Authors aim to relate, sympathise, or evoke any emotion from their readers. William Shakespeare achieves this goal through his use of Aristotle’s tragic hero who evokes sympathy for the character and forces the reader to evaluate certain traits in themselves. Tragic heroes possess a tragic flaw or downfall that leads to their death. Shakespeare uses the characteristics of Aristotle’s tragic hero to create a character that readers connect to and, despite their flaw, sympathize with. The fate of tragic heroes end in their death due to their own mistake or character flaw.…
In the story “Antigone” both characters, Antigone and Creon are examples of tragic characters. The tragic character is a man of noble stature. He is not an ordinary man, but a man with outstanding quality and greatness about him. This character causes his own downfall due to his own tragic flaw. Creon is a tragic character in the story because of his tragic flaw, his pride and failure to understand when he is wrong. This flaw causes the downfall of Creon because he does not listen to anyone when everyone was telling him to just stop and release Antigone. Antigone is also a tragic character in this story. She is a tragic character because she is stubborn and goes through an outburst of fear and self-pity after she is facing death. Antigone stays loyal to her family that slowly brings her to her down fall. In my opinion though I believe that Creon is the real tragic character because Creon is a perfect example of what Aristotle described in his book “Poetics.”…
In Master Sophocles' Antigone, the question of who the tragic hero really is has been a subject of debate for a great number years. Creon does possess some of the qualities that constitute a tragic hero but unfortunately does not completely fit into the role. Antigone, however, possesses all the aspects of a tragic hero. These are, in no particular order, having a high social position, not being overly good or bad, being tenacious in their actions, arousing pity in the audience, a revelatory manifestation, and having a single flaw that brings about their own demise and the demise of others around them. Antigone possesses all of these traits therefore qualifying as the tragic hero.<br><br>The first qualifying aspect is that Antigone is of a high social standing in Thebes. Creon himself refers to her as a princess though she is technically no longer one. Because of her high standing she is capable of great suffering, in that she has a lot of fame and regard to lose. Those who say Creon is the tragic hero state say that Antigone is no longer in a high position in the society, therefore does not qualify on that account. If the character had needed to be in a high political position this would be true, but they need only have a great deal to lose in their downfall. Although she may no longer hold political power Antigone is still a powerful figure in Thebes, since she was to be married to Creon's son Haemon and the whole city seemed to know how tragic her life had become.<br><br>Antigone and Creon would qualify as the tragic hero if the only requirement was not being overly good or bad. Creon shows his negative side when he refuses to bury Polyneices and when he speaks to the sentry. His positive side is shown in his obvious affection for Antigone and Ismene, whom he has attempted to raise since their fathers death. Antigone's ungodly side is shown by her incestuous behavior with her brother Polyneices. Her positive side is shown by the way the she insists on respecting…
A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. Because the tragic hero simply cannot accept a diminished view of the self and because of some personality flaw, the hero fails in this epic struggle against fate (csus.edu). In "Antigone" written by the infamous Sophocles, the characters, Antigone and King Creon, can both be deemed as tragic heroes despite of their beliefs differing immensely. Antigone, who is engaged to Creon's son, is a strong-willed woman who wants to bury her deceased brother, Polyneices, with honor despite the fact that he killed their other brother in war. On the other hand, Creon…
A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. In the play antigone probably the most logic character to pick as a tragic hero would be antigone’s uncle creon. Creon is probably one of the most stubborn, ignorant character in antigone that was looking for someone to blame for Eteocles’s death. But creaon was so blind to the fact that this would lead to his emotional downfall in sorrow and distress because of his haemon and creon’s loving wife.…
Aristotle once said, “A man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” Sophocles’s Antigone was written in 440 B.C. which was the time when plays were written based on ancient Greece culture. The idea of a tragic hero was established in Ancient Greece, tragic heroes are in ancient Greek plays. A tragic hero is a character who is inherently good, has a fatal flaw and loses everything in the end. Creon is Antigone’s tragic hero because his loyalty and obsessive pride influence the conflicts that led to his family’s demise.…
In Sophocles’ play Antigone, he creates two tragic characters. A tragic character is someone who experience’s unfortunate events that led to his or her own destruction. Antigone is a character who is Headstrong she will do anything for her family dead or alive. She is willing to go through anything and suffer the consequences ahead.…
