Antigone Tragic Hero

The first specification for the tragic hero is one of the few that both Antigone and Creon exhibit; both characters are between the extremes of perfect morality and pure villainy. Antigone’s moral neutrality is illustrated through her noble intentions and the unorthodox way she acts upon them. When she is confronted by Creon and demanded to give an explanation for her disobedience, Antigone says, “For me it was not Zeus who made that order. Nor did that Justice who lives with the gods below mark out such laws to hold among mankind” (Sophocles 207 ll. 450-2). Along with love and loyalty to her brother, Antigone is largely motivated by her desire for justice and appeasement of the gods. While her intentions are noble, Antigone’s actions in the

Sophocles, a great tragedian, was the one who gave Greek tragedies their traditional form. An important part of traditional Greek tragedies is the presence of a tragic hero. All tragic heroes should have the characteristics of rank, a tragic flaw, a downfall, and a recognition of mistakes. The seemingly tragic hero is Antigone. She wants to bury her brother Polyneices even though this would be going against Creon, who is her uncle and the king. When Antigone buries Polyneices Creon sentences her to death because of it. In Antigone by Sophocles the tragic hero is not Antigone because she only meets the characteristic of a tragic flaw, hers being pride, but doesn 't meet the other three characteristics of a

Moreover, Antigone’s ability to follow her own beliefs results into the heroicness and tragic death of Antigone. Antigone is from a royal family and has the power to do what she believes in. She believes in following traditions and exercises that power when she says, “I will bury him, and if I must die, I say that the crime is holy: I shall lie down With him in death, and I shall be as dear To him as he to me” (694). Antigone follows her beliefs in following tradition and by doing what she feels is best. Antigone does this because she knows she is doing the right thing and knows that she will be repaid in some way. Furthermore, Antigone justifies her actions by telling the reasons that motivated her to do it to King Creon. She refuses to give in to the beliefs of King Creon and continues to think her own separate way. Antigone takes a stand to Creon when she says, “ Think Death less than a friend? This death of mine Is of no importance, but if I had left my brother Lying in death unburied, I should have suffered. Now I do not. You smile at me. Ah Creon , Think me a fool, if you like, but it may well be That a fool convicts me of folly” (709). Antigone believes what she is doing is correct and proves that to Creon , but he is still not convinced. It is important for Antigone to do what she believes is so that she will be pleased and satisfied with the outcome. Antigone’s ability to pursue her goals and to what she wants

Antigone, a Greek a tragedy, is the third of the Three Theban Plays by Sophocles. Throughout the play, readers are introduced to few, but intriguing characters, one being the protagonist of the play, Antigone. Antigone is the tragic hero of Antigone; she presents recognition of the gods, exemplifies good virtues, and possess a fatal flaw, or hamartia. A tragic hero is a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat.

The opening events of the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, quickly establish the central conflict between Antigone and Creon. Creon has decreed that the traitor Polynices, who tried to burn down the temple of gods in Thebes, must not be given proper burial. Antigone is the only one who will speak against this decree and insists on the sacredness of family and a symbolic burial for her brother. Whereas Antigone sees no validity in a law that disregards the duty family members owe one another, Creon's point of view is exactly opposite. He has no use for anyone who places private ties above the common good, as he proclaims firmly to the Chorus and the audience as he revels in his victory over Polynices. He sees Polynices as an enemy to

Antigone retaliates by saying that his law is not that of the Gods so it does not stand. He wants to have Antigone killed, but his son his her fiancé. He tries to explain to the king that the gods would have wanted Polyneices to be buried and that Antigone did the right thing that she should not be punished for it. Creon’s hubris however comes out yet again. He will not even listen to a word his son has to say; however now he does not want to kill her, but to send her away into a tomb, where the Gods can determine her fate.

She wanted to show loyalty to her family and even if she was killed by honoring her brother, she wanted to die knowing she did the right thing. Antigone says to her sister, “And if I have to die for this pure crime, I am content, for I shall rest beside him; his love will answer mine” (Sopholces 5). She showed civil disobedience because even though it was against the law to bury Polyneices and it is not what Creon wanted, she still chose to honor her brother. She broke the law to do what she believed was the right

“Yes Zeus did not announce those laws to me .And Justice living with God's below sent no such laws for men. I did not think anything which you proclaimed was strong enough to let a mortal overrule the gods’( 510 ). This shows how Antigone has belief in the Gods and doesn't believe in what Creon decrees is morally, and physically right to not have her brother buried. Another such example of Antigone's beliefs In justice and the gods us how she honors the gods more than Creon's beliefs and declarations about what should happen to the body of Polyneices. “My honor for the dead must last much longer than for those up here”(94). This shows how Antigone doesn't care about people's beliefs but the gods which were much more important to the people of this time. As can be seen by Creon's differing views on the body, and burial of Polyneices it can be seen that his beliefs differ in that of Antigone's beliefs of the importance of burial, and honoring the

