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The Character Creon In Sophocles Antigone

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There are varieties of factors that make up the plot in the Greek playwright Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone. Many characters contribute to these factors, making the play exciting, dramatic, and inspiring, such as, the daring actions of Antigone, the sacrifice of Haemon for his love, and the affection of Ismene toward her family. However, out of all the characters, Creon displays attributes and actions that reflect the unfavorable king as the real protagonist of the play. Creon demonstrates righteous, leader-like actions and learns from his mistakes, which supports his character as the hero.
Although Creon executes harsh rules to his people, he uses his absolute power as a responsibility to clean up and fix the rough events that occurred prior …show more content…

Usually, heroes in a Greek play or poem are not always perfect; they have flaws and fix their mistakes to relate to real life. At first, Creon makes rash decisions and sticks to them no matter what anyone says. When he disputes with Haemon about the punishment of Antigone, Creon exclaims, “Bring her out, /that hateful — she'll die now, here, /in front of his eyes, beside her groom!” (852-4). He does not change his opinions, regardless of Haemon and his citizens’ opinions. He gets carried away with his powers and believes that following his laws is the only way to maintain a unity and peace. Also, the kingdom is in a condition where a strong leader is necessary to lead them out of misfortunes. If Creon changes his mind immediately and does not stick to his original rules, the citizens will see him as a weak and vulnerable ruler, which does not match with his expected reputation. However, after realizing that he was being selfish and finding out that his actions can hurt his family, Creon considers opinions of others and tries to free Antigone. “And the guilt is all mine—/can never be fixed on another man, /no escape for me. I killed you, /I, god help me, I admit it all!” (1441-4), he cries as he regrets the mistakes he made. It is after the death of his family when he truly learns his

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In this scene, Haemon confronts Creon over his merciless treatment of Antigone and Creon’s reaction is to explode into an ageist themed rant against his own son, in which Creon finally blows up and calls Haemon a “degenerate” for “bandying accusations” (lines 830-831) against him. Not only is Creon calling his own son an inexperienced, inadequate fool, he earlier in the scene describes Antigone as a “worthless woman” and tells Haemon to “show me the man who runs his household well” (lines 725-739). Each of these statements not only denounce a woman’s worth and status in comparison to a man, but also succeed in fluffing Creon’s ego when he follows with “I’ll show you someone fit to rule the state”(line 740), again stating how “qualified” and “adept” a ruler he believes himself to be. Shortly after this discussion, Creon changes Antigone's punishment from public stoning to being suffocated in a tomb. This change hints that Haemon’s words may have affected Creon enough to make him doubt the populaces affection for him.

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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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The Tragic Hero “Your gaze makes citizens afraid-they can’t say anything you would not like to hear”(783-784). King Creon has so much power that the citizens of Thebes fear him. In the play Antigone, Sophocles uses Haemon’s ideas to contrast with Creon’s idea to punish Antigone which makes him into a tragic hero and advances the plot to show him what the people of Thebes believe about Antigone’s act.

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Many of the characters in the story have a unique way of developing the theme of the story. Antigone, the daughter of King Oedipus and Jocasta, words and actions contributes to Creon’s development as a tragic hero. Antigone will do anything to properly put her brother to rest even if that means she has to die, Creon feels that it is right to punish her with death even if that means she will not get the chance to marry his son (Haemon). “You’ll never marry her while she’s alive,” (858).

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He is the center of the play, which causes events to happen. The first tragic fall that leads Creon to his downfall is his power madness. His power madness fall can be supported by Antigone’s dialogue, “Further: he has the matter so it that anyone who dares attempt the act will die by stoning in the town.” (Antigone 2).

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Antigone’s words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character by showing

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This contributed to the fact that he was mentally lost. He had clouded judgment because of his idea of what is right for the city is the only way he would rule. As Burt describes “Creon remains adamant, and his judgment on Antigone and Ismene, along with his subsequent argument with his son, Haemon, reveals that Creon's principles are self-centered, contradictory, and compromised by his own pride, fears, and anxieties. ”(Burt). Creon can only think in his mindset and any other view to him is impossible to understand.

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The Tragic Hero There has been some debate over which character in Sophocles', Antigone is the tragic hero of the tragedy. Two characters in general show most, if not all of the qualities of being a tragic hero. Both Antigone and Creon show some of the qualities of being a tragic hero. Antigone show four of the five qualities, but Creon shows all of the five qualities of being a tragic hero. That being said Creon is the tragic hero of Sophocles', Antigone.

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His character in Antigone becomes absolutely cruel and oppressive. For example, he acts very arrogant and cold towards Antigone when he punishes her for wanting to honor and bury her remaining of family, her brother. Even with Antigone crying out to him by saying, “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride” he still does not consider forgiving her because she has committed a crime in his eyes. In the literature of Antigone, Creon believes that he is always right and he does not bother to listen to the citizens opinions.

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Creon’s harsh decree was made out of good intentions to stabilize Thebes after recovering from near destruction, yet it led him to his downfall when Antigone decided to defy his orders. It worsened when he refused to compensate with Antigone and the god’s law, sticking with the rational man’s law. Using Antigone to develop and explore a complex character not only establishes Creon as a tragic hero, but also raises many questions about the extent of loyalty within family, government, and set of

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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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This contrast of Creon 's character from the beginning of the play and the end of the play expands our comprehension of his character and leaves us with a priceless expression. Sophocles incorporation of final monologues said by the two main characters Antigone and Creon shows elements such as; emblematic characterization, credibility and character development. Which are essential to the development of the story and the characters of the story.

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(Scene 1. 39-42) Creon must rule with iron fist in order to gain respect from the people. He loses two family members,, takes the throne, and must banish the prayers for his poor, fallen nephew. Additionally, Creon loses his wife and son in scene five. CREON.

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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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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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