In Greek literature, there are many different stories of many different heroes. From Odysseus to Oedipus, we have seen all of their stories are different, but they have undeniable similarities in the hero’s personality and story. The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, noticed these similarities and decided to make a definition for what he called tragic heroes. His definition states the character must be noble, they must have a flaw, that flaw must cause their downfall, they must get an exceedingly harsh punishment for whatever they did wrong, they must have a moment where they realize what they did wrong, and the audience must leave with a lesson learned, not just sadness. In the Greek play, Antigone, by Sophocles, the newly appointed king, Creon,
…show more content…
As he says at the end, “I have killed my son and my wife” (244), which is in some ways true, but it was indirectly true as he was really facing extreme punishment for not burying Polyneices and causing the death of Antigone. He was given a prophecy that hee would pay “corpse for corpse” (234), which he ends up paying unwillingly with the death of his son, Haimon, and his wife, Eurydice. This can most definitely be argued as an exceedingly harsh punishment to Creon because by the end of the play all of his comfort in life “lies here dead” (245), in other words literally his whole family is dead and he is …show more content…
Creon is a noble, flawed person whose demise was caused by his own flaws, the punishment of his wrongdoings was very harsh, and in the end, both Creon and the audience learned a lesson. In this case, that lesson was to always listen to the gods. This lesson shows the emphasis the ancient Greek culture must’ve had on religion and honoring their gods, though it is interesting that these people seemed to be scared into obeying their gods, whereas in more modern religions like Christianity teach people to believe and obey their God because he will save them from their wrongdoings, not punish them. It just shows the difference between ancient and modern cultures and belief
As he says at the end, “I have killed my son and my wife” (244), which is in some ways true, but it was indirectly true as he was really facing extreme punishment for not burying Polyneices and causing the death of Antigone. He was given a prophecy that hee would pay “corpse for corpse” (234), which he ends up paying unwillingly with the death of his son, Haimon, and his wife, Eurydice. This can most definitely be argued as an exceedingly harsh punishment to Creon because by the end of the play all of his comfort in life “lies here dead” (245), in other words literally his whole family is dead and he is …show more content…
Creon is a noble, flawed person whose demise was caused by his own flaws, the punishment of his wrongdoings was very harsh, and in the end, both Creon and the audience learned a lesson. In this case, that lesson was to always listen to the gods. This lesson shows the emphasis the ancient Greek culture must’ve had on religion and honoring their gods, though it is interesting that these people seemed to be scared into obeying their gods, whereas in more modern religions like Christianity teach people to believe and obey their God because he will save them from their wrongdoings, not punish them. It just shows the difference between ancient and modern cultures and belief