Tragic Characters Of Irena And Antigone

The two characters, Antigone and Irena, are tragic characters who retained their authentic moral integrity and virtuous selfhood until their demise. Both fought for their freedom of expression in religion, and both had to fight the power of the government in order to achieve their goals. This lead to their ultimate demise, and their success within their respective roles is questionable because of their deaths.

Antigone, the titular character of Sophocles' play Antigone, had to disobey her uncle Creon’s decree in order to please the gods and honor her brother, Polynices, who is seen as a traitor to the state. Although Antigone ultimately fulfilled her duty, she was arrested and ultimately faced a tragic death in the end. In her own way, she

Irena was subjected to harsh treatment because of her Christian faith, and both she and her sisters were imprisoned because of their disobedience towards their governor who demanded they change their faith. Irena was the youngest of the sisters, and while her two sisters were burned to death so Irena would not be influenced by them, she was salvaged because she had the “opportunity to change.” As she was being brought to a brothel, she escaped to a cliff and ultimately died by an arrow by a soldier. Her death was considered martyrdom - she declared that she will be in Heaven. She embraced her death, and in the end, kept her faith in God. She could be considered to find success - she was able to retain her faith despite all of the hardships she had faced, however, she can also be perceived as unsuccessful as she ultimately suffered a tragic death. Irena’s life and death created a metaphor for the intolerance humanity has for those who do not share the same beliefs. Irena, instead of choosing to live under a life that would mean to cast away her integrity, chose to die for her beliefs instead. This can be interpreted as Irena finding success - she died doing for what she believed in and retained her moral integrity and virtuous