Character Analysis Of Creon In 'Antigone'

Nicholas Woolery

Mrs. Simpson

English 10 – Per 1

26 March 2023

Antigone Final Essay V2

In life we are often faced with multiple perspectives, it is our job to be able to see other points of view and make justified decisions based on these perspectives. If not, we will end up much like Creon. Creon is a character who is often given the title of a tragic hero. The idea of a tragic hero is the central character of a play, film, etc., depicted as a noble figure who experiences a downfall. The character often has a fatal flaw or hamartia which leads to this character to make an act of injustice based on their own free choice which causes them to have their downfall. However, by the end of the play the character finds some understanding

Further proving his conviction in authority and his ignorance since he doesn’t understand why anyone would break a law they knew about. Nevertheless, Antigone is convinced that the gods have divine rule over everything due to her beliefs in religion she will not “let a mortal override the gods” (515,516) Antigone has firm belief in the gods, she thinks that no mortal has power over the gods and that no mortal’s rule will restrain her beliefs and how she acts to reaffirm those beliefs. These differing beliefs of who has the highest rule show how Creon and Antigone have conflicting motivations, as Creon believes the authoritarian figure does while Antigone believes the gods do. After capturing Antigone for going against the decree, Creon and Antigone discuss Creon’s rule over Thebes and what the citizens think of him. Antigone believes that the citizens of Thebes would agree with her decision to bury her brother if they weren’t so scared of Creon. However, Creon decides that “in all of Thebes, [she] is the only one who looks at things that way” Creon is also astonished that

By breaking his decree Antigone leads Creon to his “act of injustice,” bringing out Creon’s tragic flaw which all eventually leads to Creon experiencing misfortune and then gaining understanding by the end of the play. First, Antigone and Creon’s conflicting motivations cause Creon to be brought down by an act of injustice in this case being punishing Antigone for going against his decree. Antigone will not “[allow][her] mother’s dead son to just lie there, an unburied corpse” this value of family and religious tradition motivates Antigone to break Creon’s decree which left Antigone’s brother unburied (,528,529). This is an act of heavy disrespect to Antigone. Since Antigone feels her and her brother are being disrespected, she looks to avenge her brother by burying him, as is her nature. However, Creon is motivated by his belief in respect for authority. Creon calls Antigone “very insolent in contravening laws [he] had proclaimed” showing that Creon felt disrespected by Antigone’s actions as he simply states that Antigone disrespected him, which then causes him to punish Antigone (555,556). Creon does not take disrespect lightly due to his beliefs in respect for authority as the reader can see by his punishment for Antigone. This proves that Antigone's motivations led to Creon’s eventual execution of Antigone/act of injustice. Furthermore, Antigone highlights Creon’s