Creon As Tragic Hero of Sophocles’ Antigone Essay -- essays papers

Creon As Tragic Hero of Sophocles Antigone Since the lay outs inception, there has always existed a contention concerning the true hero of Sophocles Antigone. It is a widely held belief that Antigone must be the main parting simply because she and the drama share name. This is, of course, a very logical assumption. sure as shooting Sophocles must have at least meant her to be viewed as the protagonist, else he would not have given her the plays title. Analytically speaking, however, Creon does wait to more categorically fit the appellation of Tragic Hero. There is no doubt as to the nature of the work, that existence tragedy. Along with this genre comes plastered established prerequisites, and Creon is the only share that satisfactorily fits them all. There are certain qualities that a character must posses in order to qualify as a tragic hero. Ideally, the subject is to be a person of high gear rank, so that they may have much to lose. (Most frequently a sovereig n is used.) Granted, Antigone is a member of the royal bloodline. But we must not inter that she is the daughter of incest, hardly a glamorous position to start with. In Oedipus Rex, Antigone was indirectly disgraced, while Creon was socially elevated by inheriting kingship from Oedipus. Also, Creons being king comparatively trumps Antigones lesser status of strip princess. While this in itself objectively proves nothing, it does at a minimum knead Creon the more likely choice of protagonist. Another essential component of a tragic hero is that of the tragic flaw, the one attribute that causes the inevitable free fall of the character. A case could be made for Antigones hamartia being obduracy. She is called stubbornly wild in the play by both Creon Th... ...d no wrong. Antigone needs no redemption because she has committed no great misdeed. Creon, however, comes to envision his grave mistakes after he has fallen from grace. Creon repents, and is even brought to the v erge of suicide. bid all tragic heroes, he can only realize his evil once everything has been taken away from him. So who was meant to be the lead character of Antigone? Antigone. So who is the lead character of Antigone? Creon. Somewhere along the line, Sophocles found a more complex story in the insecure king than in the defiant noblewoman. Using Aristotles outline of Greek tragedy (which ironically was primarily based on Sophocles), Creon is the only character who meets the criteria. Creon started from the highest position, suffered the greatest web losses, and possessed the only inarguable flaw. Titles aside, the literary content speaks for itself.