Preview

What Is Antigone A Tragic Hero

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
533 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is Antigone A Tragic Hero
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.
Antigone is the embodiment of a tragic hero in all aspects. She is the daughter of the former king and niece to the current king, creon, she is also engaged to the son of the king making her a princess giving her high standing. Among the citizens of thebes she is not only
…show more content…
Antigone is unable and refusing to compromise while she is holding the moral high ground and backed with the moral support of all of the citizens of thebes and with the support of her fiancé, the king's son. Creon still is unable to see his mistake and refuses to lift her death sentence. Only after the death of antigone does creon realize what a horrible mistake he has made and only then does he realize that though his own stubbornness he has caused the downfall of his own house. That though the actions of antigone creon realizes that all the ramifications following antigone death where purely the product of his own stuberness, and he realises that he was not fit to be king. Clearly there is no one more fitting of being dubbed a tragic hero than antigone, she is the total embodiment of what it means to be a tragic hero. She was willing to go to the grave protecting what she knew to be right. Antigone teaches us to let our voices be heard regardless of who is trying to silence

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the story “The Antigone” many characters must decide to go with what the people of Thebes want or they attempt to go with what they believe is right.Of the many characters in this story only two or three will be touched upon and what their morals and beliefs will be addressed.These two, or possibly three, characters will be Antigone, Creon, and maybe Haemon.…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the play Antigone, Creon is portrayed as the king of discipline and pride. Creon’s pride is what makes him the tragic figure of Antigone. Though Antigone takes her life as the result of her sentence from Creon, it is not her pride that defines her fate but her unwillingness to accept her fate.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Creon as the True Tragic Hero of Antigone “But now at last our new king is coming: Creon of Thebes” (Sophocles 1.1). This quote is found in Sophocles’ play Antigone. The main characters from Antigone, Creon and Antigone, are often confused as to who is the true tragic hero. Aristotle's theory as to what a true tragic hero is includes one who starts the play in a noble stature, one whose tragic flaw leads them to a downfall, one who receives a punishment that exceeds the crime, and one who learns a lesson. Antigone is a princess in Thebes and has very strong opinions.…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Sophocles’s tragedy Antigone, and the family she has left their trust and the ability to function is on the line. The character named Antigone shows her bravery and loyalty by staying true to her words. Antigone defies the law to not bury Polyneices. Antigone gets herself and her sister, Ismene, into trouble with Creon. Ismene didn't like the idea of defining the decree Creon put out and left Antigone alone. Antigone is willing to go against a king to do what's right that shows loyalty to her family and shows she will give life for the greater good.…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Creons Fateful Flaw

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A young woman who is strong, fearless and has self-confidence loses her parents as a result of fate and is now being raised by an uncle who aims to uphold the laws of men rather than fear divine intervention from the gods. In championing the laws of the gods above the laws of the state, she breaks the law and risks her life to honor her family. This young woman is Antigone. The citizens of Thebes agree with Antigone that she made the right decision except for one person, her uncle, Creon. In Sophocles’ famous play Antigone, Creon, the king of Thebes, suffers from greater hubris than Antigone because he is selfish, stubborn and domineering.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Who Is Creon A Tragic Hero

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “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,…

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Creon of Antigone

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the play, Antigone, written by Sophocles, the tragic hero presented is Creon, the king of Thebes. Creon’s obstinate personality led him to avoid listening to anyone else’s reasoning. Creon has used bad judgment while he was ruling over Thebes. However, Creon went to great lengths to correct his mistakes. Creon’s personality, wrong conduct, and effort to reverse his mistakes make him a tragic hero.…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Antigone is an award winning play by Sophocles, one of the three best Greek dramatists of all time. Antigone is a mythical princess of Thebes. She is the product of the accidental incestuous marriage between King Oedipus and Jocasta, whom is Oedipus’ mother as well. Antigone had two brothers and a sister: Polynices, Eteocles, and her sister, Ismene. After Oedipus discovered that he had married his mother, he fled, leaving Thebes to be ruled by his sons. Polynices and Eteocles had their differences arguing over the throne. Polynices left Thebes and returned with an army to declare war on Thebes. The two brothers killed each other during the war, leaving Thebes to be ruled by Jocasta’s brother Creon,…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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,…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Antigone Research Paper

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages

    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?…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Aristotle a character needs to fit criteria to become a tragic hero or heroine. The first thing the Aristotle said, was the reader must “ not be superhumanly good, for any calamity falling on such a person would be too hard to except, nor should any character be thoroughly evil, for downfall such a person is the deserved and therefore would not elect pity.”(). Aristotle is saying that in order for someone to be considered a tragic hero one must be feel a sense of fear or pity for them and they must have a flaw that lead to their downfall. Both of these heroines fit into this role perfectly. For Antigone, she is born to into a situation where her brother is also her father. “ how many griefs our father Oedipus handed down!” this…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays