Creon: The Tragic Hero In Sophocles Antigone

Wiz Khalifa once said, “Never make permanent decisions on temporary feelings.” Some students may believe that Antigone was the tragic hero in the story, but the real tragic hero is actually Creon for many reasons. Some describe a tragic hero by whether they are heroic or born into nobility, but in the story he is portrayed as the antagonist. In the novel, “Antigone” written by Sophocles, Creon becomes the tragic hero by forbidding the burial of Polyneices, imprisoning Antigone for his own good and believing that he is the only one that can control the law. One character trait that all tragic heroes have is that he is responsible for his own fate by forbidding the proper burial for Polyneices. To begin, when He first passed the law on the burial

Creon believes that he has the upper hand when it comes on making major decisions. When Creon commands some of the guards to take Ismene and Antigone away, “You, there, take them away and guard them well:For they are but women, and even brave men run When they seen Death coming”(1039,L164,S2.) This is the beginning of Creon’s error in judgement. He believes that Antigone is the enemy of Thebes because she is going against his authority, but in reality he is the enemy by making false judgement. The next example of Creon being doomed to make a serious error in judgement is when Creon discusses the plans for Antigone’s fate with Choragus after Haemon leaves, “I will carry her far away, Out there in the wilderness , and lock her Living in a vault of stone. She shall have food, As the custom is, to absolve the state of her death(1045,S3L142.) This is another starting point on the error of Creon’s judgment by adding Haemon into this conflict. Haemon tries his best to protect Antigone from Creon, but still fails because her imprisonment leads to her and Haemon’s death. This event not only kills Antigone and Haemon, but also Eurydice his wife. Creon’s decision in the story causes him to make a serious error in

Many of the characters in the story have affected the audience with pity and fear. One example is Haemon affecting the audience with pity when Antigone hanged herself in her jail cell. When Creon and Haemon were arguing about Antigone, “I swear, by all the gods in heaven above us, You’ll watch it; I swear you shall”(1045,S3,L129!) This part of the story affected the audience the most is because it is when Creon becomes the most fearful out of all the characters. The fact that he said he swears twice shows the audience he is actually for serious about Antigone. He even involves the gods into this scene, not to mention all of them. Creon not only creates fear towards the audience, but also pity. When Creon finds out that his wife, Eurydice, is dead, “ Oh pity! All true, all true, and more than I can bear! O my wife, my son”(1060,Exo,L109!) Creon is affecting pity towards the audience by making the audience feel bad for him. He has lost his son, his wife, not to mention his niece. Even more pity is affected towards the audience when Creon blames himself, “It is right that it should be. I alone am guilty. I know it, and I say it. Lead me in, Quickly, friends.I have neither life nor substance”(1060,Exo,L121.) The fact that Creon blames himself for the death of Haemon,Eurydice, and Antigone, shows that he is affecting pity towards the audience. He also says that he does not have