Antigone Essay

The Science of Hubris Protagonists and Antagonists are much like the sun and moon, they each display their light, but only one shines brighter. In the Greek tragedy Antigone, a play written by the brilliant Sophocles countless years ago, people believed that the only way to reach the underworld was by receiving a proper burial. Antigone, the prideful protagonist, had her brother, Polynices, killed at war. King Creon of Thebes, the audacious and selfish antagonist, sternly declared that whoever buried the traitor, Polynices, was to be put to death at once, but that did not stop Antigone to do what she thinks is morally correct. In the tragedy Antigone by Sophocles, characters typify their hubris in various manners, particularly Antigone and Creon. The hubris portrayed by Antigone demonstrates her desire and passion to do what she thinks is morally correct. When Antigone hears the horrifying news about the death of her brother, Polynices, she immediately wants to give him a proper burial. Creon, the king of Thebes, states that nobody shall bury Polynices because he is guilty of duplicity. Antigone disregards the words of the king and proceeds to give her brother in a proper manner. She pursues her goal, “Thus screamed, when she [Antigone] when she saw the uncovered body, she groaned loudly and called down the evil curses on whoever had done the work. Immediately she gathered dry dust in her hands and from a jug of fine bronze lifted up she crowned the corpse with three – fold libations.” (28). Antigone went on to admit her crime face to face with Creon. “You there, staring down at the ground, speak up: do you affirm or deny doing these things? I assert that I did it I do not deny it” (29). Antigone goes on to die for her actions, although what Antigone did was against the law it brought pride to her family. The sequence of events put together by Antigone speaks volumes for the hubris that she obtains. Furthermore, Creon excessively uses hubris to make even