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Antigone Literary Analysis Essay Example

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Antigone Literary Analysis Essay Example
Antigone Literary Analysis
FCAs1/3/12
Must use 3 words from vocabulary list: Similarities and Differences- highlight 2nd hour Must use minimum of 2 introductory participial phrases- highlight Correct use of literary terminology from Greek drama

Who is the Real Tragic Hero, Antigone or Creon
Essay Describing Who is the Tragic Hero of the Play

What is the real definition of a tragic hero? A tragic hero is not specifically a good guy or a bad guy. A tragic hero is defined by his/her own actions and decisions. In the play Antigone, by Sophocles, both Antigone and Creon define a tragic hero, but Creon defines it more than Antigone. Creon is the tragic hero of the play because he suffers more, he is in the center of all conflicts, and he has a moment of recognition or discovery.
First, Creon is the tragic hero because he suffers more than Antigone. After realizing he killed his wife and son Creon says, “I have killed my son and my wife. I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead. Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing” (Exodus. 143-145). This shows that suffering through his sadness, Creon realizes that he has no more comfort but to lie there dead. Creon's son and wife had died from his own actions, and he regrets his choices. Another example of Creon's suffering, “This truth is hard to bear. Surely a god has crushed me beneath the hugest weight of heaven, and driven me headlong a barbaric way to trample out the thing I held most dear” (Exodus. 102-105). This illustrates that Creon did something horrible, and he regrets everything. Creon's son and wife have killed themselves as a result from Creon's decisions. All in all, Antigone does not suffer as much as Creon does in the play.
Second, Creon seems to be in the center of all the conflicts in the play. Creon says to Antigone, “An enemy is an enemy, even dead. It is my nature to join in love, not hate. Go join them, then; if you must have your love, find it in hell! (2. 133-137).

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