Peter Skogman
Mr. Jonas
Pre-AP English 10
November 9th, 2018
Tragic Hero
How would a person feel after everyone they loved left or died? Most people would feel like their life is over, and both Sophocles and Dai Sijie represented this in their characters. Luo from Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, and Creon from Antigone by Sophocles, were both tragic heros due to both of them being responsible for their own fates, and them losing everything they had and cared about.
First of all, Luo was responsible for his fate of becoming a tragic hero. He was responsible for his fate of losing the girl because he taught her the good about the rest of the world. Luo would go over to the Little Seamstresses house and “tell her the wonderful tale of Balzac’s (Pg 57).” With no knowledge of the western world or her own beside the mountain, these tales would resonate with her a lot more than someone else. This learning of the outside world made her less content with her own life. She was no longer happy living on the mountain. Because of this want to learn, Luo wanted to appease her by trying everything possible to try and get her more books to tell her. In order to to do this, Luo stole some books as when he was in Four-eyes home he “swept the suitcase off the pile of luggage as he made for the door (pg 105).” Inside the suitcase were a lot of books that Luo could read to the Little Seamstress. He taught her even more about the world around her through the new books, not just about the life they were living on the secluded mountain. The new world that Luo had taught her sounded fantastic to the Little Seamstress, which lead her to wanting to go to the city. The books didn't tell her about the dangers of the outside world just the good side. This fate of her leaving was caused by the reading of Balzac by Luo as the Little Seamstress said that she “learned one thing from Balzac: that a woman's beauty is a treasure beyond price (pg 184).” Luo indirectly taught this lesson to the Little Seamstress and by doing so he lost what he cared about. He opened her eyes to the real world and how much better her life could be. By leaving, she made Luo life a lot worse. Luo’s second trait was he lost everything that he cared about which was his tragic death. To start off, Luo would go and visit the Little Seamstress even though “the village… was too far away for the lights in the house to be visible (pg 57).” Luo would make this far tr everyday just to see the Little Seamstress because he wanted to be with her so bad. He wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. Which is why when the Little Seamstress told Luo “[I] want to go to the city (pg 184),” Luo was absolutely devastated. He lost one of the only things that he cared about in his life. He would have to return back to the mountain and live there for the rest of his life with Little he actually cared about. Luo had also cared greatly about the books, but he also let those go as well as the Little Seamstress. He set a match to the books and “the flame licked the pages, making them twist and stick together while the words disappeared into the wind (176).” This was him losing the last thing that he deeply cared about. He no longer had the books or the Little Seamstress, so he didn't have much left in his life. He was forced to live the rest of his life on the mountain with nothing.
Secondly, Creon was the person responsible for becoming a tragic hero. The first mistake that was made was that he didn’t listen to his advisor. Not listening to an advisor isn't the worst mistake a leader can make, but it was in Creon’s case. It's a bigger mistake because when Creon goes against Teiresias advice of not punishing Antigone, he even knows it isn’t a good idea. This is because Choragos tells Creon “I cannot remember that he was ever false (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 89-91)” and Creon agrees with Choragos’s statement. He knew that punishing Antigone wasn’t the best idea due to the reputation of Teiresias’ advice, but still went with it because he was being stubborn. This act of knowing what is wrong but still doing it is why he responsible for his own fate. Not only did he not listen to an important advisor, but he was also responsible for his own son's death. His son Haimon, committed suicide because he was “angry at his father for the murder [of Antigone] (Act 1, line 1309-1310).” Haimon was rightfully mad at his father for killing his bride, and Creon was the only one who was to blame. Creon inadvertently killed his son which had a very negative impact on Creon himself. In other words, Creon being responsible for his son's death made Creon responsible for his own fate of becoming a tragic hero. It also wasn't just one family member who died because of Creon's, it was two. His wife also killed herself because of Creon who admitted to it when he said “I killed you… without intending to…my wife (Act 1, line 1486-1488).” Again Creon had inadvertently killed a family member. Now he lost his wife to his own actions and no one else's. Creon caused the death of his son and wife who were very important to him which caused him to be responsible for his own fate. Again, he also didn’t listen to a well respected advisor which caused him to responsible for his own fate. Creon’s second characteristic of being a tragic hero was that he lost everything that he cared about which was his tragic death. Even though at times it seemed as Creon might not like his son that much, Creon definitely cared about him. As when given the news of his death he said that “my ow blind hearts has brought me from darkness to final darkness (Act 1, Exodos, line 86-87).” He that he had lost something that he cared about. The father son relationship has been important throughout human history and there is no exception here. After the loss of someone so important Creon was rightly sad. However, it was just the first thing that piled on to everything that he cared about. The second thing he lost was his wife, again someone who he cared deeply about. The loss hit him hard because it was so quickly after his son's death as he says “All true, all true, and more than I can bear! My wife, my son (Act 1, Exodus, line 110-111).” In other words, the loss is just building on him and taking more out of him, hurting him more. Mentally, Creon can’t take seem everyone around him die, and especially because he cause it. He is seeing his world fall apart and he can’t do anything about. All of this lead to him saying “I have neither life nor substance. Lead me in (Act 1, Exodus, line 124).” This is Creon throwing in the towel and giving up. He no longer has anything to care about, and he admits to being dead while still being alive. He has no reason to live anymore because there is no one that he cares about around him. All of this was caused by himself, leading him to the grave because he lost everything around him that he cared about.
Creon and Luo both pushed others away unintentionally and lost what they cared most about. The good relationships that they had with the people around them crumbled to nothing. It's happens a lot in the real world as people sometimes need to move on to grow like in Luo case, or some action could end the relationship like in Creon's case. Relationships can be really important and losing them could feel like the end of the world.