Antigone: Creon Character Analysis

Someone once told me that ignorance is bliss, but arrogance leads to destruction. In the play antigone, A character that’s a good example of this quote is Creon, a power hungry king who puts his rules over the rules of the gods by accident. The theme that I’m connecting to the actions of creon is morality. Some of the traits that creon possesses are arrogance, aimlessness, and anger. In the play Antigone, king Creon Believes that his laws surpass the laws of the gods due to his arrogance. In line 324-326 Creon says to the Chorus leader, “Stop now - before what you’re about to say enrages me completely and reveals that you’re not only old but stupid, too”. This shows that Creon portrayed an understanding for his actions when in reality he is

The Summary Is About Antigone Who Lost Her Brother Who Died In The War And She Wants To GIve Him The Right Burial For Her Brother. Antigone Loves Her Brother And Wants To Let The People Know That. She Lost Her Father In The War, Her Mom Hung Her Herself, And Now She Lost Her Brother Like Her Father In The War.

Does Creon’s pride overlook Antigone’s wants? Antigone is the sister of her two brothers Eteocles, and Polyneices, but Creon only gives one of them there proper burial. Antigone does not like the decree of the king, Creon and rebels towards him and others, from Polyneices not getting a proper burial. Antigone does not listen to anyone and buries him herself and Antigone gets punished from not listening, but Antigone does not care because both of her brothers should have had the proper burial in their honor. Antigone has not listened Ismene her sisters’ advice, rebels against Creon, after it all she kills herself and causes many death from her outcome.

In life, humanity has the responsibility to adhere to the rules and regulations imposed upon it by a superior power. For the most part, this obedience breeds peaceful order and mutual understanding; however, when the body in control grows corrupt and enforces unjust laws, the people rightfully turn their thoughts to revolt. This is the case with Antigone, who was correct in her rejection of the inhumane ordinance proclaimed by King Creon. Her means are justified by her desperation to please the gods, her desire to honor her fallen brother, and her compulsion to perform what is morally right.

A hamartia, a fatal flaw and literary device, allows the character to portray his/herself in a realistic or relatable way; allowing the reader to question how the character arrived at the state they are in; in Creon’s case, loneliness. The state can be interpreted as a mental but also physical state. Creon’s fatal flaw manages to become his extreme pomposity. Napoleon Bonaparte and Creon were both stopped by an act of God. Napoleon attacked Moscow, underestimating the Russian winter which killed a staggering portion of his foot soldiers. Creon was stopped by an act of God, because he went against the Greek culture and ethics. As a leader Creon portrays himself as a prideful, short tempered, and stubborn person. Although Creon initially displayed

Creon says “Eteocles who died as a man is to be buried with full military honors, his brother Polynecies is to have no burial, no man is to touch or say a prayer for him. He shall lie on the plain unburied so the birds and dogs can do as they want. ”His niece (sister of both the brothers) decides he should be buried and Creon can kill her if he needed, she did not care. Creon decided to put her in a hole to starve to death for breaking his law. So it makes Creon the tragic hero because he was too late to save Antigone, she hanged herself, his son found out so he stabbed himself, and Creon’s wife found out about the son so, she also killed herself. Just to think he could’ve saved everyone he loved.

First off, Ismene, Antigone’s sister, actually was the one that incited Antigone's actions that led to everything else that happened in the story. Without Ismene, there would not be a plot. In lines 52-59, Ismene said to Antigone “What? You'd bury him— when a law forbids the city?” Antigone replied “Yes! He is my brother and—deny it as you will—your brother too. No one will ever convict me for a traitor.” Ismene said “So desperate, and Creon has expressly—” and Antigone interrupted with “He has no right to keep me from my own.” Here Ismene is telling Antigone that her actions are not something that are legal and that comply with Creon’s laws. Antigone, being hard-headed, decides that she is not going to let a law determine what she does for

“Zeus did not announce those laws to me. And Justice living with the gods sent no such laws for men,” (508-510) said Antigone with frustration towards Creon about the act of her burying her brother, even though it was against the law. Antigone’s words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character to the point of these two characters having conflicting motivations. These conflicting motivations cause the characteristics of stubbornness, disrespect, and anger to be highlighted within Creon’s character. Ultimately, these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by finding in himself that he is wrong about what should have been done with Polyneices’ corpse and the character interactions advance the plot and/or develop the theme by keeping a conflict between Antigone and Creon about who is right.

The qualifications of a tragic hero vary between Aristotle and Shakespeare. Aristotle thinks of a tragic hero as someone who is a noble character by choice and makes his/her own destiny, while Shakespeare sees a tragic hero as someone who is born of nobility and born to be important. Although both tragic hero's end in a tragic death that effects many people, not all tragic hero's fit perfectly into both categories. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Creon is considered a tragic hero. Creon follows Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero by being a noble character by choice, having important potential, and falls due to "miscalculations" with circumstances that are beyond control.

“The gods no longer will accept our sacrifice, our prayers, our thigh bones burned in fire.” (Lines 1133-35) Teiresias explained to the king that a mortal human being was no match, and should not try to match, against the glorious gods. Creon admitted that he stood firmly on the final decision of not burying Polyneices, Antigone’s brother, and that no god had the power to make him to do so. “Even if Zeus’ eagles should choose to seize his festering body and take it up, right to the throne of Zeus, not even then would I, in trembling fear of some defilement, permit that corpse a burial.” (Lines 1160-65) Teiresias, on the other hand, was continuously persuading for Creon to compromise with everyone else, to fix his egotistic actions, with his statement: “Men who put their stubbornness on show invite accusations of stupidity.” (Line 1144-45) To which Creon responds with an insult rather than

A tragedy, as defined by Ms. Tozar, is “the story of a falling from a high place to a lower place by a character.” In other words, a tragedy is a story of an individual who starts in a high position and descends throughout the story to end in a position that is lower than original position. The individual who makes the descent is known as the tragic hero. The tragic hero, as defined by Ms. Tozar, is “the character who falls from grace as a result of fate and/or a weakness. In the drama, Antigone by Sophocles, one could argue that there are many tragic heroes. However, the one who stands above them all is that of the character of Creon. Creon is understood by most as the tragic hero in Antigone as evident in his

Antigone’s words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character by his downfall because of Antigone braying her brother, Polyneices. Antigone said, “Let that be your excuse. I’m going now to make a burial mound for my dear brother.”(Line’s 99-100) Antigone is the type of person who thinks if one can get buried than the other deserves to be buried right along

Antigone said “ I admit I did it. I won’t deny it.”(500) She disobeyed Creon’s law not to give Polyneices a proper burial for being a traitor.

Throughout the Greek play Antigone by Sophocles, there exists a dispute as to who should receive the designation of main character. Antigone, the daughter of the cursed King Oedipus, as well as Creon, stately king of Thebes, both appear as the key figures in this historic play. I believe that Creon, king of Thebes, should be considered the main character in this work of Greek theater. Three points can be used to make this argument: Creon suffers greatly, he learns a lesson, and is a tragic hero.

Sophocles’ Antigone is, without a doubt, one of the greatest tragedies ever written. There are many questions that somebody could ask about this work, but this one intrigues me the most: Who is the tragic hero? Could it be Antigone? Or could it be Creon? Antigone might be the name of the tragedy, but I believe that Creon is the winning candidate. His role in the plot of this tragedy, his sensible tragic fault, and his dynamic character are the obvious reasons why I chose him as the tragic hero.