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Creon Tragic Hero

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In Sophocles’s play Antigone, the throne of the city of Thebes has fallen into the hands of Creon, Antigone’s uncle, after the sudden and tragic death of Eteocles and Polynices. Under his rule, a new law forbidding anyone from burying Polyneices causes Antigone to decide between staying loyal to her country or to her family. In the play Antigone, the most real tragic hero that prevails is Creon because he embodies all the characteristics that a tragic hero must have while Antigone lacks some important characteristics. To begin, Creon conveys goodness because he chooses to punish Antigone for her crimes to keep Thebes as safe and orderly as possible. After Antigone confesses to her crimes in front of Creon and the Choragus, the confusion with …show more content…

The audible fear that the Sentry fails to hid in his voice while speaking to Creon distinguishes the king of Thebes as a very respected and deeply feared person. His demanding nature and impassive tone display Creon as a character that is superior to the rest of the cast. Likewise, Creon’s tragic flaw lies in his greed for power as well as his inability to follow the advice of others. The greed in Creon is put on display when he discovers that Antigone is the criminal and immediately accuses Antigone and Ismene, Antigone’s sister, of trying to dethrone him:
CREON. You too, Ismene, Snake in my ordered house, sucking my blood Stealthily…(2.124-126)
Creon’s misguided assumption that the sister duo aims for his throne was driven by his greed for power and need to keep that power absolute. When Creon’s power is threatened by Antigone defiance of the law, his first reaction is to question her motives and assume that she wants to take hold of his power. Without any power Creon cannot properly function because he needs to fuel the greed that consumes him. Additionally, Creon’s headstrong nature makes him unable to listen to others warnings. Tiresias attempts to warn Creon about the punishment he saw, but Creon

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In Sophocles Antigone Creon’s fatal flaw is his overabundance of arrogance. Over the course of the play Creon’s own pride distances him from his loved ones, his subjects, and ultimately from his own mind. During the play, Sophocles utilizes varied literary techniques such as exposition and dramatic irony to express his own view of mankind. For example, in Antigone, Sophocles expresses the idea that hubris, or excessive pride is the key element in self destruction. For the duration of the play, Sophocles builds the character of Creon, the tyrannical king of Thebes, who seems to embody this particular flaw.

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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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(Antigone 8). This quote shows that he wants everyone to obey him and anyone who disobeys him will get in trouble. The last support can be found when Creon said, “But he who crosses law, or forces it, or hopes to bring the ruler under him, shall never have a word of praise from me.” (Antigone 23). This means that Creon is “madly in love” with his power and thinks that he can do anything because he is the king.

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Is this a crime? Death? ––She should have all the honor that we can give her!"His kingdom sees no fault in Antigone's actions, yet he stays stubborn and refuses to change. Creons make everybody fear him, so they don't oppose

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Creon is considered a tragic figure in the play Antigone, because he is of noble status as king. As ruler of Thebes, it his responsibility to create all of the laws, punishments, and enforcing all preset edicts.   Creon was clearly at his peak leadership role as king allowing him an excessive amount of space for error.   Once the dilemma of following the rules, killing Antigone, or saving his son’s bride developed, Creon’s weakness surfaced.  

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”Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish. I have killed my son and wife. I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead. Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing.

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In Sophocles “Antigone”, Creon is known to be the tragic hero of the story. Sophocles shows that Creon is a tragic hero by all his attributes that appeared all through the story. Creon is a character that is anything but difficult to identify with in various ways. To start with, he contains numerous flaws within the story which in result causes numerous issues. Creon won't listen to anybody.

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1139 Words | 5 Pages

Creon is emotionally crushed. This could have very well been avoided if he thought through his decisions rationally. Another explanation for Creon’s strongest flaw is his openness to want to punish himself. In the text it continually states, “Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish.

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How would you feel if you were locked away to rot by one of your own family members because you did something they didn’t approve of? In Sophocles play, Antigone, this is just the case for the niece of Creon, King of Thebes. After getting word that her “own two brothers [...] slaughtered one another and brought about their common doom” (Sophocles 318), Antigone is distraught. What makes her infuriated is when she learns that her uncle, Creon, has decided that one of her brothers, Eteocles, will receive a proper burial and be honored while the other brother, Polyneices, will receive no burial and be remembered as a traitor. Soon after, Antigone takes action and performs a secret burial and ritual on her dead brothers corpse, but she is also

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660 Words | 3 Pages

Creon’s tragic flaw is his overwhelming ego. The series of events began to occur when Creon denied

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1234 Words | 5 Pages

“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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1092 Words | 5 Pages

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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Creon is the protagonist in Antigone, because his motivation throughout Antigone is the stability and wellbeing of Thebes. Moreover, Antigone is the antagonist in Antigone, because her motivation is selfish and deceiving. In Antigone the setting is Thebes post the death of both airs to the throne. Eteocles dies defending his country from his brother Polynieces which died attempting to reclaim his right to the throne. The conflict throughout Antigone is Antigone’s responsibility to bury her brother Polynices and the law created by Creon, the new king of Thebes, which states that “No one shall bury him, no one mourn for him.”

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1097 Words | 5 Pages

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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882 Words | 4 Pages

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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