Essay about The Greek Gods Did Not Think Before They Acted

Antigone has been acclaimed as a model that challenges authority and insists on just acts. However, according to Aristotle, a tragedy requires a man’s harmartia, which means error. Therefore, as a main character of a great tragedy, Antigone must possess flaws.

Sophocles’ play Antigone continues the calamitous story of the Theban royal family, recounting the conflict between Creon’s authority as king and Antigone’s sense of justice. While many of the events of the play are certainly tragic, whether or not Antigone and its characters should be considered tragic is less definite. Aristotle’s theory of a tragic hero calls for a basically good character who experiences a fall due to some flaw or error, experiencing a transformative realization and catharsis as a result. When considered together, the traits of both Antigone and Creon come together to fulfill all of the requirements for the play to be a tragedy, but neither character can be considered an Aristotelian tragic hero standing alone.

Antigone chooses family even in the face of the law of the land. Sophocles shows Antigone as a brave person by denouncing Creon’s rules and burying her brother. Through Antigone’s actions, Sophocles shows how he favors family over authority. Sophocles expresses his devotion to family throughout Creon’s actions in the play. Prior to creon first decision to let Antigone die, the Choragos convinces him to release her. Creon, reluctant at first, listens to the Choragos and says to them, “It is hard to deny the heart! ” (SceneV. 235).

Antigone’s motivation is love for her family- she puts it above all else. In fact, she is willing to sacrifice her life to defend that love. Antigone goes to great lengths to bury her deceased brother, who according to an edict issued by King Creon, died in dishonor, consequently making it illegal for anyone to bury his body. Through her actions to comply with her motivations, it is revealed that Antigone’s actions are also fueled by her strong beliefs that, first, the gods’ laws

inconsistency in her beliefs. Majorly, nearing the end of her life, she begins to regret all her deeds of which

Tragic heroes have a fatal flaw that causes the hero’s own downfall. Antigone has a hamartia of being too passionate, but this fatal flaw is not the only factor that goes into her suffering throughout the play and it does not cause an accidental downfall of her character. The main reasons for her downfall are because of the laws that Creon put in place and her family background. If not entirely necessary in her eyes, Antigone would not have buried her brother and broken the law, but she broke the law to remain loyal and passionate to her family. Antigone believes that her brother deserves a proper burial with all rights included and expresses this belief to her sister Ismene: “He is my brother and –deny it as you will– your brother too.

Moreover, Antigone’s ability to follow her own beliefs results into the heroicness and tragic death of Antigone. Antigone is from a royal family and has the power to do what she believes in. She believes in following traditions and exercises that power when she says, “I will bury him, and if I must die, I say that the crime is holy: I shall lie down With him in death, and I shall be as dear To him as he to me” (694). Antigone follows her beliefs in following tradition and by doing what she feels is best. Antigone does this because she knows she is doing the right thing and knows that she will be repaid in some way. Furthermore, Antigone justifies her actions by telling the reasons that motivated her to do it to King Creon. She refuses to give in to the beliefs of King Creon and continues to think her own separate way. Antigone takes a stand to Creon when she says, “ Think Death less than a friend? This death of mine Is of no importance, but if I had left my brother Lying in death unburied, I should have suffered. Now I do not. You smile at me. Ah Creon , Think me a fool, if you like, but it may well be That a fool convicts me of folly” (709). Antigone believes what she is doing is correct and proves that to Creon , but he is still not convinced. It is important for Antigone to do what she believes is so that she will be pleased and satisfied with the outcome. Antigone’s ability to pursue her goals and to what she wants

Like Creon, Antigone also never falters in standing up for what she believes in. Although Creon fights for stubborn pride, Antigone is trying to promote what is right and shows her higher reverence for God’s law rather than for Creon’s laws. In the eyes of the townspeople, Chorus, Choragos, and Haimon, Antigone is sacrificing herself to give her brother Polyneices the rightful honors due to the dead. Many side with this brave, honorable girl because she would rather suffer persecution and even death rather than give into Creon’s illogical demands. In the play, the chorus says about her, “You have made your choice, Your death is the doing of your conscious hand”. Antigone knew of the consequences before she acted and in doing so she chose her fate. At the time, she pleaded her sister Ismene to help her bury Polyneices but was rejected. Despite being alone in trying to rebel and perhaps she may have been afraid, Antigone goes out of her way and puts her life on the line to bring her brother respect.

