What Are Antigone And Creon's Tragic Flaws

Words: 1119
Pages: 5
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Gavin Hughes
Ciccarone
Honors English Two 6th hour
26 September 2016
Antigone - The Tragic Flaw
A tragic hero is usually a noble and influential person who meets destruction because of a personal flaw and the opposition of others. Who do you consider the tragic hero, Antigone or Creon? In the ancient Greek play, “Antigone” written by Sophocles, Antigone is described as the tragic hero. It can be debated that in the story, there are two tragic heroes; Creon and Antigone. Antigone has a few tragic flaws. Antigone is extremely loyal to the gods and her brother’s memory means she will have to be disloyal toward King Creon. Antigone is also tremendously stubborn. Some see this as a positive trait in a heroic sort of way. Unfortunately for Antigone, …show more content…
Creon would never listen to anyone. He is stubborn and his pride is colossal which causes the many faults during his reign in Thebes. Creon only cares for himself and fails to see the fault in his decisions until it is too late. Both Creon and Antigone share the same flaws dealing with their own pride.
Antigone shows many tragic flaws including her faith in the gods. Some faith is good but she relies too much on the gods. In the passage, it states “Not through dread of any human pride could I answer to the gods for breaking these. Die I must…”. This quote is important is important because it shows that Antigone knew that she was going to die. She felt that it was not prideful of her to bury her brother because she believes that the gods are on her side and not Creon's. She still keeps her faith in the gods and hopes that the gods will somehow free her. Another quote states “I urge no more; nay thou willing still, I would not …show more content…
Both Antigone and Creon share the both same amount of pride. Antigone and Creon shows their pride in an extreme way. Creon and Antigone all relive how pride leads to pressure. Creon's pride blinds him from the wrong that he had done to Antigone. Creon’s sole flaw is not his misogyny, but it is this coupled with his stubbornness and pride that lead to his downfall. It takes an amount of confidence to stand for the statutes that one believes in, but when that confidence is transformed into self-serving pride, then, Aristotle shows, his downfall and destruction imminent. Creon would rather allow Antigone to kill herself than admit that he is wrong. Both Creon and Antigone have a tragic flaw, though perhaps only one is truly a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. Antigone’s loyalty to the gods is so great that she believes that the gods would free her. Antigone’s hamartia, the point at which she “misses the mark,” occurs when her devotion to the gods exceed the original goal to become a devotion to herself, a pride taken in her own actions and thusly an utter rejection of any acknowledgement that others may be partially right, an inability to see anything but her self-righteous side of the issues, and a haughty exclusion of others from joining what she ordains as her own misery, her own fate, her own actions. Both Creon and Antigone end miserably. Antigone loses her beloved martyrdom by taking her own
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