Sophocles Antigone: Creon The Tragic Hero

Words: 552

Pages: 3

Open Document

Creon: the Tragic Hero In Sophocles’ play Antigone, Creon is the one and only tragic hero. This statement can easily be deemed as accurate and evident after analyzing his decisions, actions, and character.
Creon contains a characteristic that causes his downfall and we can feel connected with. No other character in this play has such a quality. This important characteristic or “tragic flaw” that makes him unique is being too close-minded and stubborn. He makes many errors in judgment due to his tragic flaw. We can see his stubbornness when he gives his speech to the citizens and says, “... Polyneices, I say, is to have no burial: no man is to touch him or say the least prayer for him... This is my command...”(499). This shows that Creon firmly believes that burying Polyneices is wrong and that anyone who buries him is also going against the country and being completely evil. He holds this judgment on Antigone by believing that she is doing stuff to bring her country down. However, Antigone had no intention of doing such a thing. She just wanted to show respect towards her brother because no matter what happened Polyneices was her brother and someone …show more content…
Creon is being very close-minded by believing that he is only right and Haimon will understand that his father’s decision can’t be wrong. We can see how Creon thinks that Haimon should completely forget about Antigone because she is wrong in the following quote: “Not to lose your head over this woman. Your pleasure with her would soon grow cold, Haimon” (512). However, Haimon is just trying to be respectful towards his father and not break his feelings. Eventually, Haimon loses his respect and temper because his father is not willing to change his opinion even slightly and says, “Then she must die-But her death will cause another. There is no threat in speaking to emptiness.”

Creon And The Tragic Hero In Sophocles Antigone

decisions help set the stage for their inevitable fate to occur or a tragic hero with a tragic flaw, is shown as a common theme throughout Sophocles’s plays. In the play Antigone, for example, the tragic hero is depicted the character Creon. The main conflict within Antigone is there is confrontation between the protagonist, Antigone, and the antagonistic tragic hero, Creon over the burial of Antigone’s deceased brother Polynices due to Creon accusing him of treason. This was an example of a clash of moral…

Words 635 - Pages 3

Creon Tragic Hero

Sophocles’ Antigone features many elements of a Greek Tragedy. One of these many elements featured in the play is its usage of the ‘tragic hero’ trope. A tragic hero is one of the main characters of a Greek tragedy play. This character would start the play on a good, moral path, and had everything. During the course of the play, they would experience challenges, and but by the end of the play, they would experience downfall, and lose everything. The character of Creon is an example of a tragic hero…

Words 592 - Pages 3

Antigone Research Paper

Lauren Locke Collage Composition Kristen Barton 25 April 2024 Tragedy of Antigone Antigone is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles around 441 BCE. The play is about a young woman who defies her uncle, Creon, to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial. Antigone's brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, die in war, and Polyneices is considered a traitor to Thebes, so Creon, the king refuses to bury him properly. Antigone is determined to give him a proper burial because she believes that even though…

Words 1234 - Pages 5

Essay on Antigone: Sophocles and Tragic Hero

Creon: The Archetype of a Tragic Hero The Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles is a story of defiance on one part and ignorance on the other, ultimately resulting in downfall in both cases. The play begins in the aftermath of a civil war in Thebes; there are many casualties including two brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles. These brothers along with their sisters, Antigone and Ismene, are the children of Oedipus, the previous king who suffered a curse that led to his inevitable demise. The current…

Words 768 - Pages 4

How Can Antigone Be Considered A Tragic Hero

considered a tragic hero? Or would the punisher who faces the consequences of his wrong-doings be a tragic hero? In Sophocles’ Antigone, there lies much controversy over who should be labeled as the tragic hero, a great figure who meets an ultimate fall due to tragic flaw which is usually hubris, or having too much pride. Within the plot, Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, disobeys Creon, her uncle, by burying the body of her deceased brother, Polynices. Creon then punishes Antigone and... -For…

Words 271 - Pages 2

Antigone Tragic Hero

divine power over the gods despite what many may think. In Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone, it is as clear as the ocean is blue that while Antigone herself may not be a textbook example of a tragic hero, she has more of the required characteristics than that of her uncle, Creon. She was born a princess of Thebes, a noble birth. She is devoted to her family above all else, and is truly outraged at the order forbidding her brother’s burial. Antigone says “[I]f I had allowed my own mother’s son to rot, an…

Words 956 - Pages 4

Similarities Between Antigone And Creon

In the Tragic play Antigone by Sophocles, there are two characters that could be the tragic hero. The two characters are Antigone, the strong independent woman who wants a burial for her brother Polyneices, and Creon, the King of Thebes who does not want to bury Polyneices because he was a traitor to the city. According to Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero (a classic tragic hero), Creon is the better fit for the role of tragic hero, which is shown in the third requirement for a tragic hero…

Words 705 - Pages 3

Antigone: Tragic Hero Essay

Antigone is a Greek Tragedy that stresses the use of sovereignty and virtue against the law ,written by Sophocles. Within the story, the inquery of who the tragic hero is, King Creon or Antigone herself, is a subject of highly debatable class. The king Creon possesses some of the characteristics that define a tragic character, as defined in Aristotle's Tragic Theory. According to Aristotle's Theory, there are a few major traits, which are required of the tragic character. The character must be viewed…

Words 1027 - Pages 5

A Neglected Tragedy- Antigone Essay

A Neglected Tragedy Antigone, by Sophocles, is the unfortunate tale of a cursed royal family troubled and transformed by the death of two brothers and the audacity of their younger sister, Antigone. Sophocles constructs a tragedy, but what lies ambiguous is the identity of the tragic hero. Antigone, a defiant young girl sentenced to death by her uncle due to her thirst for pride, defiance of law, and keen recollection of her adverse past, acts as center focus of tragedy in the play. However,…

Words 740 - Pages 3

Creon Tragic Hero In Antigone

up falling from grace. The dramatic play Antigone by Sophocles written in 441 B.C.E is a story of many different opinions contrasting each other leading to death, sadness and regret. The character Antigone fights for what she believes in against the king and the gods beliefs to bury her dead brother, Polyneices who died in a battle against his own brother Eteocles to win over the throne. After analyzing all the possibilities, the king, Creon is a tragic hero in the story because he survives all events…

Words 643 - Pages 3