The Tragically True Hero Tragic heroes are a constant and reliable source of heartache and frustration, their stories having been passed down for centuries! Who is a tragic hero? Usually, by Aristotle’s definition, they are noble, not completely good or bad, the audience feels catharsis (the purging of emotions through literature), their fall is usually thanks to a fatal flaw they possess and in the end they accept the blame. The candidates for the tragic hero starring play Antigone, by Sophocles, are the charming Antigone herself and her righteous uncle Creon, the new king of Thebes. In my opinion, all these characters make foolish decisions, but the tragic hero should always be remembered and held as an example for the youth of every generation,
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Antigone’s and Creon’s begins with Antigone’s brothers fighting, one for the kingdom of Thebes, his intentions loyal, whereas the other is against his home, Eteocles and Polyneices, and at last their untimely and poetic murder of one another on the battlefield. Creon, the new king after Antigone’s father, Oedipus, and husband to Oedipus’ sister Jocasta, proclaims a law stating and condemning anyone who decides to bury the traitorous Polyneices from where his body lies in the fields. “Polyneices, who broke his exile to come back with fire and sword against his native city and the shrines of his fathers’ gods, whose one idea was to spill the blood of his blood and sell his own people into slavery—Polyneices, I say, is to have no burial: no man is to touch him or say the least prayer for him; he shall lie on the plain, unburied; and the birds and the scavenging dogs can do with him whatever they like”(165-173). Antigone, who loved both of her brothers, goes rogue and buries him anyways but is caught, therefore forced to receive the death penalty which is to be stoned publicly in the local square. This punishment is altered to her being locked in a stone box and left to starve after Tiresias, a blind prophet, gives a haunting prophesy to Creon. Creon’s son and Antigone’s betroths skillfully rejects her death sentence but then finds se committed suicide and kills himself in front of his …show more content…
Because, Creon fits every category of Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero! Not completely good or bad, royal birth, accepts the blame thrown towards him, his fall was his very own doing, and the audience feels a strong catharsis in the play. Although Antigone and Creon both almost fit every category, Antigone just barely comes short on account of her not recognizing her fatal flaw, partially because she was dead, whereas Creon was able to see the horror of his mistakes and flaws and to try and correct them, always wanting a peaceful kingdom instead of a warring one. Creon win’s the grand title of the Tragic Hero of Antigone with flying color! This play is a good role model for us to see the consequences of being prideful and maybe too quick to complete actions rather than think them through, helping us to be better people with less fatal flaws. Our own lives are dictated by our actions, maybe our punishment isn’t death, but pride and always cause the death of friendships and feeling you may have. Creon is tragically our
Antigone’s and Creon’s begins with Antigone’s brothers fighting, one for the kingdom of Thebes, his intentions loyal, whereas the other is against his home, Eteocles and Polyneices, and at last their untimely and poetic murder of one another on the battlefield. Creon, the new king after Antigone’s father, Oedipus, and husband to Oedipus’ sister Jocasta, proclaims a law stating and condemning anyone who decides to bury the traitorous Polyneices from where his body lies in the fields. “Polyneices, who broke his exile to come back with fire and sword against his native city and the shrines of his fathers’ gods, whose one idea was to spill the blood of his blood and sell his own people into slavery—Polyneices, I say, is to have no burial: no man is to touch him or say the least prayer for him; he shall lie on the plain, unburied; and the birds and the scavenging dogs can do with him whatever they like”(165-173). Antigone, who loved both of her brothers, goes rogue and buries him anyways but is caught, therefore forced to receive the death penalty which is to be stoned publicly in the local square. This punishment is altered to her being locked in a stone box and left to starve after Tiresias, a blind prophet, gives a haunting prophesy to Creon. Creon’s son and Antigone’s betroths skillfully rejects her death sentence but then finds se committed suicide and kills himself in front of his …show more content…
Because, Creon fits every category of Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero! Not completely good or bad, royal birth, accepts the blame thrown towards him, his fall was his very own doing, and the audience feels a strong catharsis in the play. Although Antigone and Creon both almost fit every category, Antigone just barely comes short on account of her not recognizing her fatal flaw, partially because she was dead, whereas Creon was able to see the horror of his mistakes and flaws and to try and correct them, always wanting a peaceful kingdom instead of a warring one. Creon win’s the grand title of the Tragic Hero of Antigone with flying color! This play is a good role model for us to see the consequences of being prideful and maybe too quick to complete actions rather than think them through, helping us to be better people with less fatal flaws. Our own lives are dictated by our actions, maybe our punishment isn’t death, but pride and always cause the death of friendships and feeling you may have. Creon is tragically our