Creon In Sophocles Antigone

Creon’s Demise

Sophocles’ Antigonê picks up some years after Oedipus. It follows the story of Oedipus’s daughter, Antigonê and her death. In the story there are two characters who can be referred to as tragic heroes. One is the title character, Antigonê, and the other is her uncle, Creon. Both characters follow their own tragic paths, however, many people argue about who the true tragic hero is. Even though Antigonê is a pitiable character, Creon is more deserving of the title because he has a clear peripeteia, anagnorisis, and hamartia.

Creon follows the tragic arc in Antigonê, and one of the reasons for this is his clear peripeteia and anagnorisis. Creon’s big reversal of fortune is from a well-renowned king and leader of Thebes to the

In Creon’s case, his hamartia was hubris. He was very arrogant and prideful during the entire story. From the time the audience meets him he is very full of himself. When he is sentencing Antigonê to death she protests that she buried her brother out of love. Creon, always having to be right, says, “if you must have your love, find it in hell!” (Sophocles 211) He is also overly self-confident when talking to his family. For example, the first time the audience meets his son, Haimon, he says, “That is the way to behave: subordinate everything else, my son, to your father’s will.” This is arrogance in its most extreme. This man wants his son to essentially become his slave, He tells Haimon to unflinchingly do whatever he says. This arrogance and self confidence is ultimately Creon’s fatal flaw because it leads him to actions that his family disagrees with so much that they take their own lives. Creon puts Antigonê in jail, which makes his son particularly angry with him. When Haimon finds that Antigonê killed herself, he is so distraught that he takes his own life as well. Creon is devastated by his son’s death. Eurydice, Creon’s wife, is also distraught at the death of Haimon, and she also kills herself because of this. When Creon learns “The Queen is dead,” (Sophocles 243) he becomes very depressed and wants to die himself. All of Creon’s actions and words make hubris his fatal

She started with the noble act of burying her brother and ended up “[making] a noose of her fine linen veil and [hanging] herself.” (Sophocles 240) The strongest argument for Antigonê being more of a tragic hero than Creon is her peripeteia and hamartia. Although the argument for Antigonê being the true tragic hero is a strong one, Creon’s peripeteia, anagnorisis, and hamartia show that he follows the tragic arc much more closely than Antigonê does. Antigonê does not have an anagnorisis, while Creon does, and she never has a realization in the story. Creon, on the other hand has a clear anagnorisis. His anagnorisis comes when he realizes he was wrong to not give Polyneicês a proper burial and imprison Antigonê. He is told by Choragos that he should “free Antigonê from her vault/ And build a tomb for the body of Polyneicês.” (Sophocles 235) He agrees to do this and goes to the vault. It is in the vault when Haimon kills himself that Creon fully realizes what he has done. Antigonê does not have a realization the same way Creon does. Due to the fact that he has a peripeteia, anagnorisis, and hamartia, Creon is more of a tragic hero than