly devoted to the law of the city and to Zeus, the power of public life12. He also presents him as the figure of the formal and of positive law, facing Antigone's "counter-formal"3. He does not fault him for defending the city, but for overstepping his competence: by forbidding the burial of the traitor brother, he decides the fate of a corpse, which belongs to the family, and thus encroaches on the private domain and the "nocturnal world"45. He calls this encroachment hubris, followed by the loss of his son and his wife6. In his view, the tragedy does not set a good character against a wicked one: both protagonists commit hubris. He links this conflict to the question of the relation between the city and the family, which he also takes up in connection with Hölderlin and Clouscard.

1. 1Hegel on the Beach 4/52 Feb 2016 · 11:57
2. 2#10.5 The figure of Antigone, such as into herself at last…24 Nov 2021 · 24:44
3. 3#10.5 The figure of Antigone, such as into herself at last…24 Nov 2021 · 1:22:30
4. 4Hegel on the Beach 2/51 Feb 2016 · 1:33:17
5. 5#11 Return to the logics of the subject21 Jun 2020 · 33:54
6. 6#9 Pictures at an Exhibition: art, seen from here or from the other side?10 Feb 2022 · 1:55:23

Summary produced automatically from 24 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.