Who is the Tragic Hero?Many may say that Creon is the tragic hero of Antigone. Creon and Antigones personas are equal-and-opposite throughout this play.
The story belongs to both of them. Creon is the one who makes a mistake; his figure is perhaps more tragic. Hes the one that realizes that hes wrong, and he suffers for it. Antigone walks to her death with her eyes wide open, without shame. Antigone is the true hero of the play because she makes a correct, justifiable decision and dies by it.
Creon is wrong. He is forced to live, knowing that three people are dead because of his ignorance, which many may say is a punishment worse than death. Since Creon is ruined in the end of the play, we might pity him, but admiration would not be considered at all. Antigone gains our respect and admiration.
She has made a choice between two bad options. Antigone can bury her brother and die; or she can uphold Creon, the Ruler of Thebes law and live a life filled with guilt and regret, which will probably lead to her own suicide in the end. Neither option is good. However, the tragic hero chooses the option that allows her to walk with the dignity and pride. Antigone chooses to bury Polyneices, and take on the sentence of death, which is admirable. Creon has two choices too.
He can allow the burial of Polyneices, please the gods, and live happily ever after with his wife Eurydice, Or he stubbornly hold onto the ridiculous law that he made up, even though warned by Teiresias that such an action is better off not doing for Creons own good. Creon does the foolish thing instead of the smart thing. We cannot admire that. The belief that Antigone is the hero is a strong one.
Antigone is widely thought of as the tragic hero of the play bearing her name. She seems to fit the part due to the fact that she dies in doing what is right. She buries her brother without worrying what might happen to her. She believes that Gods laws must be obeyed, whatever the consequences. She is almost glad to die in the attempt of burying her brother. She believes that if it is a crime, it is a crime that God commands.
The wisest factor to help determine whom the real tragic hero trusts the title of the play. Sophocles named the play after her for a reason. After all, Sophocles is the author of many other plays that are well known in society. Other Sophocles plays named by a character is the character that is the hero, as well as most Greek plays. Why differ with Antigone? .
