Creon As Tragic Hero Essay Research Paper

Creon As Tragic Hero Essay, Research Paper

James Monahan

Mrs. McNicholas

English 4 AP

11 December 2000

Creon as Tragic Hero

Since the drama? s origin, there has ever existed a contention refering the true hero of Sophocles? Antigone. It is a widely held belief that Antigone must be the chief character merely because she and the play portion name. This is, of class, a really logical premise. Certainly Sophocles must hold at least intend her to be viewed as the supporter, else he would non hold given her the drama? s rubric. Analytically talking, nevertheless, Creon does look to more flatly suit the denomination of? Tragic Hero. ? There is no uncertainty as to the nature of the work, that being calamity. Along with this genre comes certain constituted requirements, and Creon is the lone character that satisfactorily fits them all.

There are certain qualities that a character must posses in order to measure up as a tragic hero. Ideally, the topic is to be a individual of high rank, so that they may hold much to lose. ( Most often a sovereign is used. ) Granted, Antigone is a member of the royal lineage. But we must non bury that she is the girl of incest, barely a glamourous place to get down with. In Oedipus Rex, Antigone was indirectly disgraced, while Creon was socially elevated by inheriting kingship from Oedipus. Besides, Creon? s being king relatively trumps Antigone? s lesser position of orphaned princess. While this in itself objectively proves nil, it does at a minimal brand Creon the more likely pick of supporter.

Another indispensable constituent of a tragic hero is that of the tragic defect, the one property that causes the inevitable ruin of the character. A instance could be made for Antigone? s tragic flaw being adamance. She is called pig-headedly wild in the drama by both Creon? ? This miss was an old manus at crust? ? ( 1280 ) ? and by the chorus leader: ? She hasn? T learned to flex before adversity. ? ( 1279 ) . Yet the judgement of disparagers shouldn? T be taken for absolute truth. Looking at her actions and personality impartially tells a spot of a different narrative. A hallmark of the obstinate personality type is non simply to reason in the face of hostility, but to keep legitimacy even after being proved incorrect. There is no grounds to back up that Antigone would move in such a mode, were she proven incorrect. In fact, everyone except the male monarch reinforces her righteousness. Haemon, the cho

Rus, Ismene, the Gods, and Tiresias all agree that Antigone has justness on her side, and deserves no penalty. Therefore, she is cleared of holding any existent character lack. She does the right thing, and for the right grounds. Creon, on the other manus, possesses that much-loved authoritative defect: hubris. Creon? s pride clouds his judgement and blocks out the good sense of Haemon and Tiresias, two beginnings that even the male monarch should cognize hold no subterranean angles. Conceit is frequently an outgrowth of personal insecurity. Bing a new male monarch, Creon felt he had to turn out himself as an autocratic, and decided to do an illustration out of Antigone? s rebellion. This hapless judgement, dictated by self-importance, was destined to destroy Creon from the beginning.

Calamities ever end with an dry reversal of lucks, go forthing the unfortunate exalted and the respected belittled. Since the tragic hero starts out with everything, he or she must stop up with nil. By the terminal of Antigone, Creon has lost his household, his land, and his will to populate, but is doomed to populate on with the cognition that he is the exclusive cause of all his hurting. Antigone does in fact lose her life, but she does so with award. From the beginning, Antigone was clearly seeking martyrdom: ? Even if I die in the act, that decease will be a glorification? ( 1269 ) . Antigone has gained the good graces of the people and the Gods. The audience does non feel for her because she has accomplished the entombment of her brother, and she can now rest beside him.

The concluding component of the tragic hero of a Greek play is the realisation of mistakes and bad picks. Antigone had no such epiphany, merely because she did no wrong. Antigone needs no salvation because she has committed no great misbehavior. Creon, nevertheless, comes to see his grave errors after he has fallen from grace. Creon repents, and is even brought to the brink of self-destruction. Like all tragic heroes, he can merely recognize his frailty one time everything has been taken off from him.

So who was meant to be the lead character of Antigone? Antigone. So who is the lead character of Antigone? Creon. Somewhere along the line, Sophocles found a more complex narrative in the insecure king than in the noncompliant Lady. Using Aristotle? s lineation of Grecian calamity ( which ironically was chiefly based on Sophocles ) , Creon is the lone character who meets the standards. Creon started from the highest postion, suffered the greatest cyberspace losingss, and possessed the lone unarguable defect. Titles aside, the literary content speaks for itself.