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Creon as the Tragic Hero in the Play, Antigone

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Creon as the Tragic Hero in the Play, Antigone
Gürbüz ÇİMEN 13.04.2012
0902020045
As a Tragic Hero, Creon
Antigone was written by Sophocles. While some people say Antigone is the tragic heroine in the play, I believe Creon is our protagonist and he is the most tragic character in Sophocles’ play. Because Antigone was killed by her uncle Creon tyrannically, it is difficult to remember that Creon is the one who lost everything he held the spirit of his age. Audience can ffffeel compassion for Creon if you think of his poor situation. That is to say, although Creon was a king, he actually had a throne without having a right to be king. At this point, as an anagnorisis in Poetics of Aristotle, Creon recognizes his failings, and he falls down immediately because of his inevitable pride. Therefore, he is our protagonist and he is a tragic hero although it seems as if the whole story is spoken by Antigone. It is easy to see that Sophocles created real tragic character Creon although there has been argued Creon is a villain or not. Whereas, Aristotle says that tragic hero is not a villain character. At this point, I can say that Creon was never a villain character. Instead of this, he was actually struggling with his many reasons related to his country. Because he suffers from betrayal, etc..., he can be shown he is a tragic hero in this sense.
Although there has been debated Creon is a villain character and he lives in a high rank and he is a king, he suffers a lot of sadness. At this point, I can say that there are two distinctive reasons that he is affected. The first one is his worries about his stability in his king status and the second one is that Creon relies on Teiresias who prophecies. That is to say, Teiresias always makes a prediction and he helps Creon to solve some problems which are related to his country. Beside of these informations, Creon never draws back when Creon notices that although his niece Antigone rebelled against his own orders and rules. Instead of this, Antigone always acts

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