Antigone Creon Character Traits

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.

The character of antigone is multidimensional, her complex set of traits and motives can make it hard to determine what her true intentions are. That being said, in this passage we can clearly see that she attributes her actions to a love for family. This strength shows a weakness in Creon and his army. Regardless how strong, or how monumental they seem, antigone uses wit and dedication to bypass them and do right by her family. The fear creon incites winds up benefiting antigone in her efforts to honor her family and reveal Creon's flaws. The author uses word choice and imagery to show where Antigone's loyalty lies, and to expose Creon's ego.

His tragic flaw of excessive pride and arrogance prevents him from being able to logically access circumstances. He goes through a sudden reversal of fortune where he suffers from catastrophic losses, and he realizes that his misfortunes are caused by his own doings. Creon, being the brother of the late queen Jocasta, uncle and brother-in-law to the banished King Oedipus, and uncle to the former King Eteocles has extremely high noble stature (Doc C). Also, he comes from a position of extreme power, as shown by his three separate crowning as King of Thebes. Because of this, Creon as a tragic hero, has much to lose and will “fall from tremendous good fortune” (Doc C), causing the audience to feel a sense of “pity and fear” (Doc C) for Creon. His loss of his family and status due to his tragic flaw makes the audience pity him because his “punishment exceeds the crime” (Doc C) while making them subconsciously fear for themselves because “the hero is better than we are, and still failed” (Doc C). If the hero who is better than we are failed, then how will we compare? Sophocles creates the epitome of a tragic hero in his tragedy, Antigone, by capturing all five traits of a tragic hero into one character:

“…I, as next in blood, have succeeded full power of the throne…” (Antigone, Scene 1, 17) As he speaks to the chorus he states that he will be king because he was next in blood in the royal family. He understands that he cannot expect to be treated as king without showing that he can be tested in office; he must show that he is stable enough to follow his own rule. Then he displays his strength by stating “…no traitor is going to be honored with the loyal man.” (Antigone, Scene 1, 49-50) Here Creon explains he is loyal to his beliefs and refuses to do otherwise. When he mentioned a “traitor”, he specifically refers to Polyneices. He believed that anyone who went against their own state was a traitor, and in this case it was Polyneices. He explains that anyone who listens to his laws will have his respect when they are dead, but if they do otherwise they will have no reverence from him as king. His punishment for burying Polyneices was a part of what made the Thebans afraid of him. The Thebans kept their tongues on leash because although they would have been going against the Gods, Creon would not think twice about stoning the person. Creon’s pride blinded him from paying attention to the ethics of the

Creon was a man who stuck to his words and does not want to show weakness. Therefore, he kept his word for the law he has created; the law not to bury Polyneices. Additionally, whoever disobeys his law will be punished. Creon’s niece, Antigone, committed a crime of burying Polyneices. Antigone did not deny her guilt of burying her brother. Antigone thought she was doing the right thing by burying her innocent brother. Creon will not change his mind about the punishing the guilty, even though his niece broke the law, his obstinacy has affected his decision. Antigone could care less about the punishment that Creon will provide for her; because her stubbornness is blocking the sense that she is guilty, according to the law that Creon made. Antigone says, “It will not be the worse of deaths-death without honor” (line: 81-82). Antigone’s pride gets in the way of reality, and into the stubborn world. Creon is too stubborn to even realize, that his decisions will bring hatred and

Creon is a very stubborn man like when he said this to the guard “This and more- you sold your life for silver. ”(377).Creon is accusing the guard of burying the body even though it wasn't him. Creon doesn't listen to the guard or even want to hear what he has to say but still accuses him of taking bribe. When Antigone was talking to To Ismene Antigone says “I’ll hate you if you're going to talk that way. And you’ll rightly earn loathing of the dead.

Teiresias: “You’ve thrown down to those below someone from up above- in your arrogance you’ve moved a living soul into a grave, leaving here a body owned by god's below- unburied, dispossessed, unsanctified.” (Lines 1196-1200). Teiresias has given Creon insight on how he drove his fate to its edge. In Antigone by Sophocles, Creon is portrayed as a tragic figure who functions as a tool for suffering because he had brought a series of unfortunate events to those who were close to him by not allowing his emotions to surpass his overwhelming power and taking drastic actions towards Antigone and Haemon leading to unwanted deaths.

