eginning to end. One is the protagonist, the other is the antagonist. The protagonistnormally considered the “good guy” and the antagonist is the “bad guy”. In “Antigone” it is hard to see which is which.
In most stories, such as Cinderella, the name of the play or story is the protagonist, but in “Antigone”, the supposed antagonist Creon, the King of Thebes, could also be considered a protagonist. According to the definition of protagonist, Antigone would definetly seem to be the protagonist. Her actions form the plot of the play. She decides to bury her dead brother, against Creon’s edict.
After the soldiers of Thebes unbury him, Antigone goes and buries him again. When she is caught, she is taken to Creon and he sentences her to death. Then, to get at Creon even more, she commits suicide while on death row. She is very stubborn and stands up for her beliefs, which is very admirable. Creon is a very strict character.
His actions can only follow those of Antigone’s, so he can’t be a traditional protagonist. However, the way his actions flow they also make Creon fit as the protagonist in “Antigone”. After Antigone is captured, the play focuses on Creon. He boasts about his decisions to the chorus.
He argues with Tiresias about his leadership abilities and Tiresias forces him to realize he was in the wrong. Not only does Creon have too much pride, but he is stubborn like Antigone. He doesn’t want to admit he is wrong, so he makes the same mistakes over again. He could have pardoned Antigone or reversed his edict after is point was made, but he did not. Maybe he does not believe it could be possible for a King to make such mistakes, or maybe he has just been King so long that he has developed a large ego and is unaware of his own mortality. Either way, his pride and stubbornness reflect in almost every action Creon makes throughout the play.
Creon overgoes a full change in the play, unlike Antigone. At the beginning, Creon does not want Polyneices buried, even though it is against the law of the gods that all bodies must have a proper burial for the soul to enter the underworld. After speaking with Tiresias that this within itself was a mistake, and her sentence to Antigone was also wrong.The realization of this conflicts with Creon’s stubbornness and pride, but he overcomes his flaws by admitting his mistakes and trying to correct them. Unfortunately, Antigone’s plan to hinder Creon work all too well, and even his good intentions fail to produce the wanted result.
In addition, Creon’s wife and son commit suicide. His realization is now complete, and now he has loss to accompany it. Antigone, on the other hand, never fully realizes her mistakes. She is stubborn and to some extent proud, but does not renounce these glitches.
One reason may be that they really are not flaws in this play. Her stubbornness leads to her capture and her death, but if her death is what brought Creon to the self-realization, then it is a key element in the plot. This perspective puts Antigone in the spot of antagonist; as aggravator of Creon the protagonist. To conclude, Creon is the protagonist. The debate will still continue as to who is the protagonist in this play.
Some could agrue that both are protagonists. Some may argue that neither is the protagonist. Some may argue that Antigone is the protagonist.
