Essay Sample on Creon As The Tragic Hero In Antigone
Creon has made a bad mistake and now his whole life will begin to fall apart and his kingdom will suffer the consequences for his ignorance as the new king and they will all suffer a bad fate.
The tragic flaw was when Creon found out Antigone buried her brother and defied the law that he mandated. He let the thought of holding absolute power as king and having all the power go to his head and became ignorant of all the decisions he made from then on and told Antigone that she disobeyed the rule of the new king.( ‘’And yet you dared defy the law, I dared’’page 1035 paragraph 55). She will be sent to prison for the action of burying her now dead brother who the king thinks should not be buried because he betrayed the kingdom and led them to a conflict between 2 brothers. This decision will soon determine his fate but not just his but his son and his kingdoms all because of his inability to see the bigger picture of antigone's actions. He will soon realize that this will be a bad mistake that the gods don't get defied by mortals.
My evidence for a tragic fate was when Creon went to the prophet and the prophet told him that something bad will happen if he does not fix the decision he has made(’’The time is not far off when you shall pay back Corpse for corpse, flesh of your own flesh’’ page 1054 paragraph 70).He will soon find that the decision he has made will lead to his downfall. Creon also got prophesied that if the current events do not change courses this will lead all of them to certain doom and destruction. Creon, now aware of his mistake, goes to fix the terrible and problematic thing he has done. Before it's too late for him to make things right and correct his mistakes that he has now realized. He had to get to Antigone before the gods got enraged and killed them because of the fury they had for Creon(’’I am not afraid of pollution: No man can defile the gods’’page 1054 paragraph 45.) Creon thinks he knows what is good or bad and judges the gods and states he doesn't care (‘’Which of us can say what the gods hold wicked, an enemy is an enemy even dead, it is my nature to join in love not hate, Go join them If you must have your love find it in hell’’ page 1038 paragraph 115-120). Creon is showing he doesn't care about the law of the gods or the opinions they have for the mortals and their sense of justice or the stubbornness they show.
I say the Creon did not accept his fate with honor at first but then ended up accepting it when he realized his mistake (‘’My own blind heart has brought me From darkness to final darkness’’ page 1059 paragraph 90.) He saw both his son and Antigone dead realizing that the decision he had made was not correct and now they paid the price. He will end up suffering for the rest of his life. In the text it stated (‘’After he saw his son dead he regretted the decision he made and that now he knew he will suffer a bad fate’’).This revealed that he did not accept but regretted what he did. Creon knowing what he did wrong didn't care at that point so far but until something occurred. The event that caused him to ask for empathy from the gods was seeing his dead son haemon. Why should they if he did not show emotion towards Antigone. After experiencing what antigone went through or at least something similar, Creon understood. Creon then would soon accept his fate and his guilt making him a tragic hero.
After all these events Creon showed his true character and emotion. Creon is a tragic hero but he had a tragic flaw, and accepted his fate with honor. Now knowing what he did wrong at last and now understanding 2 sides of the same story. To never say what the gods think is right or wrong but to know what they think is right and wrong.
