Example Of Antigone: Creons Good Tragedy Essay

Antigone, by Greek author Sophocles, is one of the most famous and important plays of all time. It has gone through numerous reincarnations in many different time periods, and has been studied by such famous philosophers as Hegel and Goethe. This may be because it includes issues that have been problematic throughout Western civilization: the difference between right and wrong, between just and unjust laws, the importance of family, the place of deity, etc. Nevertheless, contrary to what its name suggests, the tragedy is not Antigone’s, but Creon’s, as this is the character whose downfall through a character flaw is depicted in the play, while the former displays courage and decision throughout.
This, of course, depends on your definition of tragedy; I conceive it as a story where a character who we meet relatively happy, but ends up in a disastrous situation because of a fault in his character. Therefore, I would say that Antigone is Creon’s tragedy, because he starts out as a king who has just defended his territory from foreign invasion, is married and has a son who is about to get married, yet at the end of the play, his popularity plummets, and both his wife and his son are dead, all through his own insistence of doing what is good for everyone. While one may think of doing well to all as a noble ideal, that good should not be limited, Antigone proposes that this is a flaw that will end in tragedy.
Specifically, Creon’s argument for not allowing Polynice’s burial, which is what detonates the whole story, is, “Never from me shall villains reap renown / Before the just. But whoso loves the State, / I will exalt him both in life and death” (111-113). While this may sound like a very logical argument, a universal truth, it is this out-of-control good intention that is Creon’s downfall. His desire to decree beyond his borders, and into the afterlife is what sets the play into motion, and makes him end in misery.
On the other hand, Antigone’s troubles carry her from the beginning to the end of the play, but she handles them without fear or compassion; also, it is important to argue why Antigone is not her tragedy, as it could be such for both characters. She does not falter from her fate, and doing what she believes the gods are asking her to do. One could even think of her story in terms of a comedy, as she begins miserable, yet at the end, what has changed is that she is dead, but because of fighting for what she believes in; when the play finishes, she has her honor, and the compassion of the Thebans. She is the hero of the play, but not a tragic one; she follows the ways of the gods, even against her own will and the law of the land, knowing she will be punished. She looks to respect transcendence, shrouding her brother’s dead body and doing their will.
In conclusion, Antigone is Creon’s tragedy, as he is the character who begins with a blissful life, only to end in destruction through his own defects; Antigone is portrayed as a hero, and does not have this downfall. The complexity of the characters is just one of the reasons why this play is so important, and will live on in the minds of scholars and popular audiences, alike.