Would the Real Hero or Heroine Please Stand Up
             Throughout the past both Antigone and Creon ,both characters in
             Sophocles' Antigone, have been considered heroes/heroines by different
             literary scholars. In preparation for this paper I looked up "hero" on
             "Dictionary.com". Both hero and heroine have the same meaning with
             the latter referring to females and the former referring to males. The
             three definitions I determined to be the most relevant are as follows:
             "The principal male (or female) character in a novel, poem, or
             dramatic presentation", "In mythology and legend, a man (or woman),
             often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and
             strength, celebrated for his (or her) bold exploits, and favored by the
             gods", "A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose,
             especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life." I listed
             these three definitions in order from least relevant to most relevant.
             In this story all these definitions do not refer to the same person, so
             it is very obvious why scholars have had a hard time determining who the
             hero/heroine is in this story. Throughout the rest of this paper, I
             will show, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Antigone is the heroine of
             the play, despite the fact that Creon does exemplify one of the
             The first definition stated is "The principal male character in
             a novel, poem, or dramatic presentation." This definition would
             obviously point to Creon because the entire play focuses almost
             exclusively on his decisions and his unwillingness to take advice. The
             only time, Creon is not the focus of the action, is when Antigone is
             planning to go and bury her brother. Even in this scene the action is
             set only to give Creon a reason to react throughout the rest of the
             play. Although his reaction is the focal point of the play, it is easy
             to realize that he is in no way admired for his actions, which is a
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