The honor that Antigone wants to maintain for her family, coupled with the irreplaceable nature of family, outweigh her

One of Antigone's tragic flaws is her loyalty to the gods. Her disloyalty to King Creon is also one her tragic flaws. Antigone can be considered a tragic heroine because she possesses the following defining traits as set by Aristotle's Poetics: 1. The tragic hero possesses an error

Antigone's loyalty to her beliefs ultimately caused her own death. Antigone believed that her brother was treated unjustly by not receiving a proper burial; therefore, she was loyal to her beliefs that no matter what Polynices did, he should be honored with a burial. In the beginning of the play Ismene attempted plead with her not to disobey Creon's laws, but Antigone's beliefs got the best of her. Ismene declared, "What? You'd bury him-/ when a law forbids the city?" (54-55). As hard as Ismene tried to persuade Antigone not to bury Polynices, Antigone believed that she was doing the correct thing, and her loyalty to her beliefs overpowered every emotion that was present. In the end, Antigone was willing to risk her life to stand up for what she really believed. Her loyalty to her beliefs was amazing and unheard of for the time period, as women usually did not challenge men.

Antigone chose to give her brother Polyneices a proper burial even though it was against the king’s law. She tried talking her sister Ismene to join her on her quest because Polyneices was both of their brothers, but Ismene did not want to disobey Kreon’s order (Blondell 19-24). This left Antigone to handle this on her own, which takes a lot of courage and dedication to what she believes in. Antigone went on with her plan to bury Polyneices and his body was eventually found by a guard (Blondell 30). When the guard brought the news to Kreon he was furious and the Chorus had suggested it was a Gods doing, which led me to believe that they did not think anyone one else was willing to risk it all by not listening to their kings orders (Blondell 32). A good lesson to learn from Antigone is that even if you break the law you have to admit your doing especially when you know what you did was morally right and what you stand for as an individual. When Antigone was accused of breaking the law and burying Polyneices she did not even hesitate saying, “I don’t deny it; I admit the deed was mine.” (Blondell 38). She even goes on to tell King Kreon that his choice to not allow the burial of Polyneices is morally wrong and how he is disobeying the God Zeus who is offended by improper treatment of a corpse (Blondell 38). Though Antigone knows the consequence for disobeying the king, she continues to fight for her brother’s honor and makes sure to point out the king’s foolish decision. Even in her last words she questions what kind of men can make suffer and then gives her respects to the town, gods, and rulers.

Her core value of commitment of her loyalty to family is an important value for her to have. She believes that family comes first. “But I will bury him, and if I must die, I say that crime is holy.” “But as for me I will bury the brother I love.” “But I will bury him, and if I must die, I say that crime is holy.” This proves that Antigone is loyal to her family because, no matter the consequence she is determined to bury her brother. This is because to her, her brother deserves to be honored. Antigone puts her family before the law. “But as for me I will bury the brother I love.” This proves that Antigone has a

Both Antigone and Hester stayed strong with their will even in the face of adversity. Antigone was understandably angered when she heard the news of the treatment of her brother’s body by Creon. Antigone was so appalled by this, she decided she was going to go against Creon and the authorities and bury Creon out of her respect for him. Antigone’s sister, Ismeme, was shocked when she heard of Antigone’s plans and turned down the offer when Antigone asked her to join her. Ismeme also begged Antigone to not go through with the action because she valued her sister and did not want her to get in trouble with Creon. Despite the criticism from Ismeme and the obvious rule of the law, Antigone stood firm in her faith that her brother deserved a respectful burial. Even when Creon found out about Antigone’s actions and threatened to punish her and questioned if she knew the law, she replied “Of course I knew. Was it not publicly proclaimed?” Moreover, this shows how Antigone decided her brother was more important than the law and that she was

In many, a tragedy do the tragic heroes have flaws that lead themselves to their own demise. The main character always acts exactly on his or her own emotions; thus aiding their tragic flaw and leading to their own demise without giving them the time to stop the repercussions of their emotion driven actions. In the play “Antigone” by Sophocles many of the characters are simply too headstrong and passionate about their beliefs to realize that they would greatly regret the decisions they are making. All of the characters share this characteristic; it is alluded to in the play that this is caused by their blood relation to Oedipus and how they are too cursed.