Antigone: The Tragic Hero Aristotle defined the tragic hero as one who suffers total destruction almost entirely by their own hand because of a fatal flaw. Scholars would call this the tragic flaw. The play Antigone, by Sophocles, has multiple characters that could be argued as the tragic hero, but the best and most defining of a true Greek tragic hero would be that of the character Antigone. Antigone has many fatal and tragic flaws that lead to her demise. The foremost of Antigone’s tragic flaws is her loyalty to the gods, and her blatant disloyalty to King Creon. King Creon starts the play by forbidding proper funeral rights to Antigone’s dead brother, because Polynices was deemed a traitor. Antigone refuses to accept this command. She proceeds to honor the gods
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She fails to perceive any of the other sides of the situation other than her own. T the blind prophet, though he is speaking to the king, makes an important statement for all, including Antigone when he says, “no man alive is free from error”. (Antigone, lines 1023-24) She doesn’t foresee how her actions could possibly endanger her sister, Ismene, who relentlessly tries to persuade Antigone to accept the situation and obey the king’s orders. Or how, her fiancé who is Creon’s son, Haemon would be affected by her actions. How it ultimately ruins his relationship with his father. Her stubborn close-mindedness prevents her from seeing how yielding to King Creon’s commands might be for the good of everyone involved. Antigone’s error in judgment causes the tragic events that befall her. In the end, her sister is threatened with death. Her brother is still dead and her other brother deserts her. Also, Haemon, though he is against his father in this matter, still deems her guilty of the crime; by doing so he decides to wash his hands of her. In her demise, she is sentenced to death by imprisonment, to be left to the mercies of the
She fails to perceive any of the other sides of the situation other than her own. T the blind prophet, though he is speaking to the king, makes an important statement for all, including Antigone when he says, “no man alive is free from error”. (Antigone, lines 1023-24) She doesn’t foresee how her actions could possibly endanger her sister, Ismene, who relentlessly tries to persuade Antigone to accept the situation and obey the king’s orders. Or how, her fiancé who is Creon’s son, Haemon would be affected by her actions. How it ultimately ruins his relationship with his father. Her stubborn close-mindedness prevents her from seeing how yielding to King Creon’s commands might be for the good of everyone involved. Antigone’s error in judgment causes the tragic events that befall her. In the end, her sister is threatened with death. Her brother is still dead and her other brother deserts her. Also, Haemon, though he is against his father in this matter, still deems her guilty of the crime; by doing so he decides to wash his hands of her. In her demise, she is sentenced to death by imprisonment, to be left to the mercies of the