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Antigone by Aristotle

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Antigone by Aristotle
Antigone Life has a way of becoming complicated. Problems between friends, foes, and even family members develop everyday for people of all walks of life. It is part of human nature to disagree, cause conflict and fight for what we believe in even if that means stepping on someone else’s toes along the way. Aristotle had thoughts on complication dating back to 335 B.C when he wrote Poetics- the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory. In it he analyzed tragedies and theorized that every tragedy falls into two parts- complication and unraveling or denouncement. Sophocles stated, “By complication I mean all that extends from the beginning of the action to the part which marks the turning-point to good or bad fortune. The Unraveling is that which extends from the beginning of the change to the end”(127). In the tragedy Antigone written by Sophocles in 441 B.C, complication and denouncement are seen throughout the play as a sister, Antigone stands up for her brother’s burial rights as King Creon denies him of any. Complication and denouncement are used by Sophocles to aid in the character development of Antigone and Creon whose mindsets are altered from close-minded to open-minded. Both characters situations prove that being close-minded in life can result in things unraveling for the worse. Antigone is very close-minded from the beginning of the play after she hears King Creon’s plan for her dead brother. Antigone’s father Oedipus initially ruled the throne and when it was time for it to be passed down, her brothers Eteocles and Polyneices disputed over who would become king. They planned to take turns ruling but Eteocles would not give his brother time on the throne so Polyneices attacked and both brothers end up dead. Antigone’s uncle Creon was next in line to take the throne and it was his first decree that caused complication between niece and uncle. Creon wished that Etocles have a heroic burial as a reward for fighting for his city. For Polyneices, Creon


Cited: Aristotle, Poetics. [350 B.C]. Trans. S.H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. MIT. http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.2.2html.7.10.2008. Sophocles. Antigone. [442 B.C] Trans. Paul Woodruff. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hacket, 2001
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