Similarities Between Antigone And Creon

A Tragic Hero: Creon

In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, horrific events describe the makings of a tragic hero. Antigone contrasts with Creon when they are on the other side of the argument of whether Polyneices should be buried. In Antigone, royal sons kill each other but only one gets a burial because he was the king. This lead to Antigone trying to bury her brother in which she is sentenced to death. This doing was by Creon her uncle who crowned himself king, which is part of his downfall.

Antigone believes it’s her duty to bury Polyneices because she is his sister, but Creon believes Polyneices is the enemy. In Antigone the play, Creon says “He’ll be left unburied, his body there for birds and dogs to eat, a clear reminder of his shameful fate.”(lines 234-236) and also Antigone says “No, no. Announce the fact if you don’t let everybody know, I’ll despise your silence even more.”(lines 106-107) this shows that they believe in their values and will not give up on them. Antigone also follow different customs compared to Creon that shows why they clash so much.

Antigone follows the gods but now that Creon is king he doesn’t think the gods are powerful. In Antigone, the play Antigone says “I did not think anything which you proclaimed strong enough to let a mortal override the gods and their unwritten and unchanging laws.”(lines 510-513) and also Creon says “No one can tolerate what you’ve just said, when you claim god’s might care about this corpse.”(lines 327- 328) This shows that both of them think differently about the gods and what is most powerful in the world. In Creon’s case he believes money is the most powerful thing in the world, but he soon realizes it’s