Creon As Antigone

& # 8217 ; s Tragic Figure Essay, Research Paper

Creon as Antigone & # 8217 ; s Tragic Figure

In Sophocles Antigone, Creon clearly fills the function of the tragic figure. He fits all seven of the traits of a tragic hero as defined by Northrop Frye. Two of these traits stand out particularly ; Creon s sense of committedness to his determination and his Transfiguration after enduring the effects of his actions.

Creon s determination to criminalize Polyneices s burial sets the phase for the calamity that ensues. He regards Polyneices as an enemy of Thebes and sees no ground to honour his decease. He remains dedicated to the edict in resistance to converting statements from Antigone, Haemon, and Teiresias.

The first and most passionate challenge brought against Creaon s edict comes from Antigone. Her blazing neglect of his orders stun Creon. He holds fast in his haughtiness despite Atigone s protest:

Antigone: It was non Zeus who published this edict, / Nor have the Powers who

regulation among the dead / Imposed such Torahs as this upon world ; Nor could I think that a edict of yours & # 8211 ; / A adult male & # 8211 ; could overrule the Torahs of Heaven. ( ll. 450-454 )

Creon ignores the penetration of her remark and likens Antigone to nil more than a wild Equus caballus and a slave. ( ll. 477-479 ) By ignoring her observation, he shows us that he genuinely does believe his word can rebut that of the Gods. He is set in his belief that his authorization overrides the importance of religious tradition and Godhead order.

The 2nd passionate challenge to Creon s determination is his ain boy. Haemon attempts to offer his male parent advice instead than straight disputing him, but a ferocious statement ensues. Haemon acts as an advocator for himself, his fianc vitamin E, and the people of Thebes. He presents the most logical instance for the reversing of Creon s pronouncement.

Haemon: The metropolis mourns this miss. No other adult female, / So they are stating, so

undeservedly / Has been condemned for such a glorious title. / When her

ain brother had been slain in conflict / She would non allow his organic structure lie unburied / To be devoured by Canis familiariss or birds of quarry. / Is non this worthy of a Crown of gold? ( ll. 693-699 )

There s no shame, even if one is wise, / In tilting more, and cognizing when to give. / See how the trees that grow beside a downpour / preserve their subdivisions, if they bend ; the others, / Those that resist, are torn out, root and subdivision. ( ll. 710-714 )

Despite Haemon s wise words, Creon remains committed to his determination. The King is much to proud to accept the advice of his boy, or any one else. It is to the full within his power to change by reversal the prohibition of Polyneices s entombment. However, he asserts his freedom to allow the procedure follow its chosen way. He does so to the point of disregarding his boies menace of self-destruction upon the decease of Antignoe:

Haemon: So, she must decease and will non decease entirely.

Creon: What? Endanger me? Are you so impudent?

Haemon: It is no menace, if I reply to folly.

Creon: The sap would learn me sense! You ll pay for it. ( ll. 751-755 )

It is non until his confrontation with Teiresias that Creon realizes how blind he has been to what is traveling on around him. When they foremost converse, Creon acknowledges the visionary s wisdom. However, as shortly a

s Teiresias brings Creon s follies to visible radiation, the King accuses the visionary of dishonesty and corruptness:

Teiresias: Illness has come upon us, and the cause / Is you: our communion tables

and our sacred fireplaces / Are all polluted by the Canis familiariss and birds / That have been ingurgitating on the fallen organic structure of Polyneices. ( ll. 1014-1019 )

Creon: Go, make you net incomes, drive your trade / In Lydian Ag or in Indian gold,

/ But him you shall non bury in a grave, / No, non though Zeus ain bird of Joves eat the cadaver / And bear the carrion to their maestro s throne: / Not even so, for fright of that befoulment, / Will I permit his entombment for good I know / That mortal adult male can non sully the Gods. / But, old Teiresias, even the cleverest work forces / Fall disgracefully when for a small money / They use just words to dissemble their villainousness. ( ll.1037-1047 )

By responding this manner, Creon demonstrates continued committed to his determination, even in the face of incontrovertible wisdom and perceptual experience from Teiresias. This prompts the visionary to announce what eventually acts as the inevitable world that forces Creon to alter his head about the entombment:

Teiresias: You will non populate / Through many circuits of the rushing Sun / Before you

give a kid of your ain organic structure / To do damagess for slaying, decease for decease. ( ll. 1064-1067 )

After calculating the universe of panic which will shortly envelope Creon, Teiresias leaves. The King is all of a sudden diffident of himself. The visionary s words are terrorizing plenty to coerce him to revoke his edict. Creon s frights are affirmed by the Chorus which advises him to let go of Antigone and bury Polyneices.

Despite Creaon s alteration of bosom at this point in the drama, he has non yet made the Transfiguration of a tragic figure. He is moving in selfishness and fright, non yet seeing any deeper into the human status. His transmutation comes subsequently, upon detecting he has changed his head excessively tardily.

Creon s will is crushed with the find of what his actions have done. First, he finds both Antigone and Haemon, dead by their ain custodies, in each others weaponries. While sorrowing for his boy, the intelligence arrives that his married woman has besides taken her ain life. Here, eventually, the King makes the transmutation of a tragic hero:

Creon: The guilt falls on me entirely ; none but I / Have slain [ Eurydice ] ; no other

portions in the wickedness. / Twas I dealt the blow. This is the truth, my friends. / Away, take me off, far from the sight of work forces! / My life now is decease. Lead me off signifier here. ( ll. 1318-1322 )

Creon has learned from the hurting he has caused himself, his household, and those he regulations. He now better understands the human state of affairs and is softened by what has happened. The one time chesty King is now humbled and has accepted his proper topographic point in the existence and in relation to the Gods. As a consequence of his transmutation, he will be remembered as a great adult male.

Through the two traits discussed, sense of committedness and Transfiguration, we can see that Creon fills the function of a tragic hero in Antigone. The audience sees his obstinate haughtiness in keeping to his destructive determination. The audience watches him support it and assail others for oppugning him until he falls, battered and defeated. Then, the audience sees him rise once more, wise, redeemed, and recognized as a hero.