Antigone
...y, this is when Creon begins to feel misery. Creon also shows many other aspects in being the tragic hero. One being that because he made a horrible choice in not having a proper burial for Polyneices, he was forced to sacrifice his pride as a king. A king admitting he is wrong is a huge embarrassment for a ruler or any kind of leader. Another consequence from his choice was that his entire family died. So basically Creon sacrificed any respect that he had and his family. Creon meets all of the aspects of a tragic hero. First of all, he is the protagonist in the story, so that is one aspect that he has. Also, a tragic hero starts off on top with happiness, then they fall and fell misery, then they manage to come out on top again, and fell some sort of happiness. In this story, Creon starts off on top, being the king of Thebes, and having everyone’s respect. When Polyneices died, he made a decision on not burying him. After that decision, citizens of Thebes lost respect for him. Creon had to admit he was wrong, that he made a bad decision. After he realized he lost all of his pride and respect, he could have thought about just giving up, or committing suicide. He didn’t have anyone left because his family all died. He could have killed himself, but in not doing that, Creon came back out on top. So these facts are proof that Creon is the tragic hero and Antigone is not. In “Antigone,” some people think that Antigone is the tragic hero, but there are many things that prove that she is not, and Creon is. In scene 4, lines 79-80, page 780, Antigone says, “What things I suffer, and at what men’s hands, because I would not transgress the laws of heaven.” Antigone is basically saying that she doesn’t care if she dies, she won’t go against a law of nature that people should be buried when they die, not just lay out in a field. This quote shows that Antigone is not the tragic hero because this is the way she felt at the beginning of the play, and this is now scene 4 and she hasn’t changed at all throughout the play. Tragic heroes normally change throughout the play. In this case Antigone hasn’t changed at all. That is one flaw against Antigone not being the tragic hero. In scene 4, line 51-52, page 778, Antigone says “Lead me to my vigil, where I must have neither love nor lamentation; no song, but silence.” She is saying to just kill her, to basically get it over with. She is not attempting at all to try to come out on top and to live longer. A tragic hero changes back and forth...