What Is Antigone A Tragic Hero
Natasha Barnes
Doctor Bernd
DRAM-3713-300
12 February 2015
Consideration of Antigone Antigone is a tragedy that tests even today’s readers with the dilemma of man’s law and the laws of man’s religion. One can easily see the side of her moral obligation as well as her obligation of relation and love, since Polyneices was also her brother. Such a dilemma, crossed with the law of the land and the law of her faith, still vex men and women today. Although Antigone met a tragic end, the tragic hero in this story is Creon. Below, why Creon fits Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero will be discussed as well as why Antigone or other characters do not fit. When examining Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero, it is important to look at each part of his description as opposed to just looking at one or two points in his description. If one only examines the first part of his description, it would be easy to confuse Antigone as a tragic hero. The first point of Aristotle’s tragic hero is that they “should be noble, their status in the community should be such that their actions will have effects beyond their own immediate welfare, and they are leaders or rulers, but not always (PowerPoint, 16). Looking at this first point, one could easily confuse Antigone, Haimon, Ismene and Creon as a tragic hero. They are all …show more content…
Not only does Creon suffer for his pride and foolishness with the death of his son, but with the death of his wife as well. “Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust” (Sophocles, 238). He mistook his son’s attempt to speak sense to him as his son being lovesick and “sold out to a women” (Sophocles, 215). In addition to this, he also accused the prophet Teiresias of “selling out” (Sophocles, 227). But just as she warned him, “time is not far off when you shall pay back, corpse for corpse” (Sophocles,
Doctor Bernd
DRAM-3713-300
12 February 2015
Consideration of Antigone Antigone is a tragedy that tests even today’s readers with the dilemma of man’s law and the laws of man’s religion. One can easily see the side of her moral obligation as well as her obligation of relation and love, since Polyneices was also her brother. Such a dilemma, crossed with the law of the land and the law of her faith, still vex men and women today. Although Antigone met a tragic end, the tragic hero in this story is Creon. Below, why Creon fits Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero will be discussed as well as why Antigone or other characters do not fit. When examining Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero, it is important to look at each part of his description as opposed to just looking at one or two points in his description. If one only examines the first part of his description, it would be easy to confuse Antigone as a tragic hero. The first point of Aristotle’s tragic hero is that they “should be noble, their status in the community should be such that their actions will have effects beyond their own immediate welfare, and they are leaders or rulers, but not always (PowerPoint, 16). Looking at this first point, one could easily confuse Antigone, Haimon, Ismene and Creon as a tragic hero. They are all …show more content…
Not only does Creon suffer for his pride and foolishness with the death of his son, but with the death of his wife as well. “Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust” (Sophocles, 238). He mistook his son’s attempt to speak sense to him as his son being lovesick and “sold out to a women” (Sophocles, 215). In addition to this, he also accused the prophet Teiresias of “selling out” (Sophocles, 227). But just as she warned him, “time is not far off when you shall pay back, corpse for corpse” (Sophocles,