Creon is finally shaken in fear. He will free Antigone if he can, and regrets defying the law of the gods. The Chorus beg to Bacchus to come and set things right.
After a time, a messenger arrives with news of Creon's despair. Haemon is dead by suicide. Eurydice (Creon's wife and Haemon's mother) enters distrught, and the messenger tells the story. He and Haemon went and performed the proper burial rites on Polyneices rotting body. Haemon then went to free Antigone, but found her having hanged herself. Creon also arrived, setting off Haemon's rage. He lunged at his father, then stabbed himself with his own sword, embracing Antigone in his death.
Eurydice leaves, and Creon enters with Haemon's body. He is broken. The same messenger enters again with more news: Eurydice has killed herself with her dagger. What is more, she cursed and blamed Creon for all the death's before committing the act. Creon has lost everything.
The Chorus's final lesson:
Where wisdom is, there happiness will crown--------------------------
A piety that nothing will corrode.
But high and mighty words and ways
Are flogged to humbleness, till age,
Beaten to its knees, at last is wise.
Very bloody ending, moreso than anything I've read so far. Inspiration to Shakespeare?
In the end, Creon did respect a higher authority-- the words of the prophet shook him to his core. He really did understand that his actions were subject to the law of the gods. But in his arrogance, he would not believe any of those who tried to warn him of that, distrusting their motives-- even disbelieving the prophet for a time, treating him as a huckster. A little paranoia mixed in with the megalomania, I think.
Another lesson: justice does indeed come in the end onto those who test it. From the very beginning of his rampage, Creon's fate was sealed. It was only a matter of time.
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