Antigone Creon Tragic Figure

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The tragic figure of Antigone is Creon; Creon displays several errors in judgment and two major frailties of character throughout the events of Antigone that lead to the tragic events of the play, and his eventual downfall. Some may view Antigone as the tragic figure of the play because of the overall tragic nature surrounding the events of her death, but Antigone carried with her the support of the people and Antigone accepted her fate. She seemed to throw her life around like she was ready for it to end. Creon, on the other hand, was a victim of his character flaw and fate, making him the true tragic figure of Antigone. Creon’s character flaws are his intense sense of pride and his stubbornness; he is convinced that his decisions, and his decisions alone, are correct. This causes problems from the beginning and prevents Creon from taking advantage of the opportunities presented to him throughout the …show more content…
The first major decision we see from Creon is his declaration that no one will bury the body of Polyneices; this was something that went against one of the most respected laws of the gods and was seen as unjust by many citizens. However, Creon stood by his decision despite how it was viewed by the people, hoping to be seen as a strong leader by standing by his choices. Creon’s pride continues to show itself in every decision that he makes from that point on. There is an interesting argument between Creon’s son, Haimon, and Creon himself discussing Creon’s pride and the fact that Creon might benefit from listening to the opinions of others. Haimon says, “the reasonable thing is to learn from those who can teach” (Antigone 514), Haimon says this in an attempt to convince his father that he alone cannot always be right, and that he must be capable of adapting his opinion in order to make the right choices. Though, Creon refuses to listen to Haimon’s reasoning,

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