Tragic Hero In Antigone

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The Real Tragic Hero of Antigone
In Sophocles’ classic play Antigone the main character Antigone faces the impactful and controversial choice between god’s laws and man’s laws, fate and free-will, and family versus government. With her heroic and ultimately fatal decisions, Antigone would normally be the character everyone defines as a stereotypical tragic hero, however, not many people take into consideration that her counterpart Creon, is the real tragic hero. Creon is often portrayed as the antagonist within the play, yet he has all the qualities that make an ideal tragic hero.
To start off, Creon is of noble birth. For anyone who hasn’t read the play Antigone, or its predecessor Oedipus Rex, Creon is the brother of king Oedipus, thus making …show more content…

Nevertheless, he still has his fatal flaw. Creon’s arrogance, egotistical self-centeredness, and lack of humility (read: hubris). When Creon argues with his son Haimon “...You consider it right for a man of my years and experience to go to a school boy?” (Antigone, 3. 97-98). His utter disregard for women and their capabilities is also a major cause of his eventual suffering. Sophocles illustrates this with a statement from Creon about Antigone: “And no woman shall seduce us. If we must lose, Let’s lose to a man, at least! Is a woman stronger than we?” (Antigone, 3. …show more content…

He chooses to lock up Antigone for her crimes against the state. His prophet Teiresias then tries to warn him that he’s made a mistake, “Then take this, and take it to heart... corpse for corpse, flesh of your own flesh... you have thrust the child of this world into living night” he chooses to disregard him. (Antigone, 5. 75-76, 79-82). However, when the Choragos tells him that Teiresias has correctly prophesied what will happen and he's made a mistake in locking away Antigone and leaving her fate up to the Gods, Creon gets his epiphany and states “My mind misgives- The laws of the gods are mighty, and a man must serve them to the last day of his life” (Antigone, 5.

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