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.
Creon has many admirable qualities but within them a tragic flaw that causes great misfortune. Creon as a newly instated king of Thebes, makes a decree that Eteocles will
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Creon, with his hubris, does not listen to the words of his son, Haemon. When he reluctantly calls for the release of Antigone from her imprisonment, he is too late. She has died and Haemon kills himself after failing to kill his father. “Nothing you say can touch me any more. My own blind heart has brought me. From darkness to final darkness. Here you see. The father murdering, the murdered son––And all my civic wisdom! Haimon my son, so young, so young to die, I was the fool, not you; and you died for me.” Creon implores that he has been blinded by his pride and that he didn’t see that Haemon’s ultimatum and love for Antigone would be the reason why Haemon would kill himself. Creon’s decisions have lead him to lose his son and his wife, which is where his downfall begins. Creon becomes the tragic hero because he has endured pain from the deaths of his family. By not listening to Teiresias or anyone, but only to himself because he believes what he is doing is right, the death of his loved ones were