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Analysis Of Sophocles Antigone: Moral Law Vs Divine Law

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When considering moral law and divine law, which is the better one to follow? Along with being the least destructive law to follow. Moral law being your own discretion while divine law being the law given to you by the higher authorities. When facing difficult situations people often have to chose between these two laws. The key is to have a balance of both the laws in order to create harmony as well as equality. In Antigone by Sophocles the tragic hero is Creon. People say Antigone is the tragic hero of Antigone but, clearly Creon is the tragic hero. Creon is the tragic hero as he discovers the truth of his wrong choices, and accepts responsibility for his actions(“Aristotle”). King Creon of Thebes discovers the truth of his wrong choices …show more content…

Creon is admirable in defeat because he realized what he had done but only when it was too late. Creon’s defeat is shown when he says “I alone am guilty”(1060). Creon gains structure as a character because his eyes are opened to the fact that his ignorance has brought death and destruction among his family and to Antigone as well as her Antigone's family. Finally, the weakness of Creon and error in judgement(“Aristotle”) brings doom upon himself. Creon’s weakness is shown when he is fearful of being undermined by Antigone because she is a women. The error in judgement that comes upon Creon is that Creon thinks thathis actions will not have consequences. The fact that Creon did not bury Polynices is a fault in him as the repercussion of not burying him resulted in the death and rebuttal of Antigone, Haemon, and Creon’s own wife. In Conclusion, Creon is the tragic hero of the story because through some weakness of character or error in judgment, brings doom upon himself he discovers the truth of his wrong choice and accept responsibility for his actions, he is a more admirable man in defeat than he was before and he gains stature through the way he meets catastrophe. Creon is the tragic

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Creon learns that, as Haimon had argued before leaving in a rage, there are severe consequences for believing a state can be run by one single person rather than listening to the reason of others just as wise. According to the definition of tragedy, there must be the descent of a hero due to a tragic flaw; such a definition suits the ill-tempered king Creon rather than heroic and justified Antigone. What brings this king to an all-time low are his flaws, actions, and position in power. Due to having such power and strength, he can very easily strike fear into the hearts of many—Antigone seems to have been one of the very few exceptions. Additionally, his flaws include his ego and pride; this results in his refusal to accept the reasoning

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Sophocles’ play, Antigone, sets up Creon as the tragic hero from the beginning. Creon is the tragic hero because his stubbornness is his biggest flaw. He is the tragic hero because he is selfish and he does not listen to others, which causes his downfall. Creon’s stubbornness caused his downfall.

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Creon vs. Antigone The tragic hero from “Antigone,” written by Sophocles is Creon. A tragic hero is a character that has a downfall caused by his/her tragic flaw. The tragic flaw is usually having an excessive amount of pride, or being arrogant.

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In the short story titled “Antigone,” the author portrays Creon as a tragic hero by displaying flaws in Creon's character shown throughout the story. Creon’s character contains many flaws which lead to many problems. His decisions end up deciding the fates of his son, his wife, and Antigone. Creon finally realizes that what he has done is sinful to the gods. He has put his own pride over the appreciation of the gods.

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In the play, Creon makes many decisions based on his intuition, and it is these choices that develop him as a tragic hero. An example of an event that contributes to his eventual downfall is when Creon declares his proclamation regarding the fate of Antigone's brother: "Polyneices, who returned from exile, eager to wipe out in all-consuming fire his ancestral city and its native gods, keen to seize upon his family’s blood and lead men into slavery—for him, the proclamation in the state declares he’ll have no burial mound, no funeral rites, and no lament. He’ll be left unburied, " (Sophocles, lines 227-234). In this passage, Creon shows his self-assurance in his authority as a ruler. His belief in his own judgments and unwavering commitment to punishing those he deems traitors based on his own assumptions demonstrates his trait of being self-assured.

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Antigone is one of the greatest tragedies ever written by Sophocles. There is a controversial question about this play: Who is the tragic hero? Could it be Antigone or Creon? Even though the play’s name is Antigone, but as I read the story. A sensible and responsible king, Creon, is a tragic hero because of his power madness, self-righteousness, and ruthlessness.

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Almost always, in Greek tragedies a “tragic hero” has a hamartia, or tragic flaw, which will cause their concluding demise. In the Greek playwright, Antigone written by Sophocles, the interesting character, Creon, is a prime example of this. According the Aristotle’s theory, to be a tragic hero you have to have three traits: a flaw, a fall, and acceptance of your current situation. Creon’s flaw is his ego, which blinds him and lures him to do rather profane activities. Due to Creon’s ego, him losing everything caused by that very hamartia, and acceptance of the series of unfortunate events that occurred; Creon is the tragic hero in Antigone

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“Not so self-centered that you never listen to other people” (Hugh Hefner). In the story of Antigone, Creon shows the characteristics of a tragic hero, as he is the king he shows his self-confident and he does not recognize his flaws until the end of the story. All of this leads into his downfall in the tragedy and causes him to realized what he had done. Creon is a tragic hero because of his self-righteousness, his excessive pride, and he does not listen to the opinion of others.

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Against the warning of others, Creon goes on with his plan to essentially sentence Antigone to her death. Creon continually ignores what others counsel him to do because he believes that just because he is king, everything he does is right. It is this thinking that ultimately leads to the death of not only Antigone, but also Creon’s son and wife as well. All tragic heroes suffer from a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. Creon suffers from two tragic flaws, pride and stubbornness.

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In Sophocles’ play Antigone, Creon, the king of Thebes, best represents a tragic hero. Creon demonstrates goodness in his intentions for Thebes as well as his fragile state due to the fact that he recently lost several family members. Creon, newly named king, finds himself as highest ranking official around, showing superiority. Creon often acts stubborn and prideful, his tragic flaw. And lastly, he must come to terms with the fact that he caused the death of his wife, son, and niece.

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When asked, “Who is the tragic hero in Antigone?,” you might automatically think of the character Antigone. The character’s name is the title of the play like in “Hamlet”. The only difference is that Hamlet was the tragic hero in “Hamlet” moreover Creon is the tragic hero in “Antigone”. It all comes down to the definition of Aristotle’s tragic hero. Aristotle states that a tragic hero is, “a person who must evoke a sense of pity and fear in the audience.

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As demonstrated throughout the Greek tragedy Antigone, Creon’s tragic flaw is hubris which causes his downfall . The downfall begins when Creon refuses to give Polyneices, the son of Oedipus and the brother of Antigone, a burial. Creon believes that Polyneices did not die an honorable death as he broke exile and raised the sword against his home city, Thebes, so in return he will not receive a burial. Creon’s pride takes over and so he believes he is a man not only superior to women , but a king superior to the gods. He claims, Go out of your heads entirely?

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Countless times, Creon was implored to change his mind to preserve the safety of others. However, due to his uncompromising and egocentric nature, he repeatedly denied this aid, and therefore caused the tragedies of the deaths of his niece and his son. The events that occurred in the play Antigone accurately represent the characteristics of a tragic flaw and subsequent suffering that define a

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I alone am guilty. I know it, and I say it” (I.ii.1021-1022). This quote indicates that Creon blames himself and only himself. In addition he now he has to live with the fact that his hubris not only killed his family, it also will always torment him for

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Creon realizes it’s too late his mistakes, and now that he lost his family, he realizes he should of listened. All his family dead, he is now alone because he was blinded by his pride that he didn't listen. He realized too late of all the consequences that his ignorance brought upon him. Throughout the play Antigone by Sophocles Creon is seen as a tragic hero, due to the fact that he is rude to others when they try to talk to him and acts childish when insulting others.

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