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Creon As The Tragic Hero In Sophocles Antigone

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According to the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, a tragic hero has an elevated status in society that makes a decision that will eventually lead to the downfall of that character. This choice will cause the character to receive a punishment that is unjust and exceeds the crime committed. Right before the person receives his or her punishment, the character will gain self awareness and self knowledge of what caused his or her downfall. King Creon and his niece, Antigone, both have the qualities to be classified as the tragic hero of Sophocles’s play, Antigone. Creon holds every characteristic to be categorized as the tragic hero of Antigone. The first part of Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero states that the character must be of noble or …show more content…

This basis is where Antigone gets into a situation that will lead to her downfall. When Creon is crowned king of Thebes, he declares that Eteocles’s body will be buried with full honors, while Polyneices’s body is to be left out for vultures to scavenge from and anyone who tries to bury Polyneices’s will be stoned to death. Antigone becomes distraught when she hears this news. Polyneices and Eteocles is her brother’s and she feels that they should both be buried with honors. Antigone tells her sister, Ismene, “I am goring to bury him. Will you come?” (Pg. 492 Line 31). Ismene chooses to leave here brother lie to rot, fearing the death penalty, while Antigone makes the decision to sprinkle a light layer of dust on her brother, so he may rest in peace. Antigone gets caught after she goes back to Polyneices a second time to actually bury him, and is taken to Creon to receive her punishment. Creon eventually decides to leave Antigone locked in a vault and leave her fate up to the Gods, instead of having her stoned to death. That way, he does not have to worry about being guilty for her death. During the time Antigone spends in a vault, the brave, bold, woman that was willing to define the king to honor her brother disappears and a frightened, panicked filled girl that has lost all hope. Antigone hangs herself after …show more content…

Antigone and Creon both have the characteristics to be the tragic hero of Sophocles’s play Antigone. Creon is King of Thebes, makes the decision that anyone who buries Polyneices’s body will be stoned to death, watches his entire family die, and comes to grips with the fact his pride is what caused his family to die. Antigone is the niece of Creon, decides to bury her brother’s body, dies by killing herself, and realizes that her feeling of arrogance is what caused her to be put into her situation. Many people have a belief that only one character can be given the title of the tragic hero in a single story or play, but Sophocles’s play combined with Aristotle’s definition proves that it is possible to have two tragic

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Sophocles implements Aristotle’s definition of a Tragic Hero through the character of Creon. Creon is a good husband and a father who hasn’t down anything wrong. But as the play goes on his tragic flaw, hubris causes his downfall. Antigone, who’s brother just died by fighting in a war against each other to be the king and she wanted to bury her brothers in honor by breaking the laws. But Creon thinks that only Polynessis deserves to bury in honor because Eteocles betrayed Polynesis by not giving him the thrown to the

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Have you ever read the play Antigone and wondered who the tragic hero is? The tragic hero in the play is Creon, because he is a good ruler trying to restore order to Thebes but because of his pride and stubbornness he ends up alone and losing loved ones. One way we know Creon is a tragic hero is he says “This is my command, and you can see the wisdom behind it. As long as I am King, no traitor is going to be honored with the loyal man.” (Creon 1/40)

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In Sophocles’ play Antigone, Antigone’s words, actions, and ideas contracted with Creon’s character. After, Eteocles and Polyneices killed each other in a battle of which one shall be declared king of Thebes. Creon declared that Polyneices should not be given the proper burial rights because, he was a disgrace for attacking his brother. Antigone loved her brothers that so she knew both brothers should have the same burial right for being part of the family . Yet Antigone knows, Creon wants to keep Polyneices from being buried.

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In the play Antigone by Sophocles, many tragic events and characters appear throughout the play. The King, Creon, outlaws the burial of Polyneices, but Antigone buries him anyway because he is her brother. Creon then sends Antigone to a cave to die, but when he finally sees that his edict and punishment are wrong, he is too late, for Antigone has killed herself, also leading to the suicide of Creon’s son and wife. This story includes a tragic hero: a character who makes a bad decision that leads to his or her demise. A tragic hero must be noble, have extreme pride, experience a downfall, realize their wrongs, and accept his or her consequences.

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Antigone, who feels the same love for both her brothers, decides to bury her Polyneices, even though Creon will put anyone to death that tries to. She tries to get Ismene involved, but she refuses to break Creon’s law. Antigone gets caught in the burying of her brother and Creon sends her to

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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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Courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. In the Greek tragedy Antigone, continues to fight for her for her family’s name although it has been slandered because of mistakes her ancestors made in the past. When Creon creates a law that forbids anyone to her brother, Polynices, Antigone heroically attempts to save her brother’s honor her brother even though she knows the harsh consequences that may follow. Although Creon is always loyal to the state based on what he believes, Antigone’s courage to her family can't be matched by any other character. Antigone is the courageous character of this play because she would accept any consequences for her brother, she would die for him, and let her dream of being a mother and wife vanish.

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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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The tragic hero is a character in a book that comes from a noble background that has a tragic flaw which brings the character the greatest suffering which results in their downfall. In “Antigone”, there are two characters who can be considered the tragic hero of the story: Creon and Antigone. Antigone is a brave and fearless women who dies for a noble cause, while Creon is a controlling and powerful king of Thebes. Both Creon and Antigone have qualities to make them the tragic hero, but Creon is the true “tragic hero” because his hamartia causes his downfall. Creon is the tragic hero of “Antigone” because his hubris muddles his judgment and makes him cause his own undoing.

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Antigone being the one to fight for her beliefs and obeying the god's laws attempts the burial of Polyneices and goes against Creon’s law to prove to him that he’s in over his head that he has too much pride in himself, in lines 15-35 Antigone claims that she is going to go

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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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But the body of Polynices, who died miserably- why, a city wide-proclamation, rumor has it, forbids anyone to bury him, even mourn him.” (1.1 26-33) Also when her sister, Ismene, offers to share Antigone’s punishment with her, Antigone tells her to live her own life and not die by her side. “Antigone- Never share my dying, don’t lay claim to what you never touched. My death will be enough.” (1.1.

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Cindy Yoon Mr.Constantini English 1A 18 September 2015 Real Tragic Hero of Antigone The play, Antigone is an Ancient Greek play mostly about myth written by Sophocles. There are two main characters in this play which are Antigone and Creon. Antigone is a girl who tries to bury her brother, Polyneices who died during the war and she chooses family instead of the government. Creon, is Antigone’s uncle, and also a King of Thebes who didn’t allow the people to bury Polyneices.

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1113 Words | 5 Pages

She was outraged when she found out that her brother Polyneices was going to be left to rot and be eaten by animals, because he was a traitor to the city. Antigone believed that her brother deserved a proper burial even though he tried going against the city unlike her other brother Eteocles. She asks Ismene (her sister) to join her in this act of rebellion but Ismene does not want to get in trouble for going against her kings orders so Antigone does it on her own. Creon feels disrespected and punishes Antigone for not following his rules. He seals Antigone while she is alive, inside a tomb.

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