What happens in Chapter 6 of Antigone?
The blind prophet Tiresias arrives at the palace, guided by a boy, and delivers a grim warning to Creon. He describes a troubling omen: birds screeching and attacking each other, and the altar fires burning poorly—signs he links directly to the corruption stemming from Creon's order to leave Polynices unburied. Tiresias implores Creon to change his mind, to give Polynices a proper burial and free Antigone from the tomb. Creon, defensive as ever, accuses Tiresias of being on the take and dismisses the prophecy as a self-serving ploy. Tiresias, hurt but resolute, responds with a chilling counter-prophecy: in a matter of days, Creon will suffer for his actions with the death of his own kin, and the Furies will be waiting. He leaves, leaving Creon visibly shaken. The Chorus, who have never before opposed Creon, now urge him to listen to the prophet's message—Tiresias, they point out, has always been right. Disturbed, Creon finally starts to waver, setting the scene for his late and ultimately pointless change of heart.
Analysis
This episode represents a crucial turning point in both the structure and morality of the play. Sophocles uses Tiresias as a tool of dramatic irony: the blind prophet clearly sees what the sighted king refuses to accept. The scene's brilliance lies in its mounting reversals—Creon, who has spent the play asserting his authority, gradually loses every rhetorical defense. His claim that Tiresias is being bribed reflects his earlier distrust of the Guard and Antigone, revealing a mindset that perceives all opposition as a conspiracy. Sophocles highlights this pattern so the audience can witness Creon's decline.
The imagery of omens—birds tainted by human flesh, flames that refuse to burn—reinforces the play's ongoing theme of natural order disrupted by civic wrongdoing. Pollution (miasma) is not just a metaphor here; it has cosmic implications. Creon's law has tainted the boundary between the living and the dead, and the gods are expressing their anger through tangible signs.
Tiresias's prophecy is strikingly specific: it doesn't merely suggest vague doom but mentions a child's corpse, gives a clear timeframe, and names the Furies. This precision shows Sophocles tightening the dramatic tension. The Chorus's abrupt change—from loyal supporters of Creon to urgent advocates for change—indicates to the audience that the play's moral foundation has shifted irreversibly. When Creon finally wavers, it appears less as wisdom and more as panic, and Sophocles skillfully maintains that distinction.
Key quotes from Chapter 6
“All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.”
Tiresias delivers this rebuke directly to Creon, framing the king's stubbornness not as strength but as the one unforgivable fault.
“The birds—I could no longer read the signs by their cries, they were screaming in some strange tongue, mad with blood-lust.”
Tiresias describes the corrupted omens that first alerted him to divine displeasure, anchoring the supernatural warning in visceral, sensory detail.
“You will give corpse for corpse, flesh of your own flesh.”
The prophet's closing counter-prophecy to Creon, precise and merciless, naming the personal cost that Creon's pride will exact before the play is done.