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Antigone Tragic Hero Essay

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Antigone Who is the tragic hero? What is his or her tragic flaw? Antigone is a tragedy written by Sophocles in 441 B.C. Just like every other tragedy, there must be a tragic hero with a tragic flaw. The question is who might it be in this play? It all started many, many years ago in a city-state named Thebes. A man named Oedipus was the king of Thebes at the time before something dramatically happened, He has committed an unspeakable crime that led to the deaths of his father and mother. Oedipus was the tragic hero but now that he has left Thebes, who is it now? In the story Antigone, the sons of Oedipus, Polynices and Eteocles, have fought each other for the throne and sadly both died. Because of Polynices’ decision to attack his own people in Thebes to take the throne, he was a banished man who was unpermitted to have his named spoken in the city-state of Thebes and was declined a proper burial by Creon, the new king of Thebes. It was because of this decision that Antigone decided to disobey his commands and bury Polynices either way. Creon was angered to have heard that his own niece would go against him. Creon sentences Antigone to death by leaving her locked up in a cave and give minimal food so she can starve to death. Many people, …show more content…

Antigone was too stubborn and disobedient to Creon, which is why he thought her punishment was ok for this situation. Creon being the King of Thebes, would obviously care about his people and would make sure that they are protected by any danger among them. Creon saw Polynices as a traitor and refused to give him a burial which is understandable but still a bad decision. Antigone’s stubbornness loyalty becomes her hamartia, her tragic error, and ultimately causes her downfall. Antigone is a great example of how a hamartia doesn’t necessarily have to be a character “flaw” as it is used often.

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