Antigone: A Fictional Narrative

“Make these excuses, I will heap/ The earth over my brother’s body” (63). Although no one would help her, Antigone took a stand against injustice and honored her brother by burying him, even though Creon said this act would be punishable by death if anyone committed this act of insubordination. Especially in the age that Antigone lived in, it was considered foolish to simply go against a man’s orders, let alone the Kings. Not to mention that Antigone was related to the King, making the situation even worse. She committed a supremely precarious action, especially for a woman. Not only does she bravely follow her morals, but she does a great job of justifying them in her arguments. Antigone was a civil disobedient by disobeying

Sophocles, a great tragedian, was the one who gave Greek tragedies their traditional form. An important part of traditional Greek tragedies is the presence of a tragic hero. All tragic heroes should have the characteristics of rank, a tragic flaw, a downfall, and a recognition of mistakes. The seemingly tragic hero is Antigone. She wants to bury her brother Polyneices even though this would be going against Creon, who is her uncle and the king. When Antigone buries Polyneices Creon sentences her to death because of it. In Antigone by Sophocles the tragic hero is not Antigone because she only meets the characteristic of a tragic flaw, hers being pride, but doesn 't meet the other three characteristics of a

A tragic hero is a character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw, which combined with fate, results into a tragedy. The tragic hero must fall from good luck and well being to misery and misfortune. The tragic hero causes a sense of pity through the tragic downfall that weakens the character. In Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone follows her own beliefs by giving her brother a proper burial, even if she has to break the law of King Creon. Because of her innocent actions, Antigone is punished unjustly and unfairly. Through her risky and unselfish actions, ability to follow her own beliefs, and perseverance Antigone is the tragic hero of this play.

There is no such thing as an accident; an accident fate misnamed. Outside the city gates, Antigone tells Ismene that Creon has ordered that Eteocles, who died defending the city, is to be buried with full honors, while the body of Polynices, the invader, is left to rot. Furthermore, Creon has declared that anyone attempting to bury Polynices shall be publicly stoned to death. Outraged, Antigone reveals to Ismene a plan to bury Polynices in secret, despite Creon 's order. When Ismene timidly refuses to defy the king, Antigone angrily rejects her and goes off alone to bury her brother. This play creates an underlying theme or moral, the moral of a story is often an implied lesson you can learn from a character 's experience. In Antigone, the moral of the story is that of fate. This moral is incorporated through the actions of both Creon and Antigone. The moral also corresponds with a recurring theme of the abuse of power, something that Creon is more than guilty of. This theme is incorporated in the many words and actions brought forward by Creon, the king of Thebes.

     In Greek literature, a tragic hero is based upon an individual having several of the following qualities: having a high social position in society; not being overly good or bad; being persistant or stubborn in their actions; having a single flaw that brings about their own death and the death of others; and obtaining pity from the audience.

Individuals with little power are willing to pursue what they believe in no matter what. People will do what they believe is right even when others think it is wrong. In Antigone by Paul Roche, Antigone is a woman that isn’t very powerful but decides that she must disobey a King’s edict. She is doing this because she believes it is what she must do for her brother. Through her actions, Antigone demonstrates that her understanding of justice is that if you have no power or are controlled by someone more powerful than you, you must still do what you believe is right. She provides a proper burial for her brother even when there was an edict that did not allow it, Antigone takes full responsibility for what she did and does not regret it, and she

In my opinion, Antigone is a brave, confident and independent woman who accepts consequences, shows great love for her family and respects the gods. But she also has some negative personalities like being aggressive, a rule breaker, overdramatic, a risk taker and having a bad reputation in her family. Over all Antigone made much better decisions than Creon did by having a less serious tragic flaw, being a determined young women and not letting her curse on her family affect her decision making.

"I honestly cannot stand this!" growled Percival, pacing Gwaine's bedchamber, as Rion looked on with wide eyes. "I have to go in there, do something…"

According to the Aristotle’s interpretation, a tragic hero is a great person who comes to misfortune through a fatal character flaw.

The play Antigone was about an honorable lady named Antigone who defies the law against King Creon, her uncle. Antigone’s brothers both died in the war of Thebes. The brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, both kill each other from the opposing sides in the war. King Creon gives Eteocles a proper burial because he fought on his side of the war, but refuses to bury Polyneices for being a traitor. Antigone was furious with this edict King Creon created.

The setting of Antigone is the mythical past of ancient Greece. It is taken place in Thebes near Athens. The story itself though is written around 441 B.C. What’s so important about this setting is it was the first of its kind to be set in Athens due to them not being able to have their plays set in Athens. The front of the palace of Thebes is a great place for majority of the play to be taken place due to the irony that both Antigone’s mother and brother both had fatal incidents here, so it would only be fitting for Antigone to receive her own tragic fate there as well.

"Tragedy , then is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions" (Aristotle VI). When one reads a tragedy, a series of emotions are conducted throughout ones' body and those emotions are the connection between literature and art. If one were to look at a group of seemingly meaningless words manifested on a piece of paper it would give the thought of confusion, but when the words are naturally streamed together the sense of unity embraces a beautiful arrangement of parts. The necessity of structure and form in literature and art are necessary for the success of the work. A piece of fabric will never become a beautiful dress without the outline therefore, the structure and form give the literature and art a place to grow and flourish.

After reading though Antigone, readers can easily categorize this story to tragedy. It is so straightforward that nearly no one would doubt its tragic essence, but so abstruse that perhaps no one could define the tragic essence in Antigone. Is the story itself, or the sympathy aroused from the story called tragedy? Sometimes these two ideas overlap or interact each other, but from personal study of Antigone, the later is more obvious. Throughout analysis of settings and characters, the idea of tragedy is built by psychological effect other than exists independently.

Standing up against an authoritative figure that is bigger than most of society takes pride. Pride can be a good thing to have, but only a certain amount of it. Too much pride could make someone cocky and blind them of the honorable thing to do. In the story Antigone by Sophocles women do not have pride for them self because of the dominant rule of men. The role of women takes a turn when Antigone shows her pride when going against Creon’s law.

In Jean Anouilh’s version of the play, Antigone, the protagonist, Antigone, is interpreted as a member of the resistance to despotism that parallels the antifascist French resistance against the Nazi occupation. Anouilh’s controversial play was performed in 1944 under Nazi-controlled Paris, so when Antigone sacrifices her life to defy the oppressive ruler Creon, Anouilh makes Antigone not only a heroine, but also a symbol for resistance. Anouilh based his playwright on Sophocles’ version, which was originally written in 442 BC in Ancient Greece. However, Anouilh uses different literary devices such as anachronisms, allusions, similes and symbolism to relate the story to the most disturbing dilemma during his time in the 1940’s. He writes his play to show the importance in joining the French resistance, but he must also make his play acceptable to the controlling Nazis. As such, the play Antigone can be interpreted as a political allegory of Vichy France.