Qualities Of The Tragic Hero In Sophocles Antigone

This downfall was learning that she messed up when she finally did not want to get sentenced to death instead she wanted to take her own life. This makes her a tragic hero because a tragic hero has a flaw and also a downfall. “ Ah! That voice is like the voice of death”( 1050)! Creon is talking to Antigone in this part of the play and she yells that his voice is like the voice of death.

In the course of the play Haemon presents himself as a defender of Antigone 's actions and sense of morality which involves her determination to bury her deceased brother, Polyneices who has been sentenced as a traitor by Creon. The father and son part in anger, as he demands his father to make the right judgment for Theban society by granting Antigone’s request, while his father follows his obstinate path of aggression. Haemon’s actions eventually lead him to commit suicide due to his desperate situation, this eventually leads to the death of his mother when she also takes her own life. The death of his family ultimately lead to Creon 's insanity at the play 's climax. [1] Haemon 's entrance in Antigone takes place right after he was informed of father’s verdict on Antigone’s life.

How would you feel if you were locked away to rot by one of your own family members because you did something they didn’t approve of? In Sophocles play, Antigone, this is just the case for the niece of Creon, King of Thebes. After getting word that her “own two brothers [...] slaughtered one another and brought about their common doom” (Sophocles 318), Antigone is distraught. What makes her infuriated is when she learns that her uncle, Creon, has decided that one of her brothers, Eteocles, will receive a proper burial and be honored while the other brother, Polyneices, will receive no burial and be remembered as a traitor. Soon after, Antigone takes action and performs a secret burial and ritual on her dead brothers corpse, but she is also

Do Not Ignore the Laws of the Gods Loyalty to the state should not undermine a person’s loyalty to their gods. When the king challenges or ignores the authority of the gods, he is headed for failure. Sophocles trumpets this message throughout his tragic play, Antigone. After Polyneices rebelled against Thebes and killed his brother Eteocles in battle, King Creon decreed that a traitor to the state cannot be buried. Worse, the body of a traitor is left to rot above ground as food for scavengers.

She is noble yet imperfect because she is inborn into a family of royalty but ending up going against the king and the law. She is flawed because of her stubbornness and pride by thinking she is great enough to defy the king’s proclamation. Her reversal of fate is when she becomes sentenced to death and she understands her misfortune is a result of her action, because she decides she wants to die in a way honorable to her. Finally, she receives punishment far greater than she deserves when she dies by hanging herself after being exiled away. In the play Antigone, by Sophocles, Antigone is the tragic hero because of all the ways she presents, in her plans, desires, thoughts, and actions, the themes of one, loyalty to loved ones no matter what is always accountable, and two even when someone is not deserving of a punishment, because they have done nothing wrong to be able to fight through the challenges.

Similarly, the protagonist in The Hunger Games, Katniss, puts herself in a tragic position because of her loyalty to her family. In the beginning Katniss volunteers in place of her sister, which is ultimately a death sentence. Katniss puts herself in a position in which she has to do things she does not want to do in order to survive. Such as having to fall in love with Peeta, killing people and participating in the capitols game. The heroic loyalty of the two characters is what lead to their own tragedy thus connecting the two protagonists in their representation as a tragic

The rights and social structure of women The play Antigone written by Sophocles, is a story about a young woman who breaks the decree law by burying her brother, and is being punished for disobeying the law. She thought what she did was right, even if it meant there was a consequence such as putting her life at risk. Creon, the recent new king of Thebes, and also the young girls, Antigone 's uncle found out that she broke the law and sentenced her to death. She is willing to do anything to carry on with her plan of giving her brother, Polyneices an honorable and proper burial. Since Creon gave their brother Eteocles a proper one, she believes that he is wrong for not giving Polyneices one.

At the end of the story, we find out that Emily murdered Homer Barron and dressed him up and laid down with him whenever she wanted to. If someone took this story at face value, they would call her a sociopath because murder is outrageous. However, when taking a closer look at Emily’s background, the reader can see that the circumstances in her life lead her to such rash decisions. She believed she was doing the right thing by killing Homer, but she went about the situation the wrong way. She just didn 't want to lose another, probably last, loved one in her life.

Medea was a priestess which made her familiar with the concept of sacrifice. At the point of time when she killed her children, she was not a mother but solely a priestess. This portrays Euripedes’ belief that victims who are betrayed turn against their tormentor and everything related to their tormentor. Even though Medea wins over Jason by filling it with pain and sorrow, she does lose a lot. The phrase “Medea why lie down with death?” shows Medea’s desire to exchange her marriage bed with a death bed due to the intense pain she went through.

Moreover, there were people and even gods that believed in her. After Antigone died, Ismene thought that she died fighting against Creon and must get the same respectful burial just like their brother Polynices. Even gods believed in her that they sent their prophet Tiresias to warn Creon to change his thought. Sophocles’ Antigone is a very confusing play because you can’t be sure if the tragic hero is Antigone or Creon. There are some opinions about that the real tragic hero is Creon because he fits in the conditions.

Throughout Sophocles’ tragic play, Antigone, main characters King Kreon and Antigone dramatically argue without compromise over the burial of recently deceased brother of Antigone, Polyneices. Antigone, while attempting to mourn for her family, symbolically buries Polyneices, going against the King’s decree (93-100). Out of anger, and an effort to establish his power, Kreon sentences her to an undeserving death just because she decided to respect her kin (441-496). In this case, I sympathize with Antigone more than Kreon because she peacefully acts on her beliefs knowing the consequences at stake. It takes a lot to stand up for what you believe in, especially knowing that the outcome will not bode well for you.