Question

In Antigone by Sophocles, which element of tragedy is most apparent in Creon’s transformation from a proud and prosperous monarch in the beginning of the play to a defeated, lonely old man at the end of the play?

Answer 1

The element of tragedy that is most apparent in Creon's transformation from a proud and prosperous monarch in the beginning of the play to a defeated, lonely old man at the end of the play is peripeteia.

Following Aristotle's definition in his Poetics, peripeteia is a term used to refer to a reversal of fortune. It is the change from one state of things to its opposite, which is generally negative. Moreover, peripeteia is one of the most effective elements of the plot of a tragedy. At the beginning of Antigone, Creon has everything, but by the end of the play, he loses his wife and his son and he becomes a miserable man due to his hubris, the character's tragic flaw, which is his pride. Therefore, he undergoes peripetia because his life is affected by an ironic twist that was not expected. In that way, Creon becomes the tragic character in the play.

Answer 2

The famous tragic element that occurs here is the reversal of fortunes. Although he was once high and mighty, in the end he remains to suffer until the end of his life because of everything he's done.