Antigone And Creon Tragic Hero Essay

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Greek philosopher Aristotle defines a tragic hero as, “a literary character of high stature/respect that makes a judgment error based on a fatal flaw, ultimately leading to his or her downfall”. In greek writer Sophocles’ play Antigone, two main characters appear to serve as a ‘tragic hero’: Antigone and Creon. One might argue that Antigone, based on her good intentions and respect for family, would be the tragic hero. However, Creon is the true tragic hero of Antigone, because he (1) is a person of high stature/respect (king of Thebes), (2) makes a judgement error early in the play (prohibiting the burial of Polynices and then sentencing Antigone to a miserable punishment), and (3) possess a fatal flaw (being too stubborn and closed-minded). The first two tragic hero characteristics Creon posses (position of high stature/respect and judgement error) are illustrated in the begging of the play. Shortly after stepping in as ruler of Thebes, Creon addresses the public and announces his intentions to be a great king. In this speech, he depicts …show more content…
An example of this fatal flaw occurs as Creon responds to his son’s desperate attempt to justify and save Antigone: “Now, by heaven, I promise you, you’ll pay— / taunting, insulting me! Bring her out, / that hateful — she’ll die now, here, / in front of his eyes, beside her groom!” (852-855). From that passage the reader can observe that Creon, when shown opposition, chooses to stick to his own ruling. Another excellent example of this idea can be seen when Creon blatantly ignores the blind prophet Tiresias’ warning: “I know it myself — I'm shaken, torn. / It's a dreadful thing to yield... but resist now? / Lay my pride bare to the blows of ruin? / That's dreadful too" (1218-1220). From these two passages, it can be noted that Creon clearly possesses a fatal flaw of stubbornness and closed-mindedness, another characteristic of a tragic
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