Creon: The Tragedy Of Antigone

She makes a choice to bury Polyneices, her brother. Knowing all too well that the punishment for her actions is death. In the end Antigone does get caught and dies.This is just another example as to how corrupt Creon has become. He shows no sympathy to even his family. Ruling with an iron grip promotes no forward movement and restrains people from their true potential.

     Finally, Creon is a dynamic character. He undergoes changes in emotion throughout the work. He realizes his mistakes when Tiresias forecasts the future. Thus, Creon attempts to correct himself by releasing Antigone. But he is too late. He is forced to live, knowing that three people are dead as a result of his actions. This punishment is worse than death. Although Creon’s self-righteousness and inflexibility did not change until the end of the play, his motivations traveled from patriotic ones to personal ones. This created a major portion of the

Creon orders the guards to take Antigone away not caring for his son's feelings, since she is his fiancée. Creon feels the law should stand despite the fact that Antigone was his niece or how moral her act was. "Bring her [Antigone] out! Let her die before his eyes..." (Scene 3, 130). This quotes shows that Creon took his position as king seriously to the point where in he was willing to sacrifice the feelings of his own son. He was willing to be the cause of son's destruction just to prove that he is the king and always right. "I will go... I buried her, I will set her free" (scene 5, 102,104). Not only does this quote show leadership but also stubbornness he was risking his relationship with his son to prove that he was the leader of Thebes. Creon says another quote which shows his loyalty to his kingdom, "I call to God to witness that if I saw my country headed for ruin, I should not be afraid to speak out plainly," (Sophocles, scene 1,24-26). It shows his strong sense of leadership which catches up with him in the end causing destruction.

Awaiting her death, Antigone remained in the tomb of stone. Knowing that her plan to bury her brother and remain loyal to the gods had failed, she no longer saw a point in living. She took her veil and hanged herself. When Haimon found Antigone lifeless, he cried “out That his father had stolen her away from him” (241). Haimon was right in saying that. Creon caused Haimon great despair. Enough for him to lunge at his own father. But when he missed Creon with the sword, he instead sunk it into his side and take his own life beside his true love. The death of Haimon brought his mother, Eurydice great heartache. It was too much for her to handle. Like the rest of Creon’s relatives, she killed herself as well. The demise of Creon’s loved ones is all to blame on his arrogants. “And now it has all gone from him! Who can say That a man is still alice when his life’s joy fails?” (238) Not only has Creon destroyed the lives of his family, but he also ruined his own. He is left with nothing. Not just his family, but with his control of Thebes. Many of his citizens began to express their opinions on Antigone and her bravery, and when they were ignored by their king, he lost some respect. If only Creon had listed to the warnings of others surrounding him. If those messages were acted on, Haimon, Antigone, and Eurydice would still be alive, and Creon would be a successful and

Throughout the play, Creon shows many examples of how he is imperfect. One example would be how he believes that the state is primary to his family and relationships, “If this is your pleasure, Creon, treating our city’s enemy and our friend this way … the power is yours, I suppose, to enforce it with the laws, both for the dead and all of us, the living,” this quotation said by the leader of the chorus describes how the elder people of Thebes respect their family more than the state, but they held back on their opinions, knowing of what Creon, the leader, wanted to hear (235-240). Another example of how Creon shows the audience of how he is imperfect is when, Creon meets with Haemon. Creon argues with Haemon about how people should act towards the country which they reside in, “But whoever steps out of line, violates the laws or presumes to hand out orders to his superiors, he’ll win no praise from me. But that man the city places in authority, his orders must be obeyed, large and small, right and wrong,” Creon believes since he has the highest throne in his country, that he should be obeyed whether the circumstance (745-751). Lastly, Creon demonstrates to the audience that he is imperfect by wanting to protect his country too much. This is visible when Creon sentences Antigone to a slow death, because of burying her brother, who was outcasted as a traitor. Creon put the state over his family which will lead to the complete

In the Greek tragedy Antigone, the characters Antigone and Creon can both be thought of as the tragic hero of the play. Though Antigone does show some of these characteristics of a tragic hero, Creon demonstrates the attributes more clearly and concisely. Creon is the King of Thebes, as well as the uncle of Antigone. Creon took the throne after a tragic quarrel between his two nephews, Eteocles and Polyneices. Despite his harsh governing and his crude ideals, he is not good or bad. Creon is the tragic hero of the play Antigone, because of his superiority in his society, his nobility, and his tragic flaw, self-pride.

