In the play Antigone, Sophocles at first portrays Creon as a respected leader who formulates a rational basis for his laws and punishments, and has a generally positive reputation among the people of Thebes. By the end of the play Creon's excessive ... realize their hamartia and see their place in the universe. It is this manner that Creon can be seen as the tragic character in the play Antigone. Creon's stubbornness prevents him from being influenced by any other character. He refuses all advice that is in his best interest, which eventually causes his ... realizes that Haimon's death was o...

• Word Count: 951
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... answer, lifting a curse on Thebes, allowing Oedipus to become King, win the hand of Jocasta, Queen of Thebes and have 4 children: Eteocles, Polynice, Antigone, and Ismene. The reader discovers the first element of Aristotle's definition at the height of Oedipus" reign as King. An excellent ruler, Oedipus assures the ... to Aristotle occurs when Oedipus discovers he was the baby that was the child of Laius, whose wife, Jocasta, ordered to have Oedipus killed for she had been told that she would be killed by her own son. Oedipus screams, realizing the truth and flees back into the palace o...

• Word Count: 696
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to "any moral defect or depravity"" (Poetics, 21) given by an author, but to a mistake he makes at a pivotal point in a story. For example, a hero commits a crime not because his character was given an inability to tell right from wrong, but because he freely chooses to do so. ... potentially prevent downfall, and the hero's ability to either act upon or reject this new information constitutes blame for their fall. In Jean Anouilh's Antigone, Creon makes a final plea to convince Antigone that dying for her brother Polynices is foolish, making sure she is aware of the "squalid story " s...

• Word Count: 660
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... in the real world. Unfortunately, far too many families are dysfunctional, which as the description implies, have deep-seated problems that prevent them from functioning normally. This was a popular theme for Greek tragedians and no one depicted it more poignantly than Sophocles during the fifth century B.C. The popular Greek dramatist could have also been a successful family psychologist as this insightful play ... there's no tomorrow! (Fagles 524) Although Sophocles penned "Oedipus the King" more than 2,500 years ago, the family dysfunction, which occupied center stage then, is still a...

• Word Count: 1058
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate