Sophocles ' Antigone - The Tragic Hero

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.

In the play Antigone, Creon starts off as the loyal king of Thebes. He is loyal to the gods and loyal to the welfare of Thebes. However, over the course of the play, Creon degenerates into a tyrant. His degeneration is showing his character development. Creon’s pride about the human law also develops throughout the play, creating conflict with the divine law. When Antigone rebels against his law, he becomes stubborn, and makes myopic decisions and grows into his hamartia. Besides his hamartia, Creon’s position as the king makes him a power hungry man. His power madness degenerates him into becoming a ruthless and vindictive man, even to his family. However, over the course of the play, Creon begins to see that because of the laws of men, he was being blinded of what’s

Antigone is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. ONE OF THE three surviving tragedians of classical Athens, along with Aeschylus and Euripides, and one of the great dramatists of world literature, Sophocles spanned in his long life (497-406 B.C.) the cultural flowering of Athens in the fifth century(Segal 1). Antigone is named after the daughter of King Oedipus of Thebes, a young woman who stood against the king’s decision and believed in the gods’ law. There are many arguments regarding who is the real protagonist and antagonist in this play. The protagonist is generally regarded as the good guy and antagonist is the bad guy. Antigone is a protagonist as she is the title character in the

     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

A tragic hero is a character in a play that is known for being dignified but has a flaw that assists in his or her downfall. Antigone is a Greek tragic piece written by Sophocles. In the theatrical production the use of power and morality versus law is evident. The promotion to the conflict was that Creon created a law in which enabled Polynieces, Antigone’s brother, to be buried in the proper way. As it is the way of the gods Antigone found it fit to bury her brother causing her to disobey the law of Thebes. Both Antigone and Creon, the main characters, could represent a tragic hero. However Creon is more eligible for being the tragic hero because he fits the definition. Aristotle’s idea of a tragic hero was that the character was of

Teiresias goes on to say “Think: all men make mistakes,But a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, And repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.” (Antigone 1.5.804-806). Creon in this scene at first was still in his stubborn way, “I would not yield.” (Antigone 1.5.818). Later in the scene Creon realizes that he was wrong and that he should be less stubborn, “That is true... . It troubles me. Oh it is hard to give in! but it is worse To risk everything for stubborn pride”(Antigone 1.5.863-866) Choragos is not afraid of Creon and is more open to tell him his opinion, “Go quickly: free Antigone from her vault”(Antigone 1.5.868). He even gave Creon advice, “You must go yourself, you cannot leave it to others.” (Antigone 1.5.874). One major events is that a blind prophet named Teiresias told Creon that he was wrong and that he need to be less stubborn. Creon finally listen and decided free Antigone. Antigone killed herself, so a grief stricken Haiman killed himself too. Creon thinks that the deaths are his fault. Creon’s wife kills herself aswell because of her grief. The author uses an illusion in “ But Hephaistos 12 failed me: instead of bright flame,”(Antigone 1.5.790). The author used a metaphor in the line “He is a walking dead man.”(Antigone 1.5.912). The author used imager and a metaphor when he said “And she fell, and the dark flowed in through her closing eyes.” (Antigone 1.5.1017).The author used a hyperbole to show how much these death meant to him, “Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing.” (Antigone 1.5.1037) In the last lines of the act the author uses personification “ Big words are always punished,”(Antigone

Aristotle once said, regarding his principles that a certain character is a tragic hero, "A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." This quotation is an accurate statement regarding the actions between Creon in the beginning of the play, and at the end once he has lost his family. A tragic hero is defined as a character of noble stature, the hero is imperfect allowing the audience to relate to him, as well as the hero’s downfall is caused by his own fate, leading to the punishment exceeding the crime and the character’s realization leading to the fall. The audience experiences a catharsis at the end of the play, which allows the audience feel that society is “right” again. All six of

In addition, Creon also has an inaccurate view of his place in relation to the gods. He believes that man’s laws are more important than the laws of the gods. Antigone tries to defend her decision to bury her brother by proclaiming, “I do not think your edicts have such power that they can override the laws of heaven…If I transgressed these laws because I feared the arrogance of man, how to the god’s could I make satisfaction” (line 408)? Creon’s hubris causes him to think that he must put Antigone to death because she chooses to follow the god’s laws over his.

Even if he believes he is right and his son should obey him, he doesn’t show an ounce of sympathy for Haemon, who loves Antigone. Creon details his thoughts on the importance of the rule of law over other loyalties, and his belief that to allow any anarchy or, seemingly, freedom would threaten the state. Creon’s method of executing Antigone is interesting. By entombing a living person, Antigone, and denying burial to a dead person, Polynices, Creon’s laws seem to go against common sense, tradition, and nature itself. Creon does not keep a cool head, as a wise leader should, or look for a way to compromise. He is as stubborn as Antigone, as if this were a street fight, he feels he could never back down.

Pride acts as another major theme; it is what got Creon in this situation in the first place. Creon has too much pride to admit to anyone that maybe he was wrong. Even when he has Antigone he has too much pride to let her go. Creon's own son questions him and he replies, "Am I to stand here and be lectured to by a kid? A man of my experience"(1063)!Creon shows that here he is too proud to change his decision for his own son even if he made the wrong choice. The king's friend the Leader tries to convince Creon to change his mind by telling him "My king, ever since he began I've been debuting in my mind, could this possibly be the work of the gods"(1050). The Leader was trying to tell

There has always been a great debate over who is the true tragic hero in Sophocles' Antigone. Many scholars would stake claim to Antigone possessing all the necessary characteristics of a true tragic hero, but many others would argue that Creon holds many qualities as well. It is hard to discount Antigone as a tragic hero, because in fact, the play bears her name, but from careful reading, Creon meets Aristotle's criteria exactly and fits perfectly into the role. In order to determine whether or not Creon is the true tragic hero, one must answer the question: 'What is a Tragic Hero?' In Aristotle's Poetics, he discusses the basic criteria regarding a tragic hero. Aristotle

When Creon asked Antigone if she knew about his previous promulgation, she replied, “It was public. Could I help hearing it?” (783, 63). Because Antigone knew he would have to execute her, one can imply that one of her intentions was to make Creon seem unjust. The king was forced to deal with being the “bad guy” for protecting the law, which he created for the best interest of the state. Creon explains this point when he says, “...I have nothing but contempt for the kind of Governor who is afraid...to follow the course that he knows is best for the state” (777, 21-23). Despite the harshness of his means, Creon’s intentions were to create a more effective government, which could ultimately succeed in helping the people. Given this perspective, one may begin to appreciate Creon’s devotion in restoring order in the Thebes. One can additionally feel sympathy for the desperate measures Creon had to take to protect the law. If even he didn 't obey the law, who else would? Even though his methods gave him the reputation of being an immoral king, one can sympathize with Creon due to his unyielding concern for the welfare of Thebes.

Creon’s bad decision leads to his eventual downfall and demise. Creon realizes his hubris and his wrong decision a little too late. Antigone is already dead, and he cannot correct his wrong-doing. This makes the audience feel pity for him, for he

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

The way he addresses them exemplifies his unwillingness to change for anybody, he finds it almost laughable that they would alter his actions. Creon is again shown a good argument, that his own son will die if he kills Antigone; however, because he does not accept that other people can alter his way of doing things, he dismisses his son’s threat later in the passage. Only a stubborn person would be faced with the suicide of their son, and brush it off as bluff, and deny their involvement. Blindsided by his own stubbornness, Creon finally meets his faith when he heads to Antigone’s place of captivity to see “Her [Antigone] hanging by her neck… whereon the poor demented boy [Haemon] Leaned on his sword and thrust it deeply into his own side.”(159) Creon arrived to see Antigone dead and his son killing himself, however there can’t be sympathy for someone who brought it upon themselves. He dismissed all people who got in his way, his son as well as his constituents, and he was met with the unavoidable. As predicted by his son, he killed himself, therefore proving that Creon’s stubbornness lead directly to his son’s death. Creon finally accepts his wrongs, but that is after he dismissed and denied all contrasting arguments. Creon’s downfall is by no doubt caused by his stubbornness, he had many