Creon of Antigone

In the play, Antigone, written by Sophocles, the tragic hero presented is Creon, the king of Thebes. Creon’s obstinate personality led him to avoid listening to anyone else’s reasoning. Creon has used bad judgment while he was ruling over Thebes. However, Creon went to great lengths to correct his mistakes. Creon’s personality, wrong conduct, and effort to reverse his mistakes make him a tragic hero. Creon’s stubborn, stern, and tyrannizing personality is a reason why he is a tragic hero. Creon only tolerated his own opinion because he thinks that he is experienced. Creon did not believe that he should take the advice of his son, Haemon, which was that alone, he cannot be right. Creon had defended his edict that Polyneices should not be buried and did not listen to the justifications of Antigone and Haemon. Although Creon was strict, not all of his actions were wrong. Another quality of Creon that makes him a tragic hero is that he had bad judgment. Creon refused to have Polyneices buried because he felt that Polyneices was going to sell his people into slavery. Creon also punished Antigone for her “holy crime,” which was when she went against Creon’s edict for a virtuous reason. Because of Antigone’s crime, another one of Creon’s transgressions was accusing her sister, Ismene, equally for the crime and deciding to punish her too, by putting both Antigone and Ismene to death. Because he stood by his rule, Creon had some wrongdoings. In the end, when Creon realizes his mistakes and tried to correct them, his bad fortune came. Once Creon became aware of his wrongdoings, he worked quickly and solely to resolve them. Creon first built a tomb for Polyneices, his nephew who he proclaimed should not be buried. Creon then went to the vault, where he locked up Antigone and left her to die, determined to free her. The last efforts of Creon to reverse his mistakes make him a tragic hero. The qualities of Creon that make him a tragic hero are his personality, his