Answer: figurative language
Explanation:
Sophocles is using figurative language as the literary device while Creon is speaking to Ismene because in that conversation Creon is gently alluding to the ones that are trying to hurt him and stole his throne while he was good to them.
That is why he is saying ''I was nurturing two pests who aimed to rise against my throne''. He is talking to Ismene and telling her that she is a snake and that she is sucking the blood out of his life secretly which is showing how she was trying to get him into the trouble behind his back.
