Antigone Creon Tragic Figure

“When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways- either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength…” -Dalai Lama. In two of Sophocles’ famous plays, Antigone and Oedipus, the King, the character Creon is the victim of an unparalleled tragic fate that exemplifies Aristotle’s “tragic figure.” His definition being a character whose “tragedy should evoke pity…[they] must be essentially admirable…[their] demise must come as a result of some personal error…” (Simpson 1). Some believe that Antigone is the better example of an Aristotelian tragic figure because she. However, Creon is much more of a tragic figure than Antigone because of his excessive downfall for the relatively minor mistakes he makes.

He tries to prove himself as a worthy ruler by making an example out of his niece, Antigone, when she breaks his new decree that her brother is not to be given a proper burial. Creon sentences her to death to prove a point, but it ultimately backfires on him, and his loved ones die because of it. His downfall is excessive for what choices he makes leading up to it, and he even proclaims: “Whatever I touch goes wrong- once more a crushing fate’s come down upon my head!” (Sophocles, Antigone 127); this is a truly tragic fate for a good intentioned