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.…
“”Empty fantasies” these myths certainly are not. On the contrary, they contain much more that is real than if they were reporting that which had once occurred”.1 This quote by Walter F. Otto in his book, Dionysus: Myth and Cult, though used for a specific example, articulately and briefly explains why we read myths at all. They tell us not only about the people of the time, but also about ourselves. Through myths we can learn about a culture's values, about why we choose to or not to devote our lives to a religion, and about what these things mean for society as a whole. Miraculously, through myths about people from a different place and time than us, we are able to better understand ourselves here and now.…
The ancient religion of Greece was polytheistic. According to Greek myths, the Gods and Goddesses lived in Northern Greece, on Mount Olympus. Ancient Greek citizens honored their gods and goddesses with temples, festivals, sacrifices, and athletic competitions.…
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…
What is a tragic character? A tragic character is a significant person who experiences reversal of fortune as a result of fate or a flaw or weakness in his or her character. Many scholars argue that Antigone is the tragic hero of the play, but others argue that Creon is the true tragic hero. This discrepancy continues to boggle the minds of much of the audience. Though, Creon, the new king of Thebes, fits the definition of a tragic character to the letter. Creon still finds sympathy though from the audience, even though the audience acknowledges he is villainous. Creon recognizes his weaknesses, and his downfalls from his own self-pride, stubbornness, and controlling demands. Creon’s wrong choices and stubborn ways lead to his downfall, and he experiences a horrendous reversal of fortune. Creon is the true tragic hero in the play Antigone.…
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.…
The tragic act of violation and large capacities for suffering are shown throughout this story. These elements are part of what make Antigone a tragedy and are manifested well.…
“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,…
The definition of a tragic hero in Greek theatre is a character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to their own destruction. In the Greek tragedy, Antigone, by Sophocles, Creon is the tragic hero. Antigone contrasts the character Creon, helps develop Creon as the tragic hero, and interacts with other characters to help advance the play.…
A tragic hero is defined as “a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake” (“Aristotle”, n.d.). Therefore, a tragic hero has some sort of tragedy that surrounds their life. A tragic hero also makes dramas more interesting and makes readers think. Dramas sometimes either exemplify or refute Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Oedipus by Sophocles exemplifies Aristotle’s definition in four different aspects. The first aspect involves both Oedipus’ ignorance and knowledge of his life situations, the second involves his hamartia, the third involves the actual plot itself, and the fourth involves the characterization of…
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,…
When asked what is a tragic hero it is hard pressed to find a more fitting embodiment of what it means to be a tragic hero than Antigone. A tragic hero, in order to be considered a true tragic hero must meet certain qualification. according to Aristotle a tragic hero is a man or woman of high stature, and has the ability to endure suffering. A tragic hero must possess positive personal characteristics, but all the while possessing a major character flaw which will bring the downfall of the hero. The audience then must acknowledge and accept of the hero's demise which ten will teach the reader a life lesson.…
The well-known play, Antigone, is a representation of classic tragedy written by Sophocles. The story’s protagonist, Antigone, is portrayed as a tragic hero whose efforts to keep her family close quickly backfire on her. When Antigone’s brother dies, she wants to face the consequences and do the right thing in order to respect her brother and properly bury him. Antigone’s sister, Ismene, also displays the heroic qualities that Antigone does when she attempts to save her sister for being prosecuted. The classic qualities of a tragedy are displayed in the story, and these can also be found in many other tragedies later in literature. The important qualities that a tragedy always has can help analyze other novels and stories later are the heroism of the protagonist and the emotional connection the audience will sympathize for the protagonist.…