Tragedy All Around

Which character, Antigonê or Creon, best fits the idea of a tragic character?

As we saw in reading "Oedipus the King," "Antigonê" does not have a character that is unique in his or her tragic-ness. Indeed, all of the characters whom we see in Antigonê are somehow affected by the indisputably tragic events that transpire over the course of the play, Antigonê takes her own life by hanging, Haimon by stabbing himself after losing her, Ismenê loses her sister, and Creon both his son, his son's intended, and his sense of his own decency. So, as I see it, the question is not so much whether Antigonê or Creon fits the ideal of the tragic character better (since both of them do so quite well), as it is which of the two is the more tragic character.

While it is my firm belief that only the author of the work has the authority to state with any certainty the proper interpretation of his or her work, I see Creon as the more tragic character for two outstanding reasons. First, of all of the characters who sustain significant loss over the course of the play, Creon has lost the most. His son is dead by suicide due to the death of his beloved Antigonê, he has lost faith in his own ability to perceive right and wrong, and most importantly, he must now go on living with the knowledge that everything that has transpired is the direct result of his own actions and that he has nobody to blame but himself. Having to live with such paralyzing guilt is equally as, if not even more tragic than winding up dead at the play’s conclusion. Antigonê has done what she knew in her heart was the right thing to do, and dies as somewhat of a martyr for righteousness and honor. Haimon took his life in a moment of passion and grief, and suffered only for a very short time. Ismenê comes closer to Creon in her tragic-ness level by sustaining the loss of her sister, though we are not made aware of how this affects her so much as we are of how it does Creon. Therefore, with the combined bearing of three traumatizing events, along with having to continue living with his guilt, and the author’s choice to showcase Creon’s sorrow so conspicuously, I feel there is ample reason to conclude that Creon is the most tragic of the characters in “Antigonê.”