Creon: Of course, if you're on the woman's side-
Haemon: no, no- Unless you're the woman. It's you I'm fighting for.
...
Creon: Yet you plead her cause.
Haemon: No, yours, and that of the gods of the dead
Despite Creon's reasonable defense that a good leader needs to stick to his guns, it is Haemon's argument here that reveals Creon's flaws of execution. These quotes have a bigger impact in context, though. Haemon here is concluding that all the things he said previous about the burial of Polyneices and the release of Antigone were for Creon's benefit. Both the people of Thebes whom Creon was ruling and the "gods of the dead" should desire Polyneices buried and have deemed Antigone in the right. When Creon tries to avoid this responsibility towards the people and the gods, he blames Haemon for saying these things merely for the sake of his love. However, when Haemon turns this argument on it's head, claiming that it is Creon that he is fighting for, Creon's immovable decision makes him out for sort of a tyrant. That is, even as his own son is pledging loyalty to Creon's kingship and makes the point that he is only trying to help him be a good king, Creon refuses to humble himself enough to even consider his reasoning, let alone even care for the opinions of the people of Thebes. Instead, he waves off what Haemon has to say, claiming that he is just fighting to save Antigone, and in doing so he is aiding the hand of Fate that is bringing him to his demise. A king who will not consider council is in fact a Tyrant, and Haemon's statement of a pure motive in these quotes serve only, due to Creon's close-mindedness on the matter, to emphasize the point.
What gets me about these quotes, though, has nothing to do with my analysis. I know that when I personally am fighting for what I know is true and/or for one of the few people I know I can defend without the character of that person turning my help on its head, I get really heated. It frustrates me to the dickens when people are making arguments or acting upon things that are not logical, close-minded, points under-educated, or against someone I care for. Were I in Haemon's position, I would have been throwing logic in Creon's face SO hard, like "Can you not SEE that you are over-reacting? Really, what is the REAL harm in burying a man? What do you serve to gain but the animosity of all the subjects of Thebes??" However, even when Haemon has the life of his one true love on the line, and all the logic and religion on his side, he still gave time to mention that the one he was fighting for was Creon himself. My respect for Haemon absolutely skyrocketed in these few lines. THAT is the love and levelheadedness I've been striving for ever since I dedicated my life to the Lord - the kind of love that, even in the face of sheer stupidity and ignorance, works to love and fight FOR that stupid ignorant person (or the slightly misguided person, or some other person with problems that can be worded much much less harshly...). Yeah, I think Haemon is my favorite character from anything ever now. Yay!
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