Kreon The Tragic Hero In Sophocles Antigone

In Sophocles play, Antigone, he expresses the idea of a main character appearing as a tragic hero. According to Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero, it is someone who is neither completely virtuous nor villainous, not preeminently good and just, whose misfortune is brought about by error of judgement or frailty, and who is highly renowned and prosperous so his fall from good fortune is great enough to arouse the audience’s emotions. According to the Aristotelian definition Kreon, the King of Thebes, is described as a tragic hero throughout this play.

Throughout Antigone, we see a change in Kreon’s actions. In the beginning of the play the audience sees how Kreon has an enormous ego and all that he cares about is his power and keeping

control of the city of Thebes. Throughout the play Kreon’s ego inflates so large that it leads to his downfall as the King of Thebes. During the play he goes from being completely praised, admired, and loved to being hated. Ultimately Kreon can blame nobody but himself for his downfall, due to his own actions. Kreon’s ego becomes so enlarged that it effects his behavior and actions. In accordance with the Aristotelian definition, Kreon is neither completely virtuous nor villainous, not preeminently good and just. When Kreon’s nephew passes away he refuses his niece, Antigone, the right to bury her own brother. Kreon wants to have all of the control and does not like when people go against him. Antigone believes her brothers should be buried in accordance to religious law but Kreon believes he should obey state law over religious law. When Antigone goes against her uncle, Kreon he punishes his own niece by placing her in a cave to die. As expressed by Segal, “Creon’s attitudes toward burial and prophecy represent analogous excesses of confidence in man’s power to control his own world” (169). Kreon wants be the person determining what will happen in Thebes, not Antigone. Kreon has excessive pride and self confidence like hubris, which is a trait of Kreon. As Segal had stated Kreon wants to control his world, since he does not care about what others want it leads to his own downfall as leader. Kreon expresses this trait of a tragic hero when he does not have compassion towards his own family. Family is one of the most important things in life and if it were not for Kreon’s family he would not be the King. Kreon refuses to express compassion for his own niece, Antigone, and his nephews, that just passed away. Kreon is self-centered and only cares about himself not his family.
Another characteristic of a tragic hero is someone whose misfortune is brought about by error of judgement or frailty. Kreon has horrible judgement, throughout the course of this play. When he acts upon his feelings he does not think about the consequences of his actions at all. When Antigone disobeys him he sends her to the cave as punishment for her actions. Initially when he sends her to the cave Kreon wants Antigone to die there. Haimon, Kreon’s son is so involve with Antigone, and does not want her to die. Kreon is so full of himself that he does not even take into account how his son feels. As Sophocles expresses, “Son, you should hold that to your heart. Everything is second to a father’s will” (777-778). Sophocles is showing how Kreon does not care how Haimon feels he wants everything to be about him.When Kreon finally comes to his senses and attempts to go free Antigone it is too late, she is already dead. This leads to Haimon dying and later Kreon’s wife killing herself also. It is ironic how Kreon was always selfish and only cared about himself and that lead to him actually being all alone. As shown by Miller, “First, Kreon’s fate after the suicide, the death of his wife, and his pathetic exit indicate his downfall and the negative consequences of his actions” (174). Due to Kreon’s horrible judgement of his actions he lead to himself being all by himself. Throughout the play Kreon thinks he is doing things for the city of Thebes best interest but he does not realize that he just wound up hurting Thebes and himself even more.
Being the King of Thebes, Kreon has an exception as King to do the right thing and be an example to the people. Kreon is the top of the social structure in the city of Thebes. The actions Kreon does affect not only himself but the people of Thebes also. A tragic hero is someone who is highly renowned and prosperous so their fall from good fortune is great enough to arouse the audience’s feelings. Kreon being named King enlarged his ego greatly. He acted as if he was on top of the world. As Tyrrell and Bennett stated, “…what Creon is doing he is doing for himself, not for Thebans” (90). Kreon does not care about the affects his actions will have on the Thebans in the beginning of the play, he only cared about himself. As the play continues on we see Kreon’s attitude change, when he loses his wife and son his world falls apart, this is his epiphany. In the beginning of the play the reader views Kreon as a heartless man as the play continues his attitude changes and you can see him begin to change for the better. This is a major change in the dynamics of his attitude. He is no longer selfish. As expressed by Bloom, “The annihilation of Kreon’s present world leaves him, finally with no future at all: he has no wish to see another day” (164). Kreon loses his nephew, niece, son, and wife all within a short amount of time. That is a lot of people to lose for anybody. For Kreon who never shows emotion in the beginning go the play these losses make him incredibly sad. He lost so many family members which is a lot for any person to bare with. Kreon becomes incredibly saddened and he begins to realize what is important when it is already too late. Kreon realizes that his actions which were unreasonable lead to his own downfall as King.
The audience always feels for the tragic hero.

The tragic hero makes the audience feel for them with their downfall and what they have gone through. Kreon had the potential to be a great influential leader to Thebes, but he becomes so self absorbed that he ultimately destroys his potential himself. Due to his enlarged ego Kreon never realized that he was lucky he had a wife and son and so much power. If he would have just stopped and realized how lucky and blessed he was he could have made his life and the people of Thebes lives better. At the end of the play everything Kreon had means nothing to him anymore. He no longer has a family to be there for him anymore because of his actions he lost everyone.

Sophocles play, Antigone, expresses the theme of Kreon as a tragic hero. The Aristotelian definition of a tragic hero is someone who is neither completely virtuous nor villainous, not preeminently good and just, whose misfortune is brought about by error of judgement or frailty, and who is highly renowned and prosperous so his fall from good fortune is great enough to arouse the audience’s emotions. Kreon makes the audience feel for him when he has his downfall. Kreon is a tragic hero in accordance with Aristotle’s definition of a tragic

hero.