Antigone Creon Character Analysis

A tragic hero is a person who makes an error in their judgment that leads to their ultimate demise. In the play, Antigone by Sophocles, the character Antigone serves as a foil to Creon’s character by highlighting his anger, ruthlessness and his power hungriness. The choices Creon makes for Antigone in the play lead him to his own destruction making him a tragic hero. Antigone was a great foil to Creon, she brought out Creon’s anger when she tells him she doesn’t really care what happens to her because she believes what she did was morally right. In lines 542 to 555 of the play, Creon says “I’m well aware the most tempestuous horses are tamed by one small bit. Pride has no place in anyone who is his neighbor’s slave. This girl here was already
Creon’s ruthlessness comes out when he threatened to kill Ismene with no evidence that she did anything. Creon says in lines 550-557, “She may be my sister’s child, closer to me by blood than anyone who belonging to my house who worships Zeus Herkeios in my home, but she’ll not escape my harshest punishment- her sister too, whom I accuse as well. She had an equal part in all their plans to do this burial.”. Creon knows Ismene had no part in the act but he claims he will punish her all the same. He didn’t have any evidence that Ismene did anything, the only reason Ismene was also sentenced to death was because Antigone made Creon extremely mad and he lashed out at her. Creon acts ruthless many times throughout this play, but this is one of the most jaw-dropping moments in the play, what kind of person would put an innocent life to death? Antigone pushes Creon to his limits about the burial, he just wanted to teach a lesson to Thebes, but under the circumstances, it’s hard to carry out the act without being accused a bad
In lines 180-181, Creon says “Thanks to the gods, who’ve brought about our new good fortune.” thanking the gods and showing how he respects them and all they do. But in lines 324-334 Creon says to a person who thought the gods buried the body, “Stop now- before what you’re about to say enrages me and reveals that you’re not only old but stupid, too. No one can tolerate what you’ve just said, when you claim gods might care about this corpse. Would they pay extraordinary honours and bury a man who’d served them well, someone who came to burn their offerings, their pillared temples, to torch their lands and scatter all its laws? Or do you see gods paying respect to evil men? No, no.” completely changing his views and acting hypocritical. He changes how he respects the gods, he acts like they should be on his side, not him on their side, and that he is in power just like they are. Antigone’s actions make Creon question the gods and leads him to believe that he has more power then he really does. Creon was once a good person with good intentions, but many wrong decisions he made lead him to his downfall and destruction. Antigone helped highlight Creon’s key bad features by acting as a foil to his character. Antigone helped bring out the worst in Creon, she made him seem like the villain when in reality he wasn’t