Antigone Vs Creon A Tragic Hero

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In many famous Greek Tragedies such as Oedipus, Medea, and Antigone, there is one significant tragic hero that takes part in each one of these stories and grasps the audiences attention to emphasize a better connection into the storyline. However, in Sophocles’ play Antigone, the concern about who could be the tragic hero, Creon or Antigone, has been a debate for many years. Antigone is about a woman who disobeyed and challenged Creon, the King of Thebes (her uncle) the right to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial. It is very uncommon for a Greek Tragedy to have more than one tragic hero, therefore in the play Antigone, there can only be one. Though, in order to pose the question of who could be the tragic hero, one must know the…show more content…
Antigone’s father Oedipus, left Thebes and put her two brothers Polyneices and Eteocles on the throne to rule Thebes. They both were suppose to alternate each year to rule until one year when it was Polyneices turn, Eteocles refused to give up the throne. Therefore, Polyneices formed an army to attack Thebes to get the throne back; in which both died in the war that it created. When they both died, Creon took over the throne of Thebes and announced that since Polyneices formed a war against his own people, he was sentenced not to be buried and for his corps to stay out and rot as food for animals. Creon made it a law that anyone who was to disobey his decision of not burying Polyneices, must be sentenced to the death penalty. Antigone believes that the law is unfair. Polyneices is her brother and family is very important to her. She disregards what Polyneices did because she is only worried about honoring her family’s name by giving her own flesh and blood brother, a proper burial. Antigone did not like the fact that Polyneices is being treated as a peasant, even though he has passed.Therefore, Antigone chooses the decision to risk her life to stay true and honor “God’s Law”. She chooses to stay loyal to her family and give her brother,…show more content…
Unfortunately, her decisions lead to her downfall--death. Antigone knew what her consequences were but she had so much pride and passion about her decision that she was willing to take anything that came with it, even her own death. In fact, due to Antigone’s hubris, she became unbending and gave Creon no choice but to sentence her the death penalty. Creon tried to persuade her to not go forward with admitting that she buried Polyneices and that he could hide it. However, Antigone’s excessive pride and being unbending, denied his offer and continued to go forward with her truth; this frustrated Creon and made him go forward with the sentencing. Another example of her hubris and her unbending is when her sister, Ismene, finally came forward and tried to take blame of being a part of the burial. Antigone denied Ismene's help and took full responsibility of the burial of her brother. Like a tragic hero, Antigone’s downfall and fate is determined by her actions, as for her, it is mainly her

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