Why is Antigone the tragic hero of the story? Antigone is the tragic hero because she chooses to bury her brother Polynices, even though Ceon her uncle prohibited anyone to touch his corpse and to let it decay. This shows that Antigone has a lot of loyalty towards her family and her brother. Ceon wanted Polynices to have the least honorable death, this is because Polynices was against Ceon and the Plebs, so Ceon wanted to give Eteocles a honorable burial because Eteocles was on fighting for the Plebs (Shmoop).Through the story of Antigone you see Antigone’s loyalty to her brother when she’s talking to her sister Ismene, Antigone informes Ismene of her plan to bury Polyneices. Ismene is scared for Antigone because she knows that burying Polyneices is a royal edict, Antigone knows this but decides to bury her brother anyway.…
In the play Antigone, by Sophocles, There a few characters that can be described as tragic heroes. The character that best represents a tragic hero is Creon. Creon is the uncle of Antigone, the main character of the story. Creon is very powerful and many people of the town answer to him. Many times in the play he refers to the Gods for counsel and guidance. His main purpose in life is to answer to them. All of this power leads to his downfall as a tragic hero. He sentences Antigone and her sister, Ismene, to death. Some would say this is misuse of his power. He realizes this, but it is too late. Antigone has already passed.…
“To err from the right path is common to man.” (Sophocles) Generally speaking, a Greek tragic story is a term used to describe a character and their fall from greatness, where one who is intrinsically virtuous, ends up losing everything they have due to a fatal mistake. In Sophocles Antigone, the classic hero may be described as having the tragic Greek heroic personality, containing traits such as arête (excellence), hubris (excessive pride), ate (blind recklessness), and nemesis (disastrous retribution). Though most mythological heroes contain these qualities on the surface, in Sophocles’ Antigone, the author chose to develop his heroic personalities, rather than leaving them simply present. In doing so, Sophocles developed the character Creon,…
In Sophocles ' Antigone, the question of who the tragic hero has been the subject of debate for years. It is uncommon for there to be two tragic heroes in a Greek tragedy, therefore there can be only be one in Antigone. Although Creon possesses some of the characteristics that constitute a tragic hero, he does not have all of the necessary qualities. Antigone, however, possesses all of the traits that are required for her to be the tragic hero. According to Aristotle, there are four major characteristics, which the tragic hero is required to have. The character must be a good, upstanding person, they must focus on becoming a better person, they must be believable, and they must be consistent in his or her behavior. Due to the fact that…
Antigone's tragic flaw is her pride and loyalty to the gods and their rituals because she wants to bury her brother so that his spirit will be at rest. She didn't bend to the laws of Creon and buried her dead brother anyway; losing her potential husband \and her life. But then again, she gained the respect of her fellow towns people who admired her bravery and she succeeded in burying her brother under the will of the…
As the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, once said in the Poetics, a tragic hero should be “between these two extremes—that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty.” The ultimate purpose of a tragic hero is to construct catharsis. Doing this by making the audience commiserate with the protagonist producing emotions by having a rise and a plummeting downfall in the character’s life. Some would quarrel that Antigone is certainly the tragic hero because her fate is undoubtedly tragic; but however, she doesn’t experience an uplifting or rise, nor is she noble, it was clear from the beginning that she was indeed commencing towards her death. As for Creon,…
The protagonist of a tragedy is always someone who is passionate for what their mission is; they want their dream to become reality. Antigone is determined to be the ‘hero’ by burying her brother who has died, and she is killed in this process. Antigone disregards the danger and sacrifices her life for the honoring of her brother. Her heroism is displayed when she states, “Think Death less than a friend?…
When it comes to creating any type of entertainment whether that's movies, tv shows, plays, video games, or books one of the most popular genres is tragedy. Tragedies appeal to many people because of the character’s traits. According to Aristotle famous philosopher of ancient Greece believes that a protagonist must portray five certain characteristics to be classified as a tragic hero. A tragic hero must be of noble birth or have a status with much amounts of respect from people surrounded by the character. Also have hamartia (fatal flaw), the character must have a flaw that will lead to their demise. The hero has a reversal of fortune( protagonist dies) The character must realize his fatal flaw is the reason for their downfall (anagnorisis). Lastly the hero’s fate is far greater than what they really deserve. However over time entertainment has evolved into relating to people in society. The modern definition of a tragic hero differs from Aristotle’s definition. To be considered a modern tragic hero, the character does not have to be high status. Character has to be…