Oedipus The King: Creon As A Tragic Hero

In Greek Theatre one of the main components of a tragedy is the tragic hero. A tragic hero is a man, or a woman, of high standing who is capable of great suffering. They must posses many great qualities but in the end will display a single fatal flaw in character that will lead to his or her demise. They audience must accept this downfall because of this flaw in character. This is called catharsis, the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions. There a few characters in the trilogy of Oedipus that could be considered tragic heroes: Oedipus himself, Antigone, and maybe a few others. One that cannot be considered a tragic hero is Creon. In the story of Antigone, Creon is the king. In Oedipus,

At the end of Oedipus the King Creon’s sister, Jocasta, dies. In Antigone Creon loses his wife, son, and kingdom but this all brought upon by himself. His pride and stubbornness lead him to lose all he has so this is not a contributing factor of to being tragic hero. Creon may have been a good person but he had few admirable qualities. At the beginning of the trilogy Creon is a very understanding person, he cares for his family, forgives Oedipus, and promises to take care of Oedipus’s children: Ismene, Antigone, Polyneices, and Eteocles. By the end of Antigone he has caused the death of his son Haemon, his wife Eurydice, and Antigone. He refused to bury Polyneices and went against the wishes of the people of Thebes. He was a stubborn and egotistic and refused to wha his people thought was best. We all accept that Creon’s story ends with him losing his kingdom and his family. The reason being that his downfall was his own fault. His pride, stubbornness and selfishness lead him to do everything everyone didn't want him to do. Though Creon has a few admirable qualities, is a high standing man in society, and has gone through great suffering, he is not a tragic hero. His faults out way his