In Sophocles’ Antigone, Antigone and Creon both have qualities of a tragic hero according to Aristotle’s definition. Aristotle believes a tragic hero is a decent human, but falls due to a weakness in one’s character. In the plot, Antigone decides to bury her brother, which defies the laws of Creon, the dictator of Thebes. Antigone believes she must hold her family values and the gods’ beliefs with utmost respect. Antigone refuses to deny her crime, so she is sentenced to be death by Creon. Antigone is the tragic hero because she inspires pity and fear when her devotion to the gods and her morals lead to her downfall.
Antigone obeys the morals set by her family and the gods, so she stimulates fear and pity. Antigone causes fear in others
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Creon threatens Antigone with death because she defied his laws. Antigone believes she was destined for death when she remarks, “Oh god, the voice of death. It’s come. It’s here” (1025). Antigone ignites pity from others by acting as if she is bound to death. Antigone believes in her prophecy of death, so she wants to die for her family. Many citizens of Thebes feel bad for Antigone because she and her family are plagued by death. Since Antigone is the tragic hero, she suffers a downfall due to her tragic flaw, living while being bound by …show more content…
Aristotle believes a tragic hero “must not be the spectacle of a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity”; however, Creon lacks the morality during his reign as king of Thebes. When Polynices is killed, Creon decides “he must be left unburied, his corpse/ carrion for the birds and dogs to tear,/ an obscenity for the citizens to behold”(229-231). As the leader of Thebes, Creon struggles to understand the ethics of the gods or citizens because he focuses on ruling his country for himself. Also, Creon fails to prosper in leading the state of Thebes because he rules as a dictator. Creon is angered by the questions on his rule, so he remarks “Am I to rule this land for others–or myself” (823). Creon lacks the decency as a ruler to reign with fairness to his
He was told by his son that he would kill himself if he didn’t release Antigone. Despite hearing this, he did not listen to him. After hearing the prophecy that since he refused to bury Polyneices and punishing Antigone, the gods will curse him. Later, he founds out that his son killed himself after seeing that Antigone hanged herself and her wife upon seeing her son’s dead body. Creon’s unwillingness to listen to his son and prophet ultimately led to the deaths of Antigone, his son, and his wife.
Is this a crime? Death? ––She should have all the honor that we can give her!"His kingdom sees no fault in Antigone's actions, yet he stays stubborn and refuses to change. Creons make everybody fear him, so they don't oppose
Antigone died a tragic death, and she can be seen as an inspirational hero for women, however she does not display the characteristics of Aristotle’s tragic hero as well as Creon. While Antigone showed pride in scene 2 by saying, “I should have praise and honor for what I have done” after burying Polyneices, Creon showed excessive pride throughout almost all of the scenes. Likewise, one of Aristotle’s requirements to be recognized as a tragic hero states that, “The character’s fate must be greater than deserved.” Antigone committed suicide, which was not the final result she wanted from burying her brother, but killing herself was a choice of her own. Her decision to kill herself shows that she was not afraid to die, however Creon was afraid to lose his family.
Creon has noble stature, which is one of the qualities of a tragic hero. Creon is the king of Thebes, which allows him to have complete dominance of those he rules. As king he has the ability of making laws which be followed and if not than a harsh punishment will come their way. "Anyone who acts against the order will be stoned to death, before the city" (Sophocles, prologue line 42-43). Creon uses his position to create a law that goes against the laws of gods, but his people follow it anyways because they are frightened of his power.
Creon believes she should die and sentences Antigone to death, but Creon is convinced it is wrong to do that, but before he can redeem his punishment for Antigone, she hangs herself. This causing a rippling effect of Haemon, Creon's son, and the Queen killing themselves. This all happened because of the tragic hero Creon, causing him to be the blame of the whole story, losing everything he had. Sophocles uses the tragic hero archetype in order to demonstrate the theme that what seems right is not always the best way to handle something. Creon, the tragic hero, the ruler of Thebes has many values in this story like wealth, family, and respect, but loses all of this.
Creon is emotionally crushed. This could have very well been avoided if he thought through his decisions rationally. Another explanation for Creon’s strongest flaw is his openness to want to punish himself. In the text it continually states, “Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish.
What is a tragic hero? A tragic hero is a character who makes a judgment error that leads to their downfall. In reading Antigone, There has been a realization where Antigone had a few tragic flaws. Her loyalty to the gods, her disloyalty to King Creon, and her stubbornness are three good flaws that can make a tragic hero. Meaning that in Antigone, The tragic hero is Antigone.
With Creon having too much ego, it initiated all the conflicts that arose. He won 't listen to anyone, even when Teiresias tells him his truthful prophecy he thinks that he is being paid off. Creon has a certain cockiness that no one in their right mind would bare. Soon Creon suffers a peripeteia, which he was warned about from many. A king, with a kingdoms submission, is easily above others; but they still suffer.
Antigone Antigone was wronged and Antigone is tragic hero because she wanted to get a proper grave site, Creon was her uncle, Antigone was the good one. Antigone wants her brother to be buried but her uncle wouldn’t let her. Her uncle Creon was a very mean man.
When he sentences Antigone to death, Creon is acting on his belief that religious duties should come second to the will of the State and standards of ethics (Ehrenberg). To him, he had all reason to cast away Antigone’s brother because he was a rebel, and his punishment was to go without burial. He wants to rid the city of rebels to maintain rule and keep her brother as warning to those who may try to rebel against him (Ehrenberg). As Creon understands it, “the hostile brother has become a hostile political exile” (Ehrenberg). None the less it is his blind actions and tyrannical qualities of which he makes his mistake, one that ultimately dominos into his downfall.
He refuses to hear the counsel of others, even if it came from the gods. This is the last chance Creon had at potentially stopping the ensuing downfall that he will face later on in
Antigone is one of the greatest tragedies ever written by Sophocles. There is a controversial question about this play: Who is the tragic hero? Could it be Antigone or Creon? Even though the play’s name is Antigone, but as I read the story. A sensible and responsible king, Creon, is a tragic hero because of his power madness, self-righteousness, and ruthlessness.
Creon believes that whatever he says or decide is true, he has so much of self-righteousness. The word that Creon said “Am I to rule by other mind than mine?” (Antigone, page 26). He thinks that he should rule everything because he is a king, he believes that people should obey him and the law he sets because he thinks that it is the right thing to do. Creon does not want other people to tell him what to do.
He can act quite stubborn and overconfident in himself and his ruling, and he needs to see this situation from another point of view in order to prevent anarchy. We find Creon irritated and belligerent when speaking with Teiresias. TEIRESIAS. King, you will drive me to words that - CREON. Say them, say them!
The tragic hero is a character in a book that comes from a noble background that has a tragic flaw which brings the character the greatest suffering which results in their downfall. In “Antigone”, there are two characters who can be considered the tragic hero of the story: Creon and Antigone. Antigone is a brave and fearless women who dies for a noble cause, while Creon is a controlling and powerful king of Thebes. Both Creon and Antigone have qualities to make them the tragic hero, but Creon is the true “tragic hero” because his hamartia causes his downfall. Creon is the tragic hero of “Antigone” because his hubris muddles his judgment and makes him cause his own undoing.