In contrast to this, in Antigone, Creon is a tyrant-like leader who lacked empathy and care for others. This can be seen as he forbid the burial of Polynices, which defied Greek custom. This act results in the death of Antigone, his son Haemon and his wife Eurydice (“Play Summary Antigone”). Contrary to Oedipus, Creon’s Hubris lead to a series of conscious actions that negatively affect the characters in the story. In the end, Creon can be seen to have learnt his lesson as the chorus states: “Of happiness the crown And chiefest part Is wisdom, and to hold The gods in awe. This is the law That, seeing the stricken heart Of pride brought down, We learn when we are old.” (Sophocles 162). Therefore, Oedipus is the better
A hero is not always someone with power. A true hero can be a person that inspires you to be better in life. Many heroes simply help other in danger. Police officers, firefighters and even doctors give people strength to overcome problems. What kind of qualities makes a hero? In the play Antigone, the play writer Sophocles had different type of qualities for a hero. The character of Creon is a true tragic hero that wants to be respected by the city. His pride for the city caused pain to his family and himself.
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.
The play, Antigone, is a tragedy written by the Greek poet Sophocles. A common theme among tragedies is that they have a tragic hero, and Antigone is no different. The tragic hero of this poem is Creon, the King of Thebes. Creon is faced with the difficult task of punishing his niece, Antigone. She has broken one of his laws stating that no one is to give proper burial rites to Polyneices, Antigone’s brother, because he tried to overthrow Creon. 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. Both of these flaws lead Creon down a path of destruction that he is unable to return from.
Another characteristic that defines a tragic hero is that they experience misfortune that is not entirely deserved, and in this case, Creon did; he experienced the loss of both his wife and son. In Antigone, it states, Messenger:“we saw Antigone hanging by the neck/… Haemon had his arms around her waist-/ he was embracing her and crying out in sorrow for the loss of his own bride/...Angry at himself, the ill-fated lad/ right then and there leaned onto his own sword,” (Lines 1359-1377). After Antigone decided to take her own life, Haemon, Creon’s son and Antigone’s husband, saw Antigone’s body and decided to end his own life as well. Not only did Creon cause the death of Antigone, he also inadvertently caused the death of his son, Haemon. In addition to the death of his son, Creon also caused the death of his wife, Eurydice. In Antigone, it states, Messenger:“She killed herself,/ with her own hands she stabbed her belly,/ once she heard her son’s unhappy fate,”(Lines 1460-1462). Once Creon’s wife, Eurydice, received the news of her son’s suicide, she decided to take her own life as well. So, in addition to Antigone’s and Haemon’s death, Creon also caused his wife’s death because he refused to let Antigone go sooner than he did. This whole ordeal stems from Creon’s stubbornness which embodies the play’s tragic vision because it shows how one’s
Pride can be one of man's strongest qualities. In Sophocles' play, Antigone, the Theme of pride becomes the cause for destruction for both Creon and Antigone in the play.. Creon's Pride blinds him to the injustice he commits against Antigone and the gods. Antigone's pride leaves her no choice but to be killed because of her beliefs. They Both automatically surrender to their own hubris and demonstrate how uncontrolled pride leads to personal downfalls and destruction in Antigone. The excessive pride of Creon and Antigone lead to their downfalls in Antigone.
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
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
resulted because of his misdeeds in having too much pride. His pride and his personal instability were the worst combination of possible qualities he could have. Creon’s past sins have built up and eventually burst and gave this man the worst punishment of all the characters in the play. In Antigone by Sophocles, Creon displayed many failing qualities as a king; most notably having displayed a giant ego by not accepting help from others, which warns the audience of the dangers
“A city which belongs to just one man is no true city.” (lines 838-39) Throughout the play, Antigone, written by Sophocles, the character Haemon constantly tries to persuade his father, Creon, to listen to the people of his city and to become a more humble leader. Haemon’s words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character. Which results in the two characters having continual conflicting motivations. These conflicting motivations cause the characteristics of anxiety, anger, and selfishness to be highlighted within Creon’s character. Ultimately, these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by giving Creon his free choice that makes his downfall exclusively his own fault and the character interactions advance the plot by pushing King Creon to insanity and showing that even the King’s own family was trying to urge him to change his decree, and develops the theme of love and loyalty by showing the struggle between faith and family.
Would you deem it fair if one brother receives a proper burial and the other one does not? Antigone was faced with this question, when she is had to face Creon’s decision of how her two brother’s deaths will be honored. Antigone had decided to break the law that Creon had set up, in order to give her fallen brother the proper burial that she felt he deserved. She had chosen to follow her moral conscience rather than listen to the creed that had been decided. While Antigone had chosen loyalty to her family and old traditions about burial, her uncle Creon had chosen power over family, deeming that love only makes you weak. Both Creon and Antigone both had views that they believed were right and they both defended their decisions until the end.
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. When someone is trying to give him advice he lashes out and is ignorants he thinks that everyone that tries to give advice is wrong. Until it's too late is that he realizes that he should of listened, but his pride prevented him from doing so. Love is a strong feeling yet some people have a hard time seeing it. Some are too late to notice it and lose everything that is valuable towards
To be a tragic hero, you must have a fatal flaw, Creon’s fatal flaw was hubris. He believes his authority was higher than the gods. Therefore, he made a law that prevented the god’s law of burying everyone from being acted on. Antigone tries to tell him that he is wrong and that he is disobeying Zeus’s rule, but Creon dismisses her as a traitor who is just trying
In Sophocles` play, Antigone, he shows a story of a crazed man who lets pride takes over his actions causing the deaths of his loved ones. This essay will discuss Haimon, King Creon`s son, through statements that Sophocles himself wrote and inferences of his perspective. During the story Haimon does major actions such as; plea for his fiancée, commits suicide and even cast death upon King Creon.
The character Antigone is the protagonist in Antigone, the second play out of the Oedipus Rex trilogy. Out of the trilogy she is apart of she is the most tragic figure, though other claims say that Creon is a more tragic figure. A tragic figure in Greek plays, according to Aristotle, is a fictional character in a story or play that has an error in judgment, known as hamartia. This error of judgment causes his or her own misery, known as peripeteia. In Greek plays, such as the one Antigone premiers in, this person is must be of nobility. A tragic figure also has a tragic flaw that incorporates into the story or play. This tragic flaw can be shown through arrogance, stubbornness, love, or any quality that usually causes conflict, this is known as hubris. A tragic figure also must be portrayed as relatable to the