Creon The Tragic Hero In Sophocles Antigone

Defeat, something that you experience when you lose something, whether it is that you lose someone dear to you, lose in a contest or a game, or lose a battle that was hard fought for, but there are different ways to look at it. To embrace defeat is to realize that your actions were immoral or inadequate, and allow yourself to grow stronger and wiser from this situation, and to accept defeat is to not learn from your mistakes and to blame someone else for what happened. This is the basis of the concept of a tragic hero, introduced by the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. In Antigone by the Greek playwright Sophocles, it is established that Creon is not a tragic hero of the play. Creon was shown to blame others for the outcome of his own mistakes,
The nemesis stage is where the goddess of retribution and punishment, Nemesis, punishes the tragic hero for his actions in some form of way. However, in Antigone, when Creon realizes what he is going to be punished for, he says,” Oh it is hard to give in! But it is worse to risk everything for stubborn pride” (5. 92-93). Creon, realizing what he needs to do, tries to undo his wrongs by burying Polyneices and freeing Antigone, avoiding Nemesis, and avoiding his punishment in the afterlife. Furthermore, another way Antigone shows Creon is not a tragic hero is through his failure to gain wisdom. After the death of Creon’s family, he tells the Choragus that “Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust” (Exodus 138). This is Creon’s last statement in the play, and he is blaming the gods for his loss of pride, which shows he hasn’t become wise because he still has not fully accepted the consequences of his actions. Creon is displaying failure to meet the mental virtue of humility, by blaming the gods and fate for the loss of his pride, even though it was his fault. Creon is letting his ego get in the way instead of being humble and accepting the deaths as his fault. A contradicting opinion might argue that Creon is a tragic hero and has become wise. One way is when Creon has discovered the death of his son and wife and says “It is right as it should be. I
Even though Creon seemed to follow the way of becoming a tragic hero, in the end he doesn’t embrace what he lost, and is barely struggling to accept it. For anyone who has ever suffered the loss of a family member, time is necessary to heal the wounds. But some never go away, and they must learn to embrace the scar left behind. Eventually they can end up becoming wiser, but first they must deal with the emotions of the present