Creon, a character from the Greek tragedy Antigone, is described as the tragic hero of the story due to the character's flaws and the consequences that followed. Creon's intentions are purely of nationalism for the land he rules, Thebbes. He forbids anyone to show respect to a violent betrayer, but in the process makes tragic flaws. Creon's tragic mistakes can all be embodied by the one question he had asked his son Haemon, “And the city proposes to teach me how to rule?” ( 3.103). Creon is insistent on ruling one his own. Even When the prophet, Teiresias, tried to help the king, Creon was also deaf to his suggestions, even though they were for his well being. When Creon…
Throughout history there have been many people known as heroes. Most of these people have done wonderful things to help society. However, in literature there is another type of hero, the tragic hero. While tragic heroes do wonderful things too, they also have a character flaw that causes their downfall along with others. This essay is to prove that in the play "Antigone", written by Sophocles, Creon is a tragic hero.…
“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.”- Mahatma Gandhi. This quote reveals that the world is run by the love of power and that is what is keeping our world from reaching its full potential. Power has the potential to affect others in a positive way. As it produces guidance organization for those who don’t really know what they are doing.…
Throughout the play Antigone, Creon is portrayed as the king of discipline and pride. Creon’s pride is what makes him the tragic figure of Antigone. Though Antigone takes her life as the result of her sentence from Creon, it is not her pride that defines her fate but her unwillingness to accept her fate.…
Creon, the king of Thebes, is an extremely powerful ruler, so much so that many people fear him. In fact, he is so feared, he could even be called a tyrant. The sentry that reports Antigone’s “crime” is nearly shaking in his boots when he tells Creon. In lines 85-87 he says “And all the time a voice kept saying “You fool, don't you know you're walking straight into trouble?””, this shows that he is scared for his life and all he did was send a message. Another…
My first reason on why i think that you should think that Creon is a tragic hero, because he is very stubborn. The reason he is so stubborn, is because he pride is to great, and he couldn't imagine hiself ever being wrong. During the story, Creon wouldn't listen to anyone. The prophet even tried to tell him that the gods were mad at him for not burying Polyneices.…
A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. Because the tragic hero simply cannot accept a diminished view of the self and because of some personality flaw, the hero fails in this epic struggle against fate (csus.edu). In "Antigone" written by the infamous Sophocles, the characters, Antigone and King Creon, can both be deemed as tragic heroes despite of their beliefs differing immensely. Antigone, who is engaged to Creon's son, is a strong-willed woman who wants to bury her deceased brother, Polyneices, with honor despite the fact that he killed their other brother in war. On the other hand, Creon…
In some respects Creon is seen as a positive character, in others as an antagonist. However, if one sees it from a different perspective, it's obvious that Creon is the victim of fate and his own flaws, making him a tragic hero. His first misfortune was to fall from the grace of his people when saying that Antigone should die for her actions. "Your people are beginning to question your judgment and are beginning to side with Antigone." (256-257) This scene is very ironic! Creon is actually trying to maintain his authority by being a ruler of his word, but he is actually losing respect. Creon's present situation foreshadows unrest and growing calamity within his own family. The idea of him losing…
Creon and Antigone both have a pretty tragic part in the play, “Antigone”, but who’s the more tragic character? I have an answer for you. With a little bit of evaluation, you’ll find that Antigone is indeed the more tragically doomed of the two, and here’s why.…
This analysis is to determine the character that fits the tragic hero profile; it was completely based according to the Aristotelian idea of tragic hero and it is understood that hero is: " neither purely evil or purely wicked; the hero must born in the high social status, and he/she must possess a tragic flaw which is proper from the inner side of the character; it usually manifests in the form of poor judgment and or arrogance, condemning him/herself into a catastrophic finality and in the meanwhile, establishes other character's destiny". Either Antigone or Creon is situated in the highest level of the social hierarchy. Creon became the king of Thebes, after his two nephews killed each other over the throne; Antigone was an orphan who happened to be Creon's future daughter in law. Both presented moral values, differing exclusively on the situation they were applied. Creon's actions towards the people reflected honesty and equal treatment upon the laws he made. Antigone's actions towards the burial of her brother (although he fought…
Aristotle once said, “A man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” Sophocles’s Antigone was written in 440 B.C. which was the time when plays were written based on ancient Greece culture. The idea of a tragic hero was established in Ancient Greece, tragic heroes are in ancient Greek plays. A tragic hero is a character who is inherently good, has a fatal flaw and loses everything in the end. Creon is Antigone’s tragic hero because his loyalty and obsessive pride influence the conflicts that led to his family’s demise.…
Defeat, something that you experience when you lose something, whether it is that you lose someone dear to you, lose in a contest or a game, or lose a battle that was hard fought for, but there are different ways to look at it. To embrace defeat is to realize that your actions were immoral or inadequate, and allow yourself to grow stronger and wiser from this situation, and to accept defeat is to not learn from your mistakes and to blame someone else for what happened. This is the basis of the concept of a tragic hero, introduced by the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. In Antigone by the Greek playwright Sophocles, it is established that Creon is not a tragic hero of the play. Creon was shown to blame others for the outcome of his own mistakes,…
Men have always been looked at as inferior to women no matter what the situation may be. That is how ancient Greece and many other parts of the world operated. Women were never respected and their opinions showed no value to the benefit of their superior man. It is quite an unfair system, however that was the way things were run in the past. In Sophocles ‘Antigone’ women however are portrayed in a different light. They are shown to be brave, relentless and strong human beings. Even though they are portrayed this way does not mean that there were not any others who disagreed differently. Creon a powerful tyrant as portrayed in “Antigone” is obsessed with maintaining the subordination of women.…
Creon’s arrogance and pride shows several different reasons on why he isn’t exactly a pleasant person to be around. When Antigone and Ismene talked about giving burial rights to their brother Polynieces, which Antigone did, Creon ordered Antigone to be arrested and sentenced to death. Creon's arrogant pride made it seem like Antigone wasn’t a part of his family, which she is. [Lines 1005-1035] Creon killed his brother, who was the first in line to claim the throne, so technically he wasn’t even the real king of Thebes.…
The flaw that makes Creon a tragic hero is his paranoia. Creon often believes his citizens and even close friends and relatives are out to get him. He is convinced that there are “anarchists putting their heads together’ in opposition to his rule all over the city (245). When told that someone has gone against his orders and buried Polyneices, Creon says, “They have bribed my own guard to do this thing,” because he believes that his guards are more loyal to their purses than to him (242). This quality is a flaw…