“Things and actions are what they are, and the consequences of them will be what they will be; why then should we desire to be deceived?” (Joseph Butler). In Sophocles’s tragedy, Antigone, the meaning and recognition of fate heavily weighs down Creon’s pride and Antigone’s love.

With a sense of lawful righteousness and tyranny, Creon believes burying Polynices is truly unlawful and seeks obedience in his resolution. “That’s my decision. For I’ll never act to respect an evil man with honours in preference to a man who’s acted well,” (237-239). His consistent stubbornness and character predetermines his fate in the tragedy, as he demands to arrest the individual who refused to follow the law of the land. Creon allows his pride to mark his decisions and influence his destiny, refusing to have mercy on his own nephew.

While Creon’s pride determines his fate, Antigone’s deep love and passion sets the pieces of her life together. She loves her brother Polynices infinitely and refuses to abide by the law, believing he deserves the proper burial despite his actions. “I’ll lie there with him, with a man I love, pure and innocent, for all my crime. My honours for the dead must last much longer than for those up here,” (90-93). At this point during the tragedy, Antigone recognizes that such a deed, in Creon’s eyes, will forever seal her fate. She would rather sacrifice her own life in order to show respect for her deceased brother. Love predetermines the alignment of her actions and the consequences that follow. Driven by the heart instead of the mind, Antigone openly accepts death and denies nothing.

The power of love sets a dark overtone on the city of Thebes, as every character, except for Creon, is deeply affected by Antigone’s decision to bury her disloyal brother. After hearing that Antigone had hanged herself, Haemon and Eurydice decide to take their own lives in the acceptance of fate and utter grief. In the end, Creon’s fate led him to walk in this world alone, knowing that he influenced the fate of his family members. “I don’t know where to look or find support. Everything I touch goes wrong, and on my head fate climbs up with its overwhelming load,” (1487-1490). Creon is the only one without love and left alone in his own misery when the tragedy comes to an end. His fate is marked by the wrongdoings and decisions of his family. It is not until the very end that he recognizes and accepts his own destiny with a wounded heart.

While love and pride influenced the lives of Creon and Antigone, the greatest power and benefactor was fate itself. As Sy Montgomery once stated, “fate is the promise that life is not a random string of tragedy and comedy without meaning. Fate proclaims that our lives are in fact so meaningful, so necessary, that our stories are written by the gods and goddesses, by the heavens themselves.”