Is Creon A Tragic Hero In Antigone

In the play Antigone, there is some disagreement on who the tragic hero is. While some claim it to be Antigone, she is merely the title. The real answer is Creon, whose storyline almost perfectly emulates the definition of a tragedy. While he begins high and mighty, ruler of Thebes, his own personality and mistakes bring his downfall. Antigone continues irritating Creon, eventually leading to her death. Even though this is slightly unfortunate for her, it pales in comparison to Creon’s plot. After all, he is the reason that almost everyone in his family he knows and loves dies. Antigone may be Antigone’s story, but she does not encompass every character type. Creon’s story exactly coincides with that of a tragic hero’s. A tragic hero is one

While she arguably brings her own downfall, it is not a personal flaw that makes it happen, but a strength. She begins as nobody special, no high fame or position of power. If anything, she’s the notorious result of an incestual family. When she refuses to obey Creon in favor of the gods, it’s an agreeable choice, not one to be punished for. As those from Thebes believe her to be valiant and making the right decision, she soon becomes widely known by quiet word of mouth. Her journey is from a nobody to a successful religious woman, the exact opposite of a downfall. Although it is her actions that lead to her death, she would have been fine if not for Creon’s self-absorbed

They both support their own failures, but Antigone’s reason is religious purposes and familial relations, quite contrasting to Creon’s cause of oblivious selfishness. Creon cannot read the mood, taking everything personally and believing threats to others were direct aggression to him. When Polynices goes against Thebes, Creon takes it way too far and refuses to give the man rights even after he’s dead. When his son threatens suicide if Antigone is to be killed, Creon misunderstands and thinks that he is the one who could die. He does not even recognize his own faults at all, only seeing the effects and realizing that he must have done something without knowing what. Antigone, on the other hand, continues to resist the government not because she is an idiot doomed to die, but because she knows that obeying the gods and serving traditions will grant her peace that Creon cannot find. She is hailed a hero by the commoners while Creon cries at his wife’s and son’s graves. As his happiness levels rocket downwards as the play goes on, it can be analyzed that he is the one and only true tragic