Antigone: Catharsis Analysis Essay

Full of drama and tragedy, Antigone can be used to relate to current conflicts. One such conflict is that between Haemon and his father Creon. Haemon looks up to Creon with honor and pride, but as conflict arises, that relation is disassociated and new feelings grow. The first conversation between them is what initiates the downfall of their bond. While it seems that Creon is the most important person in Haemon’s life, Antigone is in fact the one that has won Haemon over.

Haemon shows his love to Antigone by revolting his father 's authority and committing suicide. Haemon is the son of Creon and Eurydice and is engaged to Antigone. He always respects and obeys Creon, taking Creon for a model. However, the decree of killing Antigone causes his violent controversy with his father because he is afraid of losing his fiancé—Antigone. Haemon defends the moral behavior of Antigone and reasons with Creon to change

By doing so Haemon hopes to help his father realize his mistake.- Throughout his argument Haemon uses strong sources and his father's insecurities to build his argument. These sources include the people of Thebes “But I, at any rate, can listen; and I have heard them Muttering and whispering in the dark about this girl” (Sophocles line 11-12). By using these sources Haemon emotionally manipulates his father by using his insincerities against him. He uses logical reason to support his claim and also uses personal examples “What could be closer? Must not any son value his father’s fortune as his father does his?” (Sophocles line 21-22). Haemon is showing that he has a personal stake in the matter and that he is in a way trying to protect his father and his bride. Adding on to his emotional appeals haemon uses parallelism to repeatedly grab creon’s attention and get his point across. The entire point of his argument is for creon to admit the he was in the wrong for going against divine law and punishing antigone. Haemon's statement supports his main cause for setting his bride to be, antigone, free. The details and emotional appeals are meant to impress upon creon that this is a problem worth

“Am I to rule this land at someone else’s whim or by myself?” (Lines 836-837) says Creon, angrily to his son Haemon, who is attempting to reason with him about the execution of his fiance, Antigone. This causes an uproar between the two and brings out Creon's selfish intentions. Throughout the story the conflict with the ideals and motivations between the two change the theme of the story from love and loyalty to hatred and betrayal. This not only contributes to Creon’s characteristics of a tragic hero, but also to the suicide of both, Antigone and Haemon.

Haemon insists he is trying to prevent his father from pursuing an injustice while Creon accuses his son of siding with a reckless traitorous woman over his own father, to whom he owes obedience. In fact, Creon is more devoted to his laws than he is to even his own son Haemon’s happiness, refusing to pardon Antigone for burying Polynices even though she is Haemon’s fiancée. Antigone, on the other hand, places long held traditions and loyalty to her family above obedience to the city or to its ruler. In doing so, she makes the case that there are loyalties to both the gods and one’s own family that outweigh one’s loyalty to a

The author relies upon literary devices such as diction and allusion to convey Antigone’s pitiful and foreboding state of mind. A feeling of pity is suggested by the author’s use of diction. Sophocles uses certain phrases such as, “Look upon me, friends, and pity me”, and “I feel the loneliness of her death in mine” to portray Antigone’s tone of pity because of her current situation. In the first paragraph, the chorus describes Antigone being led to the chamber where she will meet her death sentence. The line that says: “I can no longer stand in awe of this, nor, seeing what I see, keep back my tears” also conveys a feeling full of sorrow because it gives the reader a greater sense of the tragic trial Antigone must face.

The death of Antigone is truly a tragic episode in the Theban Plays, where she hung herself with a woven linen of her dress. By convention, her death would be characterized with feminine quality. However, Antigone, one of the few female characters in the book, possessed distinguishable female characteristics that are as remarkable as a male hero. Antigone was determined when she made up her mind to bury her brother. She was an agent of her words and took up the risks that accompanied to her deeds. Antigone was very passionate from the beginning to her death and she displayed tremendous courage when facing the death penalty. Moreover, Antigone, as a female individual, confronted bravely with the state and the authority of Creon. Throughout

Antigone is a play about a woman who disobeyed the King's order to not bury her brother. The play was written by the famous Greek tragedian, Sophocles, in 441 B.C. The story took place in the city of Thebes and the time period is not mentioned. The main characters introduced in the play are of Antigone, Ismene, Creon, and Haemon. The primary focus was centered on Antigone and the consequences she faces after breaking the King's orders.

