The Characteristics That Qualify Creon as a Tragic Hero as Well

Is it such that someone's bad actions can be twisted into something so heroic in the end? In the story, Antigone, the character Creon, acts towards others in such a way, that anyone who was against him would not be honored for anything they did. He always had the saying on what was going to happen and most of the time; the actions were not always the right moves. He had some challenges but nothing got in the way of such a powerful man like Creon.

He had plenty of characteristics qualified him as a tragic hero and well, you shall read about a few of them.

One characteristic that he definitely showed was his bravery to take on a challenger. He had the courage to take on any roadblock in the path of royalty. An example of what he might have said is, "I have no use for him either." (Pg.700 Scene 1 Line 28) By this he means that if you were not on his side, he did not need you in his way of making the royalty route any tougher than it already was.

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He took this courage to the point where anyone that disobeyed his orders, would have to be either exiled or executed. Another characteristic that he had was that he was full of strength and fortitude.

He had the strength and guts to take on his own family. His nieces, Antigone and Ismene, were upset that he was not going to honor their brother Polyneices because he betrayed his own land.

Any person in the time era that we live in now, would not be comfortable facing their own blood relatives; but nothing stopped Creon. The quote for this trait is, "You will give no support to whoever breaks this law." (Pg.701 Scene 1, Line 63) By this he means that to not follow in the footsteps of someone that is going against the government and especially against the written law. He really forced his strength on the people to not tolerate any traders.

Creon definitely had noble qualities. Even though they were not always used for the right reasons, he was proud and sometimes selfish. He was very proud at certain moments when he won an argument or a fight against a trader of his town. A quote to help explain is, “As long as I am king, no traitor is going to be honored with the loyal man." (Pg.701 Scene 1, Line 51) By this he means that the fellow traitor will not be recognized with the man who was faithful to his homeland.

But by the end he comes to his senses, and realizes that he was too tough on everyone that he loved and cared for. He did some harsh things, and made some tough decisions that caused the death of his whole family. And a quote to support this is, "Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing. Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust," (Pg.737 Exodus, Line 131) By this he means that everything that he made changes to have all disappeared. He was going to kill his son's bride and his son couldn't handle the pressure so he killed himself. That just led to more deaths and more tragic events to follow. He felt like he had messed up but his king's spot was still his to take control. By the end of the story, everything was a tragic downfall of what was supposed to be a dream comes true, but rather turned into a tragic downfall.