Antigone

Introduction

A tragic hero is always from the birth. Creon is the King of Thebes and Antigone is a princess, as the daughter of Oedipus, the late king of Thebes. Therefore both Antigone and Creon fit the profile of the tragic hero in this instance. The Antigone is almost unique among ancient plays in its power to engage the interest of the modern reader. At most times we are able to lend but a learned sympathy to the peculiar morality of the Greek mind that forms the background of the classical drama, but in this instance it so happens that the curious necessity of ceremonial burial, which by itself is a bit of sheer paganism, gives rise to a conflict between the rights of the private conscience and the duty of obedience to the law which meets with ready apprehension and quick sympathy in the heart of the modern man, where the wounds of old persecutions have left an area of great sensitiveness.

Discussion

Antigone is considered a tragic hero because the tragic heroes have more than a few qualities that include the aspect that they have a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall, they are royal, they have an sorrowful ending and last of all the character is worthy of concern. Moreover, Creon can be considered the tragic hero of Antigone as he exactly fulfills the Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero. Creon is the person with the noble birth as he was the king and because he was the brother of Queen (Jocasta) and also the uncle of the King (Eteocles), the second is its default is the proud and the arrogant pride. He was very confident in himself as he ignores the law of the gods and all the other councils. The reversal of fortune happened immediately after it was predicted by Tiresias, the whole family was lost, and his attempt to make amends not completely. Antigone also fits some of these qualities, but not all. You could say that she is stubborn, but that does not really qualify as hamartia they do not actually cause the collapse of everything. The change of fortune was due to errors of Creon. Furthermore, there is awareness on her before he died. Instead, he remains steadfast in its belief that she is doing the right thing. (Segal, 1983)

Although Creon shows many traits of tragic hero, Antigone herself can also be seen as the tragic hero of Antigone. A tragic hero is described as a literary character that makes a misjudgment or has a fatal flaw that combined with fate and external forces that brings on a tragedy. In this particular work, Antigone's fatal flaw would bury her brother against Creon's will. This caused the crisis at the end of the story. His death was the beginning of the string of deaths of Eurdyices and Haemon.

Is Antigone a Hero?

It will readily be admitted that moral issues are uppermost in the minds of the descendants of pious generations, even if the vitality of religious experience ...