As King of Thebes, Creon is forced to make difficult decisions. As a new ruler, he feels it is necessary to prove himself to his citizens, therefore he rules his state with a firm hand. He believes that Polyneices should not be buried because he was a traitor to his country and family. Creon knew this decision would be hard on some

What is a tragic hero? A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction. In the Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles, a king named Creon places a law that makes it illegal to bury Polyneices who is Antigone’s brother. But not being buried in Greek culture is a big deal because it means you don't make it to the afterlife, so then Antigone buries her brother so he can be at peace. The tragedy is about how Antigone and Creon each react to each other's actions, it becomes a battle of law and morality. In the tragedy, there are two possible tragic heroes, Antigone or Creon. I believe that Creon is the tragic hero because his tragic flaw led to the downfall of himself and his loved ones.

Creon is first portrayed as a leader with rational laws and consequences for breaking them. But by the end of the play, Creon is a completely different character; he has let his excessive pride and hubris take over him. He doesn’t realize his change in character until it is brought to him through the prophecy of Teiresias, when it is already too late. Creon can be identified as a tragic hero because he shows great signs of stubbornness and pride. Considering he is the King of Thebes, he follows his rules and laws without listening to his citizen’s concerns, nor does he care about the gods wishes. His role as a hubris influences many of his choices, he believes in only his own thoughts and wishes. Creon abuses his power just because he can, without thinking of the consequences.

   In the Antigone, unlike the Oedipus Tyrannus, paradoxically, the hero who is left in agony at the end of the play is not the title role. Instead King Creon, the newly appointed and tyrannical ruler, is left all alone in his empty palace with his wife's corpse in his hands, having just seen the suicide of his son. However, despite this pitiable fate for the character, his actions and behavior earlier in the play leave the final scene evoking more satisfaction than pity at his torment. The way the martyr Antigone went against the King and the city of Thebes was not entirely honorable or without ulterior motives of fulfilling pious concerns but it is difficult to lose sight of the fact

The qualifications of a tragic hero vary between Aristotle and Shakespeare. Aristotle thinks of a tragic hero as someone who is a noble character by choice and makes his/her own destiny, while Shakespeare sees a tragic hero as someone who is born of nobility and born to be important. Although both tragic hero's end in a tragic death that effects many people, not all tragic hero's fit perfectly into both categories. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Creon is considered a tragic hero. Creon follows Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero by being a noble character by choice, having important potential, and falls due to "miscalculations" with circumstances that are beyond control.

The play Antigone by Sophocles is a play like no other. There are three major themes or ideas which have a very important role in the play. The first major theme is fate, on how the play comes about and the turn of events that come about throughout it. Another main theme or idea is the pride the characters have and their unwillingness they have to change their minds once they are set on something. The last major theme is loyalty and the practical problem of conduct involving which is a higher law between the divine laws and those of the humans. It is an issue of which law is the "right" law, and if Creon and Antigone's acts are justifiable or not. The issues that Antigone and Creon have between them

Unfortunately, Creon does not always make the correct decision because of personality traits that he possesses. When Creon sentences Antigone to death, he is wrong. This decision is based on Creon’s downfalls. He has hamartia and he judges wrong, and he also suffers from hubris. He is excessively prideful and believes that his choice is the only correct one. Creon also has an inaccurate view of his place in relation to the Gods. He believes he is in a position to know what They want and know what They feel is best. No mortal truly knows what the Gods want, but Creon believes he does because he cannot imagine that what he believes is wrong, even to the Gods. Antigone’s death is a bad decision that Creon makes based on his beliefs that the Gods view Polyneices as a traitor and would not want him honored in death.

A tragedy, as defined by Ms. Tozar, is “the story of a falling from a high place to a lower place by a character.” In other words, a tragedy is a story of an individual who starts in a high position and descends throughout the story to end in a position that is lower than original position. The individual who makes the descent is known as the tragic hero. The tragic hero, as defined by Ms. Tozar, is “the character who falls from grace as a result of fate and/or a weakness. In the drama, Antigone by Sophocles, one could argue that there are many tragic heroes. However, the one who stands above them all is that of the character of Creon. Creon is understood by most as the tragic hero in Antigone as evident in his

Antigone is a play that was written in ancient Greece by the playwright Sophocles. It is the third play in a trilogy of tragedies about the city-state of Thebes, revolving around Oedipus Rex. Antigone starts the day after a civil war fought between the two sons of Oedipus Rex after his death. The civil war ended in death for both brothers, so their uncle, Creon, assumed the role of King of Thebes. The main conflict of the play begins when Creon gives one brother, Eteocles, a burial with honors, but passes a law forbidding a burial for the other brother, Polyneices with the penalty of death. One of the sisters of Eteocles and Polyneices, Antigone disagrees with this law, and decides to bury Polyneices, resulting in Creon sentencing Antigone to death. A conflict emerges between Antigone and Creon, who appear to be opposites. However, despite Antigone and Creon’s different stances on law, they are ultimately more similar than different because of their shared value of loyalty and their shared characteristic, hubris.