Creon And The Tragic Hero In Sophocles Antigone

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Those within a mortal’s society will only ever be able to imagine the doom that will fall upon them as a repercussion of their own actions. The idea that one’s decisions help set the stage for their inevitable fate to occur or a tragic hero with a tragic flaw, is shown as a common theme throughout Sophocles’s plays. In the play Antigone, for example, the tragic hero is depicted the character Creon. The main conflict within Antigone is there is confrontation between the protagonist, Antigone, and the antagonistic tragic hero, Creon over the burial of Antigone’s deceased brother Polynices due to Creon accusing him of treason. This was an example of a clash of moral and societal rights and wrong doings. Creon’s rebuttals against Antigone, those …show more content…
Antigone hung herself, Haemon purposely fell on his sword, and Eurydice stabbed herself with sewing needles all triggered by the wrongly made actions of Creon. This could have all been avoided if Creon had made the right choice to listen to Haemon when he was expressing the feelings that the public was too scared to tell Creon. Creon chose to completely ignore Haemon when he stated this argument “And yet from whence could I have gathered praise more worthily, than from depositing my own brother in a tomb? These all of them would utter approval, did not fear seal up their lips. ‘Tis tryannny’s privledge, and not least-power to declare and do what is minded … they are too discern; they refrain their tongues at your behest (Sophocles Page 28).”
Creon’s pride, wrong decisions, and own freedom of choice led him unknowingly to his fate. It seems as if Creon was destined to die sad and alone from his own actions and harm he inflicted on others. For this reason, it would be just to suggest the tragic hero as being depicted the character Creon. Imagine if Creon made the more adult-like decision and just lectured Antigone about burying her brothers body; all of the death that occurred as a result could have been fully avoided. One can only imagine their own downfall and what they could do to avoid