Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone develops its tragic hero to be the powerful King Creon. Despite his son’s attempts to persuade Creon to relinquish Antigone’s death sentence, Creon stubbornly refuses to go back on his word. This creates a chain of events that send Creon down the path to having a true tragic hero‘s end. Creon’s reign as king shows him to be hasty, demanding, and power-crazy; however, when his son and wife are gone, those traits melt away into defeat as he realizes that it is because of his previous actions.
Creon’s actions in the story reveal him to be hasty as the role of king. When Creon is sentencing Antigone to her death sentence, he shows no mercy.
For example, when he speaks of Antigone he states, “Like father, like daughter: both headstrong, deaf to reason! / She has never learned to yield” (1.ii.75-76). Creon shows no holding back to Antigone’s actions as it leads to her death. Later in the tragedy, when his son Haimon chides him about sentencing his fiancée to death, he refuses to even consider removing the sentence.
Creon’s actions prove that he, as a king, is hasty no matter the circumstance. In addition to Creon being hasty, the way he acts toward others shows how demanding he is. He is demanding when he is first introduced in the play and is mildly demanding that Choragos get on his side of ruling. Later on, when he decides to end the sisters’ lives, he says, “Or closer yet in blood-she and her sister / win bitter death for this!” (1.
ii.85-86). Despite the fact that Antigone is his son’s future wife, he comes to the conclusion of sentencing her to death. Because of this, he can be considered heavily demanding.
Lastly, Creon is shown as power-crazy in his time in power as the king. Being power-crazy ties into the other traits which essentially make him out to be power-crazy. Creon acts crazed and almost delirious before he says to his son, “Fool, adolescent fool! / Taken in by a woman!” (1.ii. 113-114). He has let this idea of a perfect society take over his mind to the point where he makes decisions that hurt his family. In the end, he is punished for it through his son’s and wife’s deaths. When these things happen, he realizes that he has more or less been responsible for the cause of the deaths of his loved ones. King Creon is the true tragic hero of Antigone as shown through his actions and traits in the tragedy. The way Creon reacted to his son confronting him about Antigone’s death sentence shows how hasty he is. When Creon is introduced in the play, he is demanding toward Choragos to try and win him over. Creon is also shown as being power-crazy as a king. He gets a bit delirious with his son and calls him a fool. The traits Creon possesses shows that he is indeed the tragic hero of the play Antigone.
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