Antigone: Sophocles and Creon

Sophocles’ play Antigone continues the calamitous story of the Theban royal family, recounting the conflict between Creon’s authority as king and Antigone’s sense of justice. While many of the events of the play are certainly tragic, whether or not Antigone and its characters should be considered tragic is less definite. Aristotle’s theory of a tragic hero calls for a basically good character who experiences a fall due to some flaw or error, experiencing a transformative realization and catharsis as a result. When considered together, the traits of both Antigone and Creon come together to fulfill all of the requirements for the play to be a tragedy, but neither character can be considered an Aristotelian tragic hero standing alone.

John Lennon said, “Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.” Hubris, or excessive pride, was one of the biggest themes in Ancient Greek culture. It has what killed heroes, and destroyed villains in mythology and even real life. In the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, I share the battle that Creon has regarding a conflict of personal character, which leads to the deaths of others caused by his tremendously large ego.

“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you 're looking down, you can 't see something that 's above you.”

Creon has no toleration for people who place personal beliefs over the common good. He believes that government and law is the supreme authority, and civil disobedience is worst form of sin. The problem with Creon’s argument is he approaches He approaches every dilemma that requires judgement through descriptive generalizations. In contrast to the morality defined by Aristotle in his Nicomachaean Ethics, Creon shows that he is deaf to the knowledge of particulars--of place, time, manner, and persons, which is essential for moral reasoning. In short, he does not effectively bring together general principles and specific situations Creon does not acknowledge that emotion, and perception are as critical to proper moral consideration as reason. This explains why he does not respond accordingly with the reasoning of the guard, Tiresias the prophet, Antigone, her sister Ismene, or even his own son Haemon. Throughout the whole play, Creon emphasizes the importance of practical judgement over a sick, illogical mind, when in fact it is him who has the sick, illogical mind. He too exhibits pride in his argument. To Antigone and most of the Athenians, possessing a wise and logical mind means acknowledging human limitations and behaving piously towards the gods. Humans must take a humble attitude towards fate and the power of the gods, yet Creon mocks death throughout the play. He doest not learn his lesson until the end of the play when he speaks respectfully of

Secondly, Aristotle suggests that to be a tragic hero, one must not be perfect although his character is pre-eminently great. This is certainly true of Creon’s case. For example, in the above paragraph, we proved that Creon is essentially good because he chose to punish Polyneices. However, his choice of punishment—not burying Polyneices—does not rank as high on the moral spectrum. In fact, Antigone believes that Creon "dishonors" Polyneices by not burying him, by not "honoring what the gods have honored" (line 89). By going against his people’s centuries of beliefs, Creon’s character finds its imperfection.

In Sophocles’ Antigone, a major conflict arose over Antigone’s and Creon’s beliefs on right and wrong. Antigone stands for the laws of the Gods and family morals. Creon chose to stand for the values of the state and his will to be king. Although one’s decisions appear to be more reasonable and sympathetic than the other, both characters’ decisions in society can be equally validated.

Hero. Hero comes from the greek word heros meaning “A person who faces adversity, or demonstrates courage, in the face of danger.” Growing up we have always read stories about heroes coming to save the day; for instance, Captain America. Being that our whole lives we were mostly exposed to heroism, have you ever asked yourself what is the opposite of a hero? A villain is the opposite of a hero, but their is another opposite form of a hero; a tragic hero. A Tragic hero is “A literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction” (“Tragic hero as defined by Aristotle”). For instance, in the play written by Sophocles Antigone, the tragic hero is Creon. Creon who is Antigone’s

After everyone else has failed to convince Creon that he is wrong about sending Antigone away, and old, fervid Prophet comes to visit him. Teiresias is a blind old prophet who tells Creon that the gods are angry at Thebes and will curse it if Creon does not change his arrogant ways. “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong… The only crime is pride” (232) At first Creon is stubborn still, and insults the skill of prophets, but Teiresias goes on despite the king’s words. Teiresias eaves with a final warning saying if he does not heed the God’s word, he will be punished. After consulting his chorus and hearing Teiresias’ speech Creon finally recognizes that he was wrong. His moment of recognition is “Oh it is hard to give in! but it is worse to risk everything for stubborn pride.” (235)

Antigone however is more prideful than Creon and unlike Creon, Antigone’s pride directly cause her down fall. “Your edict, King, was strong, but all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now; they were, and shall be, operative forever, beyond man utterly.” (Page 823, scene 2, lines 60-64) This quote describes Antigone’s hubris. Antigone believes that she knows what the will of the gods is and that she’s following it. She thinks Creon as “just a man” who believes that he can and is surpassing the gods. Antigone however “knows” that Creon is under the gods. Antigone also believes that if her action (of burying Polyneices) “means death, it will not be the worst of deaths- death without honor.” (Page 817, Prologue, lines 80 and 81) Antigone is almost “obsessed” with getting an honorable death as she thinks that dying by trying to bury Polyneices is

In sophocles play Antigone Creon’s flaw is his pride. In the quote “ Now I am no man, but she is a man, if power lies with impunity.” Creon feels that if he isn't hard on Antigone, then he isn't a man. He doesn’t want to look weak to his subjects which hurts his pride, so he decides to kill Antigone instead of being nicer. You see Creon's pridefulness again when he goes to the prophet. Creon contradicts the prophet insisting that they are wrong and he is right. This pride leads to everyone he loves dying. Other characters even tell Creon that he is being arrogant and that he’s not always right. Haimon tells Creon “ I beg you not to be unchangeable. Do not believe that you alone can be right.” Creon believes that he is even above the gods at

If you were the king of the world, what kind of king would you be? A benevolent ruler who people trust, or a tyrant? What about a bit of both? In the play antigone, by sophocles, antigone tries to bury her dead brother.

Jean Anouilh’s adaption of Sophocles’ Antigone published in 1994 garners the question whether or not the audience should deem Creon, the anointed king of Thebes, a tragic hero or villain? Notably, a Greek tragedy is distinguishable by the presence of a tragic villain. The role of which is to maintain awareness of their evil, yet unlike the hero remain static in terms of seeking resolution for their tragic flaw. Anouilh explores the way in which these attributes manifest themselves through Creon’s actions and dialogue in terms of his ability to uphold his authoritative political pragmatism ideals. Anouilh characterizes Creon through the iteration of his ideals concerning the role of an authority figure.

            To identify the tragic hero in Sophocles’ renowned play “Antigone”, we should first consider both the elements present in Greek tragedies and what characteristics define a tragic hero. Aristotle’s definition of tragedy is: “Tragedy is a story taking the hero from happiness to misery because of a fatal flaw or mistake on his part. To be a true tragic hero he must also elicit a strong emotional response of pity and fear from the audience. This is known as catharsis or purging of emotion.” In most cases the tragic hero begins

He has both good and rational reasons for his laws and punishments”. His dedication to being the ruler of Thebes became an increase on his pride towards the middle of the play. Creon’s behavior became outlandish in which he became the antagonist. In the play, Creon says, “Die then, and love the dead if thou must; No woman shall be the master while I live” (Sophocles). In the early B.C, the male dominant role was more involved in political issues and public events.

When the title of a play is a character's name, it is normally assumed that the character is the protagonist of the play. In Sophocles' Antigone, most people probably believe Antigone to be the tragic heroine, even after they have finished watching the play. It may be argued, however, that Creon, not Antigone, is the tragic character. When we examine the nature and concept of the Greek Tragedy and what it means to be a tragic character, it becomes clear that Creon is indeed the tragic hero of the play Antigone.