The True Tragic Hero in Antigone

There is still a great debate on who is, in fact, the true tragic hero in Sophocles' Antigone. Many hold that it must be Antigone, herself; after all, the play does bear her name. But in actuality, Creon, not Antigone, is the rue tragic hero. In order to determine whether or not Creon is the true tragic hero, one will first have to answer the question, "What is a tragic hero?" Aristotle, when discussing the …

…However, the reason that Creon is angered is that he feels injured and insulted that Antigone flagrantly and publicly disobeyed him. He was additionally inflamed that she was his niece and betrothed to his son, Haemon. Historically, when a man's authority is threatened, especially by a woman, he ego is irreparably damaged. Thus if one must follow Aristotelian theory, the true tragic hero can only be Creon and not, as many continue to hold, Antigone.