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King Creon In Antigone

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In Sophocles’ plays, the characters were usually not remembered by their heroism, instead by their tragedies. In the play “Antigone”, people agree in common that Antigone was a tragic character. However, toward the end of the play, the audience’s impression gradually shifts to the tragedy of King Creon. Creon succeeded King Oedipus’ crown, also eliminated the traitor, Polyneikes, who brought outside enemies to Thebes. Creon’s contribution to Thebes is obvious and remarkable. Yet, his stubbornness and disobedience to the gods’ wills brought him to a tragedy ending. King Creon’s tragedy began with his conflict with the prophet. Before the arrest of Antigone, Creon was a faithful listener and believer of the prophet. As Creon himself said: “I’ve …show more content…

It’s certain that he devoted his life to Thebans, and he protected his people before or after his succession of the crown. In particular, he travelled to Aden to ask for solutions for Thebes’ famine, and he defeated outside enemies brought by Oedipus’ son for Thebans. However, no matter how many achievements he obtained in his life, or how many heroic events people praised, Creon still could not get away from the punishment from the gods. Just as the gods cursed and punished Oedipus, the gods also punished and brought downfall to Creon, who violated the divine laws and disobeyed their wills by disallowing the burial practice for Polyneikes. The gods used their divine powers to prove that no one could violate their divine laws. Additionally, the gods always determined one’s destiny, and even one little disrespect or disobedience to the gods will be punished with no exception. This plot paralleled to the downfall of King Oedipus. And this was the greatest tragedy for both Oedipus and Creon. In the conclusion, after reading the play “Antigone”, I sympathize the story and result for Creon, and I think he is a tragic hero in the play. Even though, he gained his power through his heroism. He failed to see the example of King Oedipus, and used his stubbornness to make arbitrary decisions. As a result, he was punished by the gods, and lost his families. Although he had braveness to

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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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All people can have power in our world, but only a few can have power and fewer can wield it with control in “Antigone”. Creon in the play “Antigone”, is the tragic hero because of the choices he makes and the way he acts. Creon is the tragic hero because he was born into nobility, responsible for his own fate, and doomed to make a serious error in judgement. Creon shows that he is the tragic hero in “Antigone” because he is born into nobility.

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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.

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Antigone and Creon both display extremist behavior and act rashly. By depicting the adverse consequences showered on both the heroes Sophocles appeals to the emotions of his audience. Creon’s flaws represent the flaws of the society while Antigone’s passionate family loyalty leads her to a dignified path of destruction. However, Sophocles’ personal admiration towards Antigone’s heroism paralleled with portrayal of the ego-driven Creon persuades the audience to show sympathy towards Antigone. Sophocles’ depiction of his approbation for Antigone’s heroic traits indicates that he was inclined towards the family over the cold dictatorship of the king.

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All of these three reasons are connected to each other, when Creon has too much of self-righteousness and too much of a pride because he is a king, he does not listen to others and so the problems occur. So, all the things that he did comes back to him and strike him hard. He lost all his love ones, his son killed himself, his wife cursed him of as being the killer of her son before she died. Also, Antigone has to die because of him, his characteristic of a tragic hero in this tragedy in not to follow. We can learn from Creon that do not make ourselves higher than other and be self-centered.

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Creon said in line 121 that he should be punished indeed, and that he is deserving of what he gets. The story has shown him be the opposite of this before, and not willing to accept what has happened. For example, when he did not let go to Polyneices and made the messenger search for who it was that has done such a “horrible thing” and “gone against his word” while what Antigone has done, was truly the right thing to do. This has shown has Creon has gone from being not very admirable to being very admirable in the end of the story. Creon is a tragic hero in the Antigone because of many reasons.

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The play Antigone features a deep struggle of power for King Creon. Creon faced several insecurities, during his rule, as king of Thebes. These insecurities, which stemmed from an internal power struggle, went on to, not only affect his rule as king, but his personal relationships, and emotions as well. Other reasons for his actions stem from family matters that have hindered Creon's ability to successfully control and rule by himself.

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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.

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Jaanvi Shah Mr. Eyre English 9 March, 2015 Literary Analysis of Antigone John Foster says, “pride comes before fall.” As the action of the Sophocles 's Antigone unfolds, it is clear that the protagonist Creon has all the six characteristics of a tragic hero. Teiresias interactions with Creon help to demonstrate three of those typical traits: Creon’s noble stature, his tragic flaw of having pride and arrogance, and his free choice that makes his downfall his own fault. Creon, the King of Thebes, accords with Aristotle’s theory of a tragic hero beginning as powerful distinguished and important person.

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Creon realizes it’s too late his mistakes, and now that he lost his family, he realizes he should of listened. All his family dead, he is now alone because he was blinded by his pride that he didn't listen. He realized too late of all the consequences that his ignorance brought upon him. Throughout the play Antigone by Sophocles Creon is seen as a tragic hero, due to the fact that he is rude to others when they try to talk to him and acts childish when insulting others.

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