Antigone Tragic Hero

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Title No matter how noble or royal one is, everyone has flaws, but not all who have flaws are considered tragic hero's. Antigone, however, is a tragic heroine. In Antigone, a play written by Sophocles in the later 440's B.C., the main character Antigone has to make a enormous decision , whether to be loyal to familial ties and risk death or follow Creon's laws and live with the guilt of leaving her brother to rot in the sun. In Antigone, Antigone has a tragic flaw of being too loyal, leading to her downfall, which directly affects others proving that she is a tragic hero. In the play, Sophocles shows Antigone's loyalty when she goes against Creon's rules in order to bury her brother, Polynices. Her immense loyalty to her brother is her tragic flaw. When Antigone and Ismene discuss burying…show more content…
In a quotation when Haemon is speaking to Creon about Antigone, Haemon argues, "...how the folk mourn this maid, 'Who of all women... For the most noblest acts dies by the worst of deaths"(Sopocles 26). The people of Thebes are sorrowful because they agree with Antigone has done. They do not feel that Creon should have punished Antigone. The public feels for Antigone in ways Creon does not. In the literary criticism article Wheeler also mentions that, "...his choice inflicts misery upon innocent people"(Wheeler). In the article by Dr. Wheeler he gives many characteristics of a tragic hero. When a tragic here, such as Antigone, fall down the wrong path, their choices affect those around them. Innocent people are part of the collateral damage, due to this hero's choice or wrong doing. Antigone is a tragic hero, in the literary criticism article it explains for the tragic hero reflects upon the citizens of their home. When Antigone buried her brother and Creon convicted her of violating a law , the public mourned her because she was a noble

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