Creon Tragic Flaws

The play, Antigone, is a tragedy written by the Greek poet Sophocles. A common theme among tragedies is that they have a tragic hero, and Antigone is no different. The tragic hero of this poem is Creon, the King of Thebes. Creon is faced with the difficult task of punishing his niece, Antigone. She has broken one of his laws stating that no one is to give proper burial rites to Polyneices, Antigone’s brother, because he tried to overthrow Creon. 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. Both of these flaws lead Creon down a path of destruction that he is unable to return from.

Teiresias tells Creon that about how he had a dream and saw that the gods aren’t please with Creon. They aren’t happy with how Creon is punishing Antigone for trying to uphold their laws. “Wise art thou as a seer, but too much given to wrong and injury” (Sophocles, ln. 1215-1216). Earlier in the play Creon was talking about how Teiresias as a seer is very reliable and has never been wrong. However, in this quote, the reader can see that Teiresias is advising Creon to give Polyneices proper burial rights and free Antigone because it will please the gods, but since Creon is too prideful and stubborn to admit he’s wrong, he blames Teiresias’ visions as being wrong. He refuses to hear the counsel of others, even if it came from the gods. This is the last chance Creon had at potentially stopping the ensuing downfall that he will face later on in