Antigone By Creon: A Tragic Hero

More than any other character in Sophocle’s plays, Antigone shows an inordinate sense of pride and willpower. Antigone’s brother Polynices was killed in battle against the king Creon. Creon’s orders forbid anyone from burying Polynices after the war because he feels Polynices was a traitor to Creon. Antigone disagrees with Creon, however, and buries her brother’s body properly to be received by the gods. Each is certain of their own integrity; they each believe in the rightness of their position.

Though it may seem that Creon is the antagonist of the play, he would be considered the tragic hero because he displays many of the characteristics of one. In the play, Creon is a character full of pride who shows disrespect toward the natural order of things, has a moment where he realizes his mistake, and has a downfall at the end of the story. Sophocles’ play “Antigone” not only presents an interesting story about the children of Oedipus but also presents a series of events that lead to a dramatic change in Creon’s

After pushing away every member of his family and causing confusion throughout the kingdom, Creon is faced with a new reality- he lost everything. He sent Antigone away to be locked up till her own death takes her, his son Haimon and his wife Eurydice took their own lives, and the prophet and people of the city look down upon Creon as he aches for his own death. Creon comes to a quick realization of his misfortunes at the sound of his poor wife 's last breath. With fear, he states "I have been rash and foolish. I have killed my son and my wife.

Usually, heroes in a Greek play or poem are not always perfect; they have flaws and fix their mistakes to relate to real life. At first, Creon makes rash decisions and sticks to them no matter what anyone says. When he disputes with Haemon about the punishment of Antigone, Creon exclaims, “Bring her out, /that hateful — she'll die now, here, /in front of his eyes, beside her groom!” (852-4). He does not change his opinions, regardless of Haemon and his citizens’ opinions.

In the short story titled “Antigone,” the author portrays Creon as a tragic hero by displaying flaws in Creon's character shown throughout the story. Creon’s character contains many flaws which lead to many problems. His decisions end up deciding the fates of his son, his wife, and Antigone. Creon finally realizes that what he has done is sinful to the gods. He has put his own pride over the appreciation of the gods.

There is nothing more demoralizing as money. Homes gone, men gone, honest hearts corrupted, crookedness of all kinds, and all for money,” (pg. 201). Now, Creon is saying that anyone can be bribed into doing anything. He gave the example of “homes gone,” he also said that even the honest hearts can become corrupted, then he says, “crookedness of all kinds and all for money.” In the end his power as king and his hubris makes him cynical and makes him see all people in a negative way and assumes that they could be easily bribed into getting everything he wants at any

Creon is a very stubborn person, this leads him to make very harsh and rash decisions that he will eventually regret. “The inflexible heart breaks first, the toughest iron cracks first.” This quote is explaining how Creon is very stubborn in his decisions and he will not change his mind. This leads to the fall of creon because him being stubborn causes most of his family to die. Creon eventually ends up sentencing Antigone to death.

As defined by Aristotle, a tragic hero is one who is not entirely good or evil. They are an individual who experiences a “reversal of fortune through a fault of character or an uncontrollable accident” (Boucquey). He or she undergoes a dramatic change from happiness to misery (Boucqyey). In Sophocles’ Antigone, Creon is the tragic hero. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero should contain four traits: goodness, appropriateness, lifelike, and consistency, which Creon most prominently displays.

Creon thought he had the most power over everybody but it turns out that the Gods were the ones with the power. In the play Antigone, Creon is a tragic hero which advances the play when he interacts with Antigone by acts of injustice, free choice and weakness. To begin with, Creon was unjust when he Punished Antigone for burying her own brother. “So she [Antigone] must die- that

All people can have power in our world, but only a few can have power and fewer can wield it with control in “Antigone”. Creon in the play “Antigone”, is the tragic hero because of the choices he makes and the way he acts. Creon is the tragic hero because he was born into nobility, responsible for his own fate, and doomed to make a serious error in judgement. Creon shows that he is the tragic hero in “Antigone” because he is born into nobility.

Against the warning of others, Creon goes on with his plan to essentially sentence Antigone to her death. Creon continually ignores what others counsel him to do because he believes that just because he is king, everything he does is right. It is this thinking that ultimately leads to the death of not only Antigone, but also Creon’s son and wife as well. All tragic heroes suffer from a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. Creon suffers from two tragic flaws, pride and stubbornness.

The reader feels pity for Creon for his lack of time to grieve and his tragic mistake that led to the loss of his family, this demonstrates his goodness. Creon, recently succeeded to take the throne of Eteocles, making him king. Therefore, giving him the title of royalty and showing superiority. His power and control over Thebes makes him important, and this power and importance leads to a lack of mercy for criminals.. CREON. I have summoned you here this morning because I know that I can depend on you: your devotion to King Laius was absolute; you never hesitated in your duty to our late ruler Oedipus; and

In this quote, she is trying to harn Creon that although he thinks very highly of himself, he will never be able to anything to disrupt the gods and their unwritten laws (being that all men deserve burial). Additionally, the word choice and tone used by the characters also differs. When Creon talks he makes it clear that he thinks of himself quite highly and is convinced that he is above everyone else because of his excessive pride and noble stature. This leads to a tone in his speech that is very obnoxious and off-putting. To the contrary, Antigone regards herself quite low and stands for

Creon’s decisions have lead him to lose his son and his wife, which is where his downfall begins. Creon becomes the tragic hero because he has endured pain from the deaths of his family. By not listening to Teiresias or anyone, but only to himself because he believes what he is doing is right, the death of his loved ones were

Creon realizes it’s too late his mistakes, and now that he lost his family, he realizes he should of listened. All his family dead, he is now alone because he was blinded by his pride that he didn't listen. He realized too late of all the consequences that his ignorance brought upon him. Throughout the play Antigone by Sophocles Creon is seen as a tragic hero, due to the fact that he is rude to others when they try to talk to him and acts childish when insulting others.