In the story “Antigone” there has been multiple kings to rule over Thebes in a short period of time. The newest king is King Creon. Creon has made multiple mistakes leading to his downfall and i’ll explain why the king is a tragic hero.
One characteristic of a tragic hero is if the “hero” has free choice that makes his downfall his fault. This applies to King Creon because in the story his niece (Antigone) disobeyed what he said even though she thought it was the right thing to do, this is where his downfall begins. Creon's son (Haemon) was suppose to marry Antigone but when he saw her hanging from a noose he killed himself. This gets to the Queen/Wife of Creon and she kills herself and blames it on her husband, Creon. These events lead to him believing his wife in saying
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This applies to Creon because his weakness is that the status of king went to his head. When Antigone wanted to bury her brother Creon said that was not wise to do and wanted to kill her for disobeying his “laws”. He got really angered at the fact that his niece disobeyed him because of the fact that the brother was fighting against Thebes and she thought it was the right thing to do. At first when Haemon heard that his dad wanted to kill his bride he tried convincing his dad to stop but Creon kept his route. Another characteristic of being a tragic hero is if the hero gained self-knowledge or understanding before his downfall, and therefore experiences redemption. Even though Creon has had multiple instances where he could gain this quality, he doesn't do the right thing always but he has for some, and has gained the quality. One instance is when Creon was going to kill Antigone. His son convinced him to do the right thing, Creon gained knowledge and changed his mind about what he was going to do with Antigone. Unfortunately she still died one way or