Antigone wants to be redeemed in the afterlife through her act of burying Polyneices. This is especially clear when she decides that she will bury him and die before she has even appealed to Creon. The only route she can see is one that results in her death. Not until she is directly confronted by her uncle does she attempt to dissuade him from dishonoring Polyneices. Even then, she seems to be simply defending her own actions rather than accusing him of being wrong, as she so adamantly has done with Ismene. He needs to implore her to “Speak!” (166, 442), and when she does, she is flippant and prideful. Antigone only engages in real dialogue with him when he forces her to. This could be interpreted as her simply understanding his position and accepting it, but I find that unlikely. She clearly fundamentally disagrees with him and his interpretation of the gods, but instead of trying to persuade him to recant his decree and bury her brother, she capitalizes on the position she’s in and thrusts herself into martyrdom. Even by the gods’ standards, this does not seem to be justice or “rightness”. Her surface level loyalty to her family may initially appeal, but I find it insincere and not right when I explore it more closely.

Poetics, where he defines what makes a tragic hero. Aristotle suggests that a tragic hero is a

Frank Marini says “Creon has pridefully, inappropriately, and stubbornly set himself above all that is decent, [and] also Antigone has pridefully, inappropriately, and stubbornly set herself above duly-constituted authority and the need for order” (Marini 422). Creon believes that his position as king gives him the right over others burial proceedings while Antigone argues that divine law is on her side. After all Creon too is a mortal who will one day die and will go to the underworld, if he is to die one day what right does he have to deny someone their burial rights when he will experience those same rights too. Antigone sees Polyneices’ burial as something that should be provided for all regardless of circumstance. Of course when the guards discovered that Polyneices’ body had been covered with a little dust the guards who had been assigned to guard his body were terrified.

According to Aristotle, the main idea of a tragic hero is a person who brings about feelings of pity or of fear for their situation in an audience (Hogue, Tragic Hero). The character will cause a series of events that will lead to their tragic downfall, which is normally their death. In the case of The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles, the story of Antigone evokes the most pity from the audience. At the beginning of her story, she realizes that she is breaking a law set by Creon, but that doesn’t sway her decision. She will honor the death of her brother even if it causes her own; she is extremely loyal to her family, and also too stubborn to allow the threat of death that hangs above her head to change her mind.

Antigone has a possible flaw in that she is too stubborn and persistent to obey Creon’s order; “I know my duty, where true duty lies” (Antigone, 128). Her punishment then encourages feelings of pity from the audience because her deed was honorable and respectful towards her brother Polynices. The chorus supports this view by bidding her a respectful farewell when she is taken away, “But glory and praise go with you lady” (Antigone, 148). Antigone is also very proud, and this may have contributed to her death. Even when she is caught she remains strong and defends herself by claiming that the chorus thinks that her act was honorable, “All these would say that what I did was honorable” (Antigone, 139). This causes Creon to remain angry with Antigone, “you are wrong, none of my subjects think as you do” (Antigone, 140). If she had been more patient and less defensive, Creon may not have been as harsh in the punishment he set for her.

First, we must understand why Creon would decree that Polynices should not be buried. His explanation for this royal decree, is that seeing as how Polynices was a traitor to Thebes he didn’t deserve a proper traditional burial like his bother Eteocles, the city’s hero. Because of this, he goes on to create an edict stating that no one from Thebes was to bury Polynices or else they would pay with their life. Obviously, Antigone opposed this and fully supported the idea of burying her brother despite Creon’s edict and thus she embarked on this journey alone. She wanted to bury her brother because according to her it is the decent thing to do and the gods expect a burial no matter the situation.

In the text, Antigone wants to bury her brother, Polynices, after hearing about what occurred with their brother, Eteocles. Polynices and Eteocles had an argument over who should be the king and they ended up slaughtering each other to death in a battle for the throne. Polynices is looked at as a traitor. Antigone did not care and still wanted to bury him. The obstacle in the way her uncle Creon. Creon was the king and he proclaimed that the body of Polynices shall not be buried. Both Antigone and Creon followed separate rules and laws. That causes the difference in viewpoints between the two. With Antigone, she believes that it would be right to bury him, so she did. Once Creon found out, he was very angry. With the body of Polynices being banned due to the proclamation