Creon as the Ideal Tragic Hero of Sophocles Antigone Essay example --

Creon as the Ideal tragic Hero of Antigone Tragedy always involves human suffering, but not everyone who suffers is a Tragic Hero. According to Aristotle, there ar five basic criteria that moldiness be met for a character to be considered a Tragic Hero. Aristotles ideas about disaster were recorded in his book of literacy theory titled Poetics. In it he has a great deal to translate about the structure, purpose and intended burden of tragedy. His ideas have been adopted, disputed, expanded, and discussed for several centuries. In this essay, I will examine these criteria in regards to Antigones Creon, King of Thebes. The first criterion states that to be a tragic hero, Creon must occupy a high status position, but must also embody nobility and virtue as part of his innate character. Creon fits this description quite a accurately. We know at the beginning of the play that Creon is King of Thebes. Therefore, he occupies a stature of nobility. Furthermore, Creons innate character em bodies virtue and nobility. For example, when talking to the Chorus at the beginning of the play, Creon says, anyone thinking/another man more a friend than his own country/I rate him nowhereI would not be close if I saw ruin, not safetyI would not count any enemy of my country as a friend (Lines 202-210). His standards are set to the point where he would put his country above all else. He would do anything to protect his country he would not be silent if he saw ruin, not safety (line 204). Also, Creon shows a high sense of morality when he properly buried Eteocles, Antigones brother. Antigone herself says this when speaking to her sister, Ismene, Creon honored the oneEteocles, they say he has used justly with lawful rites and hid him ... ...earn from. Finally, his punishment delivered by fate exceeds his crimes. Thus, according to Aristotle, Creon is the prefect tragic hero. Works Cited and Consulted Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. brand-new York Harcourt Br ace College Publishers, 1999. Segal, Charles Paul. Sophocles Praise of Man and the Conflicts of the Antigone. In Sophocles A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Sophocles. Antigone. Translated by R. C. Jebb. The Internet Classic Archive. no pag. http//classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/antigone.html Sophocles In Literature of the Western World, edited by Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. NewYork Macmillan Publishing Co., 1984.Watling, E. F.. Introduction. In Sophocles The Theban Plays, translated by E. F. Watling. New York Penguin Books, 1974.