The Tragic Hero in Antigone

Antigone is a tragic story which was written by a Greek author by the name Sophocles where one man led to the death of so many people. A tragic hero is used to refer to a character who is known for literally making a judgment error which inevitably causes his/her destruction. According to Aristotle, he says that until a man can see the cause of his downfall. He says that for one to be a tragic hero, he must have some characters. Some of the characteristics are excessive pride, ones fate should be greater that one deserves, a reversal of fortune which is usually brought about by the error in judgment by the hero, flaw or the error of judgment and finally the recognition that the reversal brought up his hero actions.

In this peace we that Creon is loyal. He is the king of the city of Thebes as well as the father to Haemon and Megara; he also has a wife who is Eurydice. He loved his kingdom so much and showed a lot of dedication towards it.He fights for the law and believes everyone should respect it even his family, and if they go against the law, they should face the punishment accordingly. For example in the case when she says that Antigone should die before his son's eyes, he did not care if she was the fiancee to his son, but she had to face the law. It shows how much Creon had seriousness in his position of a king in his kingdom he was willing to sacrifice even his sons feeling that he was the king and was always right. He was showing leadership skills and as well a risk taker as by so doing he was risking his relationship with his son just to prove that he was the leader of Thebes. Through these actions, we can see Creon as the tragic hero since he possesses the character of being greater, fairness and loyal. Creone is proud of his position as a king which is one of the qualities of a tragic hero. He wants to be treated with respect, and show people that he is more superior that them. Despite both of them being born in a noble family, Creone has more nobility as compared to Antigone as she was also under him.

Antigone was known in the community as the princess of the former king but was not proud of it as she did not show herself as a grand and known person. We see the downfall of Antigone due to her fault and also a free choice. She decided that she should be burying his brother who was a traitor and by so doing she was disobeying the law and an act of civil disobedience against the King. She brings her downfall through a tragic flaw of her excess ambition in that she thinks that if she had left her brother just dead and not being buried that she could have suffered which now she is not yet this leads to her death. Though Creon also has a tragic flaw he shows it indirectly that is of self-pride this helps us to see him as a tragic hero more than Antigone.Creons political morals lead to the destruction of his family which leads to his fall from grace. Sophocles sympathizes with him, and this makes him become the hero of Antigone. His hubris led to his downfall.

We see that Creon acknowledges of how he has let his pride to take over, and this has resulted to worse. He later admits that by sentencing Antigone to a death penalty he was wrong as she was just trying to honor the dead because of his hubris. He accepts that he never used his brain to the maximum when making decisions and solving problems, his pride led him to the wrong decision and did not want to be corrected and believed that he was always right with the decisions he made.

In conclusion, a tragic hero is supposed to be neither better nor worse morally when compared to other ordinary people so as the audience and the people to identify with them. A hero is therefore supposed to strike a balance in his character. In the Aristotelian tragic hero dies a death which is assumed to be tragic, he had made irreversible mistakes and fallen from great heights, and therefore he was supposed to accept his death with honor. In this story, we can conclude that Creon is the tragic hero this is because he demonstrates the attributes of a tragic hero more clearly and concisely. He undergoes through all the phases of a tragic character and hero.