Antigone, Tragic Hero

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 12th grade February 2008

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4th hour In the Greek tragedy Antigone, the king, Creon, ironically, is the tragic hero. Creon, in his own way, fits the definition of a tragic hero. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as a noble character possessing a tragic flaw. They realize this flaw too late to change the chain of events which eventually leads to his or her downfall.

Creon is noble because he stands by his city and tries his best to be a good leader. He also understands the people will not accept him until he proves himself. If not for his "tragic flaw" Creon would have been a very good leader. Creon was very prideful. Everything he did was to create dignity and in the end this caused the downfall of his family.

When Antigone disobeyed Creon's orders he had to punish her if he wanted to keep his dignity. He preferred to keep his dignity and pride rather than admitting to a grave mistake.

The problem in the play switches from Creon versus Antigone to Creon versus himself as he begins to realize how grave the situation is becoming.

It becomes evident to the reader the king realizes he is wrong when he accuses Tiriseus of taking a bribe. It seems odd Creon would accuse the blind man of such a thing because he had never lied to Creon before and the prophet was in very good standing with the gods.

Because Creon would not admit he was wrong sooner two innocent people die. Two people whom he loved killed themselves because of Creon's stubbornness and desire to save face. Unfortunately by the time he realized his mistake Antigone had killed herself and it was too late for him to stop the things that happened next.

In Creon's attempt...