In Sophocles Antigone, the actions of the primary characters Antigone and Creon make statements about the flaws in human characteristics. Through their central conflict, both characters demonstrate that even the noblest human can be inflexible, overly concerned with pride, and can cause the suffering of others. Most common arguments state that Creon best demonstrates these characteristics, as he imposes strict rule over his citizens, appears to strive to protect his pride, and is a proponent of harsh punishments. Although this is a valid argument, Antigone better exemplifies the stubborn attitude and concern with personal pride that leads to the suffering of those around her.

Antigone, one of the Three Theban Plays, which was translated by Robert Fagles, was set in Thebes, ancient Greece. It is an example of how much power can go to someone’s head one they have it. Creon, the king, had banned anyone from burying one of Antigone’s brothers because he was said to be a traitor. Antigone wanted her brother wanted to be buried with the rest of her family, and so she rebels against the king and buries her brother, even when her sister advises her not to. In the end, everyone passes away besides Creon to sit in agony. In the play, Creon’s power had left him arrogant and cold In the beginning, he was very hard-headed and set on pride, but towards the end his attitude had changed around, along with controlled by fate.

Son against father, brother against brother leaving heartbreak and destruction in Thebes. This city once peaceful and happy gets destroyed by men doing anything for power. From the destruction of a family and city comes a new king with plans of his own. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the character Creon takes the placement of king, and decides to go against the gods for his own pride. The king of Thebes, Creon, is the tragic hero of the play because he passes from happiness to misery, his downfall happens because of a character flaw, and he recognizes clearly, but is too late to fix his errors.

A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a bad decision that inevitably leads to his or her own downfall. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, Creon is the tragic hero because he goes through all the phases of a tragic character. Creon is royalty, has a tragic flaw, is stubborn and prideful. He doesn't listen to anyone creating his own downfall, he eventually recognizes his mistakes, but is it too late? He is the perfect recipe for a tragic hero.

King Creon’s tragic flaw is hubris. He does not listen to advice given to him by the blind prophet Teiresias. When Teiresias tells Creon, “Give in to the dead man, then: do not fight with a corpse- what glory is it to kill a man who is dead? Think, I beg you: It is for your own good that I speak as I do. You should be able to yield for your own good” (Antigone 36-40). King Creon does not like the fact that the prophet believes he is wrong and should do what everyone else has so far advised him to do. He accuses Teiresias as giving him such a prophecy because of bribery from others and a hunger for gold. Hubris is also revealed from King Creon in Scene III. Creon’s son, Haemon, tells Creon that the people of Thebes believe they have never seen a girl die such a shameful death and that the people live in fear of Creon. Haemon tells Creon he also believes Antigone should have been allowed to bury Polyneices and should be set free. King Creon responds with, “You consider it right for a man of my years and experience to go to school to a boy?” (Antigone 95-96). This shows that Creon does not believe a man of such age, “wisdom”, and “experience” should listen to anyone or change because of anyone else’s

Unfortunately, Creon does not always make the correct decision because of personality traits that he possesses. When Creon sentences Antigone to death, he is wrong. This decision is based on Creon’s downfalls. He has hamartia and he judges wrong, and he also suffers from hubris. He is excessively prideful and believes that his choice is the only correct one. Creon also has an inaccurate view of his place in relation to the Gods. He believes he is in a position to know what They want and know what They feel is best. No mortal truly knows what the Gods want, but Creon believes he does because he cannot imagine that what he believes is wrong, even to the Gods. Antigone’s death is a bad decision that Creon makes based on his beliefs that the Gods view Polyneices as a traitor and would not want him honored in death.

Creon is characterized as an authoritarian tyrannical ruler. He created the law stating that nobody was to bury the body of Polynices because he betrayed the city of Thebes. Creon was right to make his law because Polynices was a turncoat and died on Theban soil. Although his law was harsh, he believed that he was in the right because a villain such as Polynices did not deserve a proper burial. Creon was especially enraged when Antigone disregarded his law because Polynices was her brother, “Oh but I hate it more / when a traitor, caught red-handed, / tries to glorify his crimes (Creon 552-554).”

What does one’s personality say about the person they are? In Sophocles drama, Antigone, Creon’s mix of both bravery and anger issues make him both likeable and unlikeable. Although Creon is somewhat likeable and worthy of respect as a character, Creon is largely an unsympathetic and unlikeable person.