Similarities Between Antigone And Creon

A tragic hero is an individual who makes an error, or commits an action, that eventually causes his or her own defeat, or leads to their downfall. This character evokes pity from the reader, or audience, and is typically royalty; is of high-rank. In addition, a tragic hero has a tragic flaw, or makes a fatal mistake in judgement, occasionally caused by immoderate pride, and obtains a punishment that surpasses the crime. This individual causes his or her own downfall, but most importantly, they portray the quality of tragic realization, or recognizing their tragic flaw and understanding how their actions helped cause their own obliteration. In his tragic play, Antigone, Sophocles introduces two characters that could be given the title of tragic hero, Antigone and Creon. Although many may argue Antigone is the tragic character of the play, Creon is the true tragic hero because he ideally depicts the aspects of tragic flaw and tragic realization.

Her goodness is very evident, and she is indeed a good-hearted individual, as she gave her brother Polyneices a proper burial, even though it meant disobeying Creon’s proclamation. Her tragic flaw is possessing an excessive amount of stubbornness. She was determined to bury her brother, being completely aware of the consequence that would arise from her action. It is important to realize that her stubbornness and decision to bury her brother are what lead to her destruction. However, Antigone expresses tragic realization when she denies nothing as she was being accused of burying her brother and believing “[she] should have praise and honor for what [she] has done” (954). Antigone understands how she helped cause her own obliteration, as she knew her action would bring a punishment, which in this case was her death