Creon As The Tragic Hero In Sophocles Antigone

“Whatever I touch has come to nothing.” Creon shouted this when he met his downfall. Antigone is about a princess named Antigone who buried her brother for moral beliefs. This was illegal at the time in the city of Thebes because the first thing that Creon did as king was make the law that no one can bury Polyneices and she was sentenced to death for this. Creon, king of Thebes, filled the prophecy and met his downfall with everyone he cared about had died and lead him to emotional death.

Little does Oedipus know, he actually killed his father. Oedipus then finds out the truth when he talks to the Shepard about the murder of Laius. Oedipus had come the tragic realization about the events that have gone on when he found out that Oedipus is actually the killer of King Laius and the he is married to his mother. From there, Iocaste goes to her bedroom and hangs herself. Oedipus is notified of this and he rushes to Iocaste.

Catharsis is the process of releasing and thereby providing relief from strong or repressed emotions after the downfall. In Antigone, after Antigone is found dead in the tomb, Haemon is distraught about her death that he kills himself to be with his fiance “Haemon has been killed. No stranger has shed his blood” (Sophocles, 1305-1306). Haemon his only living offspring with wife Eurydice has killed himself, just like said by prophet Teiresias.

Dido tells Anna to burn most things that he has left behind, but really this was a plan of Dido’s to kill herself. Dido states, “To whom do you abandon me, a dying woman, guess that you are-the only name now left from that of a husband? Why do I live on?” What Dido is implying here is that she has no reason to live because she is losing the man who she is married to. Aeneas does not think he has to stay because the real marriage ceremony did not occur.

Tragedy strikes when Romeo is exiled for killing Juliet’s cousin and Juliet is forced to marry someone else. Juliet fakes her death with the help of Friar Laurence, but Romeo thinks Juliet is truly dead and kills himself in grief. Juliet, seeing her lover dead upon waking up, also kills herself. If it weren’t for Friar Laurence’s irresponsible

The reader feels pity for Creon for his lack of time to grieve and his tragic mistake that led to the loss of his family, this demonstrates his goodness. Creon, recently succeeded to take the throne of Eteocles, making him king. Therefore, giving him the title of royalty and showing superiority. His power and control over Thebes makes him important, and this power and importance leads to a lack of mercy for criminals.. CREON. I have summoned you here this morning because I know that I can depend on you: your devotion to King Laius was absolute; you never hesitated in your duty to our late ruler Oedipus; and

How would you feel if you were locked away to rot by one of your own family members because you did something they didn’t approve of? In Sophocles play, Antigone, this is just the case for the niece of Creon, King of Thebes. After getting word that her “own two brothers [...] slaughtered one another and brought about their common doom” (Sophocles 318), Antigone is distraught. What makes her infuriated is when she learns that her uncle, Creon, has decided that one of her brothers, Eteocles, will receive a proper burial and be honored while the other brother, Polyneices, will receive no burial and be remembered as a traitor. Soon after, Antigone takes action and performs a secret burial and ritual on her dead brothers corpse, but she is also

Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, defines a tragic hero as a man or woman of high standing that is capable of great suffering both physically and/or mentally. They must also possess many excellent qualities in character, but who will possess one character flaw that will lead to his or her downfall and we (as an audience) accept this downfall because of their fatal flaw. Using this definition, we can deduce that Oedipus is in fact a tragic hero. Oedipus was king of Thebes.

I fear it is. And yet, methinks, it should not, 30For he hath still been tried a holy man. With that, she downs the whole vial. Her poor nurse finds her first and calls her parents in to see their dead daughter.

As the story progresses, the effects of Creon’s decrees result in rebellion, unhappiness, and death. As mentioned before, Antigone performed an act of civil disobedience by burying her brother. Thus, she rebelled against Creon’s specific mandate. For a rebellion to happen, Antigone had to perform the action with all knowledge she would die or another punishment would occur. Rosa Parks experienced a similar situation.

Tragic heroes characterize tragedies because they tell the tragic story of those heroes and their tragic flaws. In the book Antigone written by Sophocles, we are met with many characters of the book, and the tragic hero is depicted into two characters, Antigone and Creon. We see the tragic death of Antigone as she took her life in the end of the book, and Creon the king of Thebes, who also faces his tragedy in the book. To begin with, Antigone tells the story that depicts the tragedy of Antigone, who also seems to be the tragic hero.

A tragic hero is defined as someone of high power or royalty who brings upon his or her own downfall as a result of a flaw found within the character. In Sophocles’s “Antigone” there are possibly two tragic heroes. Both Antigone and Creon have similar traits of a tragic hero. Although the story is named after Antigone, I believe that Creon is the true tragic hero of the story as his ignorance and pride prove to be his tragic flaws.

In the play Antigone, by Sophocles, the main character Creon goes through major character development as the story progresses. As King of Thebes, Creon establishes a series of decisions thought to be ethically correct for the city. However, many of his family members and townspeople disagree and revolt against his decrees and, as a result, leads to his downfall, making him a symbol of a tragic hero. One of those people is Antigone, the headstrong female protagonist who defies Creon’s orders in order to bring justice to her brother. Her conflicting motivations and rationale advances the plot and contributes to Creon’s development as a tragic hero.

In the play, Antigone, by Sophocles, Polyneices and Eteocles, have killed each other and Creon orders Eteocles to have an honored burial while Polyneices is to be left without a burial. Antigone tells Ismene, who are both sisters of Polyneices and Eteocles, that they must bury Polyneices, Ismene tells her she can not so Antigone buries Polyneices alone in defiance to the state laws. Creon and Antigone have conflicting values. Creon holds the laws of the city higher even when other beliefs state otherwise.

When people defend what they believe in or who they love that is sacrifice. In order to be certain that her two brothers she loved had a proper burial and that their souls could rest, Antigone sacrificed her life. Regardless of the potential outcome; even if that means that she was going to have to challenge her uncle (King Creon), she plans on pursuing her quest. Polynices and Eteocles killed each other in battle for control over Thebes, leaving the city to the new King, Creon Jocasta’s brother and Antigone’s uncle. Because of the actions that Polynices took during the war, Creon labels him a traitor and halts any burial process, leaving his body for the animals (222-234).