what do people believe a tragic hero is? In this essay there is one person who meets the criteria for tragic hero. Creon, in this case, is the tragic hero because Creon possesses most of the qualities for the tragic hero. Creon has shown that he is the leader of many thing. In Antigone Creon says "And I as the next in blood, have succeeded to the full power of the throne." Creon has also shown that he is the head of everyone, even the gods. In scene 3 line 103, Creon says "My voice is the one voice giving orders in this city." These quotes would tell someone that Creon was dignified and superior. Creon was also the person that most would say had the most noticeable tragic flaw. Creon's tragic flaw was that he was arrogant, rash, and foolish.
Creon's arrogance is a way to protect his pride and reputation of power and nobility, but this flaw of his will cause his own destruction. In Sophocles’ Antigone, “that's the reason why you’ve steered the city on it's proper course” (line 1104-1105, part 6). In this quote the prophet of the city, Tiresias, is telling Creon that because of his misjudgment, which is caused by his stubbornness and self-pride, he has given Thebes a reason to come together as a community and protest for justice. Therefore, Creon's tragic flaws started to have it's
In this life, nobody has all the answers, even if they believe they do. In this instance, King Creon thinks he’s above everyone and refuses to listen when warnings are given to him, eventually, this will lead to his downfall. Creon is a tragic hero because of his pride, stubbornness, and guilt. One characteristic of a tragic hero is pride. Creon heavily displays this trait because he values his decisions over others, including God.
In the play Antigone, the tragedies that happened to Antigone and Creon were painful. The tragic hero archetype can be applied to both and it has been argued who fits best to the archetype. Creon is the person that fits best in the tragic hero archetype because he suffered more, and realized his mistakes that cost him great pain. Creon suffered more emotionally because his son killed himself and his wife due to his actions. He let his pride conquer him, which led to Haimon dying because he put Antigone to death and his wife’s death after hearing the news of his son.
His tragic flaw of excessive pride and arrogance prevents him from being able to logically access circumstances. He goes through a sudden reversal of fortune where he suffers from catastrophic losses, and he realizes that his misfortunes are caused by his own doings. Creon, being the brother of the late queen Jocasta, uncle and brother-in-law to the banished King Oedipus, and uncle to the former King Eteocles has extremely high noble stature (Doc C). Also, he comes from a position of extreme power, as shown by his three separate crowning as King of Thebes. Because of this, Creon as a tragic hero, has much to lose and will “fall from tremendous good fortune” (Doc C), causing the audience to feel a sense of “pity and fear” (Doc C) for Creon. His loss of his family and status due to his tragic flaw makes the audience pity him because his “punishment exceeds the crime” (Doc C) while making them subconsciously fear for themselves because “the hero is better than we are, and still failed” (Doc C). If the hero who is better than we are failed, then how will we compare? Sophocles creates the epitome of a tragic hero in his tragedy, Antigone, by capturing all five traits of a tragic hero into one character:
In his “Poetics,” Aristotle originally identified a tragic hero as someone who possesses an arete, hamartia, peripety, and anagnorisis. An arete shows human excellence or nobility in a character. On the other hand, a hamartia reveals a character’s major flaw. The tragic hero also undergoes a change in fortune from good to bad known as a peripety. Through the peripety, the character realizes his hamartia. In the Greek playwright “Antigone” by Sophocles, Creon, the King of Thebes is a tragic hero because he possesses all four of these traits.
A good leader will need that charistic in order to become successful. In his speech he tells everyone his goals, telling them what he wants done. Using indirect characterization, a reader can easily conclude that King Creon is a good leader and will bring prosperity in the future and that he is very proud of his stance of his class. Sadly, his pride is one of his downfalls, dragging him down.
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.
Aristotle describes a tragic hero as someone with good intentions, high class, and must suffer a fall from grace. Creon, the new King of Thebes, fits this bill quite nicely. While other tragic hero’s have suffered horrible fates, like Hamlet or Antigone, they did it with a selfish pursuit. Creon’s journey involved the country of Thebes scrutinizing all his actions; this influenced his actions and the tragedy he suffered. In literature history, Creon proves to be the most tragic character because he fulfills all the qualities Aristotle deems as a tragic hero while also trying to balance his powerful position.
Lastly, Creon was a tragic hero because he realized his flaws too late in time. Referring back to the prophecy of Tiresias, after the prophecy of Thebes was declared and Creon denying it, it soon came to pass. The chorus leader cries “My lord, my lord, such dreadful prophecies- and how he's gone..Since my hair changed colour from black to white, I know here in the city he's never uttered a false prophecy” (Antigone line 1220). Creon then replies to him by acknowledging his wrong and the effect of his wrong in the situation. “Aaii- mistakes made by a foolish mind, cruel mistakes that bring on
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
There was a time in the middle of football season where my coach and I were arguing of what my coverage zone was in a passing play, I was so sure that I was correct that I argued with him about it in front of the whole team. He ended up telling me to do it his way for a play, I ended up getting an interception as soon as I listened to him. Almost the exact same situation happened to Creon in a lengthy play called Antigone by Sophocles. It’s a play about how the king Creon refused to give Antigone's close brother a proper burial, just for breaking the law. Now Antigone has gone on a quest to bury her brother.n the end Creon needed to learn that sometimes you have to take the advice of others and see their side of the story instead of thinking
Tragic heroes have identifiable flaws which cause their destruction. In this situation Creon’s major flaw was that he was self-centered, and never listened he thought he was always right. Haemon points out that Creon needs to stop being narrow-minded and stubborn, "...Not far off when you shall pay back corpse for corpse..." (Scene 5, 72-73). Teiresias the fortune teller warns Creon that his inflexible ways
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.
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.
Creon said, ?...And whoever places a friend above the good of his own county, he is nothing: I have no use for him.? (203-205). Again, his high standards and honor for his country are shown in great detail: ?I could never stand by silent, watching destruction march against our city, putting safety to rout? (207-208). Creon shows a high sense of morality when he properly buried Eteocles, and then is showing his noble character by not burying Polyneices, who attacked Creon?s country; again his value of his country is shown. Creon is a good ruler because he like any king would punish evil and reward good. Creon is seen by the chorus to have ?goodness? and leadership. (Lines 691). The chorus praises Creon for his loyalty to the country after the great war, they look forward to his kingly rule and nobility in the future by saying, ?. . . Creon, the new man for the great new day?(Lines 173). Love of his country and his punishment of Polyneices show this great nobility and loyalty talked about by the chorus. Clearly Creon qualifies under the first criterion of being a tragic hero.