Okonkwo And Antigone

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Compassion A philosopher, Aristotle, describes a Tragic Hero as a person of a high rank who accepts his or her downfall. In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Okonkwo is describe as the Tragic Hero, as he follows all characteristics of a Tragic Hero. In the Greek play, Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone is describe as the tragic hero, as well. In both writings, Okonkwo and Antigone have the same downfall, killing themselves. While both literary devices leave the reader feeling cathartic, Antigone’s stubbornness to die causes the audience to pity her family but not her. Antigone is responsible for her own downfall, whereas, Okonkwo is not responsible for his. In the end of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo has killed one of the messengers…show more content…
Seeing that, Okonkwo was not responsible for his own death, we are left feeling pity for him. After Okonkwo’s exile was done, “He was determined that his return should be marked by his people. He would return with a flourish, and regain the seven wasted years” (Achebe 171). However, when Okonkwo returned to Umuofia, he did not expect things to have changed so much. Okonkwo felt helpless and hung himself leaving the audience feeling sympathy for him as when he returned he was unable to make a grand entrance and regain all of his titles. On the other hand, Antigone is not responsible for her own downfall so we are left feeling pity for her family, including Haemon and Creon. When Haemon found Antigone dead, his “arms flung around her waist, clinging to her, wailing for his bride” (Sophocles 1349-150). Soon after, Haemon “lean[ed] his full weight on the blade, [and] he buried it in his body, halfway to the hilt” (Sophocles 1363-1364). We are left feeling pity for Haemon because he was willing to sacrifice himself when Antigone dead but, she did not care about him or how he would act when she died. We also pity Creon because, because Antigone killed herself, his son also killed himself and because Haemon killed himself, Creon’s wife killed himself. In other words, Antigone started a domino effect, hurting everyone around
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