Sophocles' Antigone - Creon's Flaws

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Antigone: Creon's Flaws

In the play Antigone, I choose Creon to be the tragic hero because he is the King of Thebes and he looses everything he has. Creon being King makes the audience believe that something like that can happen to the King then what can happen to us. Antigone the niece of Creon, The sister of Polyneices was punished by Creon for burying Polyneces after his death, Creon has forbidden anybody to do so. Once Creon punished Antigone the blind prophet Teiresias told him that the Gods will take revenge for his actions, then Creon tried to change everything but he is too late. Creon's tragic flaws were his stubbornness, the abuse of power and the actions he took to cause the downfall of the Thebes.

Creon showed his stubbornness by not wanting to be proved wrong because of pride. When the Choragos tried to tell Creon that he made a mistake by telling that nobody can burry the body of Polyneices. Creon did not want to listen to the people of Thebes who tried to tell him that Antigone did the right thing, but of fear to Creon the could not really say anything. Creon thought by making an example of Antigone's execution, everybody would get scared and won't try to brake his laws. It actually worked for a while.

Creon abused his power by thinking that he can change or brake the laws of the Gods and not allowing other people to brake his laws. He did not want to burry Polyneices' body, but one of the God's law is that every human deserves to be buried after death not depending what that certain person did in his lifetime. Creon caused fear among his people by making a public announcement that nobody is allowed to burry Polyneices. He said that the state of Thebes consists of only him, and that there are no other laws then his.

According to the play the major actions that Creon took to cause the downfall of Thebes are that he did not want to burry Polyneices nor did allow any body to do it. Creon broke the burial law of the Gods and punished Antigone for following their laws. The people of Thebes knew that Creon made a mistake but still were too afraid to speak up. Antigone thought that she should get honored for that what she did, but Creon did not think that way.

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