Creon as a Tragic Character in Play Antigone
The tragedy of Antigone is one of the most famous works of the ancient Greek tragedian Sophocles. Created in the year 442, the play Antigone even today is still very popular. Antigone was the daughter of King Oedipus of Thebes. Her brother Polynices betrayed the family and took part in the campaigns against his native city. He and his brother Eteocles, homeland defender, killed each other in a fight. King Creon has forbidden to bury the traitor and ordered to give his body to be torn by dogs and birds. Against this order, Antigone performed a religious rite of burial. In punishment, Creon ordered walled up Antigone in a cave. The young woman was faithful to her duty and did not recede in front of …show more content…
In comparing, Creon makes the decision because of his stubbornness. As a ruler, he misunderstood his rights and overestimated his capabilities. He claims that "The state is his who rules it (Sophocles, p.207)". Creon has no doubt that Antigone guides only by personal motives and the love of his brother. While his attitude to the dead, traitor strengthens the foundations of the state. Therefore, it is without doubt or hesitation he adjudicates Antigone. Neither the son nor the opinions of the citizens, cannot keep him the wrong step. As a result, it led to Antigone death along with her fiance Haemon and his mother …show more content…
I did the deed,
The murder. Yea, I guilty plead (Sophocles, p. 232)".
He asks about the last day
"Come fate, a friend at need,
Come with all speed!
Come my best friend,
And speed my end!
Away! Away!
Let me not look on another day (Sophocles, p.232)"!
However, his prayers are vain. His soul dead and he should live with these sufferings and with the dead soul. So in other words, there are both Antigone and Creon death, at the end of the play; the only difference is that Antigone dead in the physical meaning, but Creon in the spiritual. Antigone and Creon corresponding to all rules of tragic genre and both could be named a tragic hero. They both are different and similar. They act alike but on the different sides of the conflict. Antigone does not change. She stands in the same position all the time. While Creon as a typical tragic hero, passes from arrogance through humility to achieve during the tragic events in his family to despair, and then to the self-abasement and repentance. Each on its own, they are certainly the protagonists in the play.
References
Sophocles. The Oedipus Trilogy. N.p.: n.p.,
The tragedy of Antigone is one of the most famous works of the ancient Greek tragedian Sophocles. Created in the year 442, the play Antigone even today is still very popular. Antigone was the daughter of King Oedipus of Thebes. Her brother Polynices betrayed the family and took part in the campaigns against his native city. He and his brother Eteocles, homeland defender, killed each other in a fight. King Creon has forbidden to bury the traitor and ordered to give his body to be torn by dogs and birds. Against this order, Antigone performed a religious rite of burial. In punishment, Creon ordered walled up Antigone in a cave. The young woman was faithful to her duty and did not recede in front of …show more content…
In comparing, Creon makes the decision because of his stubbornness. As a ruler, he misunderstood his rights and overestimated his capabilities. He claims that "The state is his who rules it (Sophocles, p.207)". Creon has no doubt that Antigone guides only by personal motives and the love of his brother. While his attitude to the dead, traitor strengthens the foundations of the state. Therefore, it is without doubt or hesitation he adjudicates Antigone. Neither the son nor the opinions of the citizens, cannot keep him the wrong step. As a result, it led to Antigone death along with her fiance Haemon and his mother …show more content…
I did the deed,
The murder. Yea, I guilty plead (Sophocles, p. 232)".
He asks about the last day
"Come fate, a friend at need,
Come with all speed!
Come my best friend,
And speed my end!
Away! Away!
Let me not look on another day (Sophocles, p.232)"!
However, his prayers are vain. His soul dead and he should live with these sufferings and with the dead soul. So in other words, there are both Antigone and Creon death, at the end of the play; the only difference is that Antigone dead in the physical meaning, but Creon in the spiritual. Antigone and Creon corresponding to all rules of tragic genre and both could be named a tragic hero. They both are different and similar. They act alike but on the different sides of the conflict. Antigone does not change. She stands in the same position all the time. While Creon as a typical tragic hero, passes from arrogance through humility to achieve during the tragic events in his family to despair, and then to the self-abasement and repentance. Each on its own, they are certainly the protagonists in the play.
References
Sophocles. The Oedipus Trilogy. N.p.: n.p.,