The Role Of Creon In Antigone

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.

Foils are characters that contrast with one another to highlight particular qualities of those specific characters. Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes, functions as a foil throughout Sophocles’s Antigone, by telling Creon he is doomed and will not be able to escape fate. In the Oedipus the King along with Antigone , Tiresias reveals unwanted truths about Creon and Oedipus. Although he is the blind prophet, his ability to “see” beyond the present, Tiresias first accuses Oedipus of killing his father in Oedipus Rex and proceeds to tell Creon in Antigone that his laws will cause more harm to his land and death to his family. However, instead of learning from Oedipus’s mistakes, Creon rejects

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.

Sophocle’s play Antigone suggests that a good leader should provide loyalty and trust, and through actions Creon, shows many reasons to be a loyal character in the play, Creon has good rational reasons for his laws and punishments that he believes that will help him as a king. Even though Creon has a hard time listening to anyone, which makes him stubborn and his pride to increase he is actually doing something that can help his people, Creon and the citizens of Thebes respect the law, which shows loyalty to the state. In the play Creon states “ For me, a man who rules the entire state and does not take the best advise there is, but through fear keeps his mouth forever shut, such man is the worst of men- and always

Creon:“I killed you, my son, without intending to,/ and you, as well, my wife,” (Lines 1486-1487). Antigone is the story of a girl who defies the king of Thebes in order to honor her dead brother, Polyneices, who is not allowed to be buried. When the king decides to punish her, his inability to listen to reasoning and resistance to change backfires on him in a deadly way. In the play, Antigone, by Sophocles, Creon, the play’s tragic hero, brings suffering to others, such as causing the death of Antigone, his son, Haemon, and his wife, Eurydice, which contributes to the tragic vision of the play as a whole because it shows how stubbornness brings pain for others.

Antigone dearly beloved brothers Eteocles and Polyneices has joined their ancestors in the afterlife. Eteocles has been buried with honor There seems to be a problem with Polyneices who has not been buried. Antigone uncle Creon, don 't want to bury his own nephew. Antigone will always stand up for her family so she will go against her own uncle. Antigone is correct for bold rebellion to bury her brother because she loyal to her family and to the gods.

Glory; it was the only the thing that mattered in Ancient Greece. To receive honor from the gods is the only thing for many greeks. In the play, Antigone, written by Sophocles, the protagonist, Antigone, encounters many conflicts. One major conflict is with King Creon over the honoring of her brother. Creon is as loyal to his word as Antigone is stubborn. Antigone and King Creon have very different views on life and loyalty, however they have one thing in common, power and glory; one in the mortal world and the other in the afterlife, thus shaping their beliefs and loyalty.

Creon is the protagonist in Antigone, because his motivation throughout Antigone is the stability and wellbeing of Thebes. Moreover, Antigone is the antagonist in Antigone, because her motivation is selfish and deceiving. In Antigone the setting is Thebes post the death of both airs to the throne. Eteocles dies defending his country from his brother Polynieces which died attempting to reclaim his right to the throne. The conflict throughout Antigone is Antigone’s responsibility to bury her brother Polynices and the law created by Creon, the new king of Thebes, which states that “No one shall bury him, no one mourn for him.” (Antigone 59) Antigone proceeds to disobey the law and dies in her own hands to ensure her own martyr status. Antigone is not the protagonist because of her selfish motivation and need to

In the tragic play, Antigone by Sophocles, the character Creon, who acts as the antagonist, goes though reversal and recognition. Creon is not only the antagonist, but also the ruthless king of Thebes, and Antigone's uncle. Creon inherited the throne after the deaths of Antigone's two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices. Throughout the play, Creon makes it clear that he objects the laws of the gods in favor of the laws of man. Because of this, he sates that since Polyneices was a traitor to Thebes, he must not be mourned or buried by any of the citizens. Eteocles, on the other hand, was buried will full military honors, and is considered a hero by Creon and the townspeople.

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

/Must I rule the land by someone else’s judgment rather than my own? (Antigone, 790 & 792) This bold statement made by Creon suggests that he sees himself as a leader with the power and dignity of the state entirely with himself. With that power Creon also comes off as prideful as he states “I swear I am no man and she the man/ if she can win this and not pay for it. (Antigone, 528-529), this quote is evidence that Creon decision to stick to punishing Antigone is based off of his pride as a male as he deems that he won’t lose to a woman, as well as his belief that he has absolute say as the king. Even Creon own son agrees that Creon’s values are solely based on power an pride as Haemon challenges him, suggesting that by serving himself and instituting a totalitarian rule of state he is neglecting to positively serve the people of Thebes, this is evidenced when Haemon declares “ There is no city possessed by one man.”(Antigone, 794) Creon’s devotion to following state laws is proof that he doesn’t believe in the moral ethics of others and that he demands that others follow his demonstration. Jebb supports this claim as he states, “Creon is responsible for teaching that morality must surrender to a nation’s order. (Antigone to Sophocles, 1599). Simone De Beauvoir also announces that “Creon is dead set upon setting up a particular regulation that he has envisioned for the state and thus is uninterested in the ethical standards of others, unless it is set within his guidelines that he has decreed.” (“Moral” 178) Author Greydark also addresses the issue of Creon’s pride as he states “Creon remains fixated on retaining his stance largely because to renounce them would be equivalent to admitting a mistake to the public, which may in turn undermine his authority and jeopardize his credibility with his people.”( Analysis of…”

Love is a powerful motivation it can even drive you into hating someone, love drives you to do even what you wouldn’t normally do. Creon makes a law that forbids anyone from burying Antigone’s brother. When she finds out she goes against the king and buries her brother. When he is informed about what happened he punishes her. Antigone kills herself and then his son kills himself when he finds out that his love had died. Antigone’s love is so great for her brother that she went against the king and buried him with religious rights. Then Haemon kills himself because Antigone had died and he wanted to be with her. In the end Creon’s wife killed herself because her son had died. Creon is perceived as the tragic hero of the play when he is talking

People have many different reactions when given power. The reaction is usually either one where they use power for a greater good and to guide others in a better situation, or they can misuse the power given and take advantage of the circumstances or others to make themselves feel even more dominant and in command. In the play, Antigone by Sophocles one of the main characters , King Creon, abuses his power to take superiority of others and in an attempt to gain control. The misuse of power is more frequent than the use of power for the favorable, even in many current events.

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