He then states he (Creon) alone can’t be right and “other men who can reason, too; and their opinions might be helpful. You are not in a position to know everything” (Sophocles 218). By jogging Creon’s memory that he can’t have an overview of everything, Haemon is endeavoring to help Creon reason and to be open mind. In haemon’s next assertion he describes how, “she kept him from dogs and vultures. Is this a crime? Death- she should have all the honor that we can give her!” this tells the readers that if she would have died it would be unjust to die in shame for what was an act of glory, justice and that she should deserve a crown of gold and glory(218). At the end Haemon uses a plan to make threats against his father, after his father says Antigone must die, Haemon responded with an ultimatum answer “then she must die, but her death will cause another” (222). As Haemon dashing off in anger, Creon knows that if Antigone were to be executed, so will his son. Having no choose but Creon didn’t want Haemon to save Antigone so he carried Antigone into a living tomb (the cave) all locked up and supplied her with food just enough food to clear of its guilt of

Antigone realizes she can hear the voice of death; she suffers in wonders “What law of the mighty gods have I transgressed?” (106); she now feels she is left alone and claims “I alone, see what I suffer now / at the hands of what breed of men – / all for reverence, my reverence for the gods!” (107) ; she commits suicide and Creon finds her dead body.

Haemon, much like his father, has his own tragic flaws of his loyalty and undying love for his would be wife Antigone. Who at the end of the story ends up making a tragic exit and Haemon after failing to convince his father, Creon, to release her chooses instead to hastily follow suit and meet his own tragic demise next to his lover. He makes a emotional and heartbroken choice out of pure desperation for his lost love, without considering how it would affect the people he left behind. Unlike Creon, he didn’t have to face the fact that he caused his mother to kill herself out of despair for her lost son and left his father surrounded by the dead bodies of his loved ones. Haemon had to bear the weight of Creon’s and Antigone’s impetuous decisions after he could not stop and ended up losing to his tragic flaw of love and killing himself.

Antigone had hanged herself in the tomb and Haemon was wailing at her side. Creon heard Haemon’s voice and begged him to come out of the tomb. Haemon came out and lunged at Creon with his sword and missed. Haemon then took his own life by leaning on the blade of his sword, Haemon then embraced Antigone as he died.

Antigone is thought to be a tragic hero because of everything that had happened to her throughout her life. She lost her father Oedipus through a curse and her brothers through battle. The only one that was left was her sister Ismene. Her brother Polyneices died in battle being a traitor to his family. There was a rule made from the king of Thebes stated that no one can mourn for or bury him. But Antigone did not care she still loved Polyneices and thought that he deserved to have a proper burial like his brother Eteocles. Foreshadowing, mood, and situational irony are used in the drama to explain peripeteia the reversal of fortune, nemesis fate that you can't avoid, and catharsis when the audience is feeling pity

At the end, she is faced with a load of regret because she realizes her actions has caused her the future. She then comes to the conclusion that she will not be able to experience most of the things the other women in the play have or will experience. She thinks about marriage, children, and love before she dies. Antigone proclaims, “… unmarried. I’ve had no man, no wedding celebration, / shared nothing with a husband, never raised a child. / My friends and family have abandon me in misery …” (lines 917- 19). In this part of the play, Antigone shows that she can be vulnerable and weak like traditional women, Ismene and Eurydice. It also displays that she wants the things any woman would want in life; she wants to feel the love of a man and she wants

It is plain to see what about the character of Antigone it is that makes this a tragedy. Tragedy is defined as a dramatic composition dealing with a serious or somber theme, and this story fits all these criteria. First of all, it involves a tragic course of events that involved both of her brothers dying and then being completely disrespected even in death. She felt she had to rectify this mistake, even though it was against the law, and the opposition was too great. Because of her attempt to rectify the injustice, even more tragic things happened to her and her family. This is why she is a tragic heroine.