The Tragic Hero Concept and Character Development in Antigone

This article explains the concept of the tragic hero and how it applies to Sophocles' Antigone. It explores the character development of Antigone and Creon, argues for which character is the tragic hero, and describes the play's main conflict and major themes.

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Explain the concept of the tragic hero
A hero is a Greek word which refers to an individual that faces adversity or even shows
courage during times of danger (Reeves and Charles 174). Nonetheless, such a person confronts
a downfall and they are recognized as protagonists or a tragic hero. According to Aristotle, a
story that has the main character becoming a tragic hero is characterized as being a tragedy.
Further, Aristotle states that a tragic hero is an individual that is entitled to evoke a sense of fear
in the audience. Such a person is regarded to be a person of misfortune which comes to them due
to the error of judgment. The downfall of a tragic hero evokes both fear and feeling of pity
among the audience. Some of the characteristics of a tragic hero include hamartia, hubris,
peripeteia, anagnorisis, catharsis, and nemesis.
Explain how the characters of Antigone and Creon are developed in the play Antigone.
Aristotle argues that the success of any work depends on the wholesomeness of its plot,
and ranks the plot as the most essential criterion. Sophocles in the case of Antigone masterfully
develops his characters in the play, and this made the play to be recognized as a famous tragedy.
In Antigone, Sophocles develops his characters through dialogue. For instance, Creon and
Antigone establish their personalities and often reveal their character changes using their specific
tones along with the word choice in the dialogues with each other (Stoppani and Teresa 117).

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Antigone, in her initial argument with Creon, exposes her inner self. Being the play’s heroine, it
is expected that Antigone remains unshakable in her belief since the consequence of going
against a law that has got a death sentence requires an iron will. Through careful diction,
Antigone is developed in the play by Sophocles as a self-righteous figure. Under accusation,
Antigone’s first impression is that of outright defiance. When Antigone is asked by Creon
whether she performed the burial right on Polynices, Antigone’s response is a three word simple,
concise, and composed reply, “I did it.”
On the other hand, Creon is the dominant character in the play with his powerful but
arrogant personality. Despite the name of the play being Antigone, Sophocles presents Creon as
ruling king of Thebes, and with his no turning back attitude, Creon proves to be the dominant
character. Irrespective that Creon rules over everybody, using his intelligence, Antigone is able
to protect her brother’s dead body. However, Creon’s dynamic character catches Antigone in this
illegal act. Sophocles develops Creon as having endless personality traits with the most common
traits that often pop up being his stubbornness and strength or power.
Argue for which character is the tragic hero
At first, Creon is portrayed as a leader who has got good and rational reasons regarding
his punishments and laws. However, at the end of the play, Creon’s hubris takes over, resulting
to his demise. Not until Teiresias’s prophecy, Creon is not aware of the extent to which his
hubris has interfered with how he deals with issues, and by then, it becomes too late, hence
leading to the path of a tragic character (Bobrick and Elizabeth 44). Creon also has got a
hamartia, which often than not is excessive hubris. Creon further goes through a peripetia which
refers to an ironic twist whereby the character realizes that the results will not be as anticipated.

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Last, Creon undergoes an anagnorisis, which refers to the character’s epiphany which makes
them acknowledge their hamartia and see the position that they occupy in the universe. Having
gone through all the stags of a tragic character, Creon is the tragic character in the play
“Antigone”.
Description of the play's main conflict
The play’s primary conflict is between Antigone and Creon. This conflict begins in the
instance that Creon gives Eteocles, one of his brothers, a burial with honors and passes a law
which forbids a burial for Polyneices, his other brother with a death penalty. Antigone, a sister to
Eteocles and Polyneices disagrees with this law, and instead, makes a decision of burying
Polyneices. This results in Antigone being given a life sentence by Creon (Kattago and Siobhan
152). As such, a conflict emerges between the two who appear to be opposites. This conflict
results from the two, Creon and Antigone, having different stances on the law (Palmer and
Stephen 211). According to the play, it is evident that Creon values the state laws while Antigone
values religious as well as moral laws. For instance, this is evident in Scene II when Antigone is
questioned about breaking the law to bury Polyneices and she replies saying, “It was not God’s
proclamation. That final justice that rules the world below makes no such laws… [the laws of
God] are not merely now, they were and shall be operative forever beyond man utterly.”
Major Themes
Power is among Antigone's major themes. In the play, Haemon, Teiresias, Creon,
Chorus, and Antigone have their views regarding how a ruler should govern Thebes. Creon is the
king and he explains how he would be a tougher ruler in an early speech to the city elders due to
his loyalty to Thebes. As such, he will not allow any form of family connections to dictate over

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Thebe’s good: “if any holds/ A friend of more account than his own city/ I scorn him” (Segal and
Charles 159). Creon begins to show his tough impartiality through denial of burial rights to
Polyneices, who is Creon’s nephew and Thebe’s traitor. As such, he asks that elders reinforce the
decree. Despite that the elders agree, Creon has got the powers to come up with the law: “You,
being sovereign, make what laws you will,” and they decline to support it, asking Creon to seek
younger men (Wallace and Jennifer 211). Compared to Antigone, the chorus does not defy
Creon, but the chorus gives him some feedbacks at certain points. For example, after the
mysterious burying of Polyneices, they say to Creon, “Do we not see in this the hand of God?”
but the king denies it (Swanson and Arthur 140). By refusing to act according to the law, the
chorus implies that Creon’s will can only be carried out by strong men, and due to their hasty
decree, the elders anticipate trouble.

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Work Cited
Bobrick, Elizabeth. "Sophocles’ Antigone and the self-isolation of the tragic
hero." Psychoanalytic Inquiry 35.1 (2015): 40-46.
Kattago, Siobhan. "In the shadow of Antigone: resisting moral blindness." (2014): 149-154.
Palmer, Stephen. "Martyrdom and conflict: the fate of Antigone in tragic drama." Mortality 19.2
(2014): 206-223.
Reeves, Charles H. "The Aristotelian concept of the tragic Hero." The American Journal of
Philology 73.2 (1952): 172-188.
Segal, Charles. "Antigone: Death and Love, Hades and Dionysus." Greek Literature in the
Classical Period: The Poetics of Drama in Athens. Routledge, 2018. 158-225.
Stoppani, Teresa. "Antigone’s dissident dustings." Architecture and the paradox of dissidence 9
(2014): 117.
Swanson, Roy Arthur. "Form and Meaning in Drama." (1957): 139-142.
Wallace, Jennifer. "Tragedy and Laughter." Comparative Drama 47.2 (2013): 201-224.