“The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance” (Samuel Butler).
In the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, Creon is the tragic hero due to his dramatic actions. By the end of the play, Creon’s error in judgement causes his downfall. His ignorance begins to fade away as he recognizes his mistakes, but is too late. His decisions led him down a path in which there was no return, sealing his fate. All poor decisions lead to poor consequences, and in the case of Creon, his untimely downfall is a result of his own behavior. Creon’s stubbornness and pride are so overpowering that he cannot convince himself of his wrong doings. When confronted by Choragus, Creon truly believes that “This is [his] command, and [Choragus]
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Towards the beginning of the story when Creon wants to punish her for burying her brother, Antigone begs him to kill her, as “[His] talking is a great weariness.” (2.95) Not only is she trying to show disrespect by rushing the king, but is doing so arrogantly, putting herself above him for that brief moment. Although she starts off in the play as this naive and arrogant character, towards the end she develops a sort of humility and knowledge that she is doomed in a fate out of her control. She realizes fate is “Operative for ever, beyond man utterly. [Antigone] knew [she] must die...” (2.64). She accepts knowledge of her end, and lives on with it. As these are some valid points, Creon is the true tragic hero due to his fiery arrogance and even more drastic change in character. When in a heated argument with Ismene and Antigone, he makes a furious remark to the two girls claiming that ”One has just now lost her mind; the other, It seem, has never had a mind at all,” (2.149-150). No noble or fair king would reply in that sense, as it is both disrespectful and mean-spirited. On the other hand, he does go through a humiliating change at the end, now believing in fate and having to face the fact that "[It] has brought all [his] pride to a thought of dust.”(Exodos.138). He is now no longer the snarky, selfish king, but now a melancholy one, rendered helpless by the wrath of the