The Tragic Hero In Antigone By Sophocles

In the play “Antigone” by Sophocles, the author converses the thought of the tragic hero as the person who does what everyone knows is right, pays for it in the end. The character, Antigone can be classified as the tragic hero in the play because she goes against Creon’s law on burying her brother Polyneices, who died protecting their land. Paul Epstein 's, who wrote "The Recovery of a Comprehensive View Of Greek Tragedy" said, “only the hero’s experience of an opposed aspect of both human and divine life then indicate the true nature of each” (Epstein, 31). It is known the play that if anyone is to break the kings laws the consequences will end in death by public stoning. Public stoning is where a group of people throw stones at a person …show more content…
For starters, it’s her own brother, family member, and loved one. She feels she needs to grieve for his death. It is known to the readers that he lived a strong life does not deceive to be thrown in the weeds. It could be said, that Antigone was impulsive meaning if she believes in something she knows is the right thing to do no matter what anyone else says she will do it because she knows it is the right thing to do. This is part of the play that even though everyone knew what Antigone has done was the right thing no one was going to stand up against the king. They rather grieve with themselves to stay safe from any danger. On the other hand, Antigone would die for the right thing than stand in fear which is relevant to today society. Each year there are thousands of crimes in the United States that are just left on the side line because no wants to step up to plate and tell them what really happened. This could simply be because they scared of what will happen to them or their families if they tell. For instance, people watch these gangs do the crime, but they never say anything due to them having the “power” against them. However, sometimes there is a courageous person who will speak up and tell the truth for everyone else no matter what the end result will be. Patrica M. Lines, who wrote “Antigone’s Flaw” said, “Antigone stands for all that is right and for opposition to tyranny” (Lines). …show more content…
In the play the Chorus states, “children: generation from generation takes the compulsive rage of the enemy god” (Sophocles, 738). Within this time date was a big part of people’s lives, every day decisions and actions was all based on something called fate. Antigone was meant to die because of the family’s past, too much has happened. For Antigone there was no escaping her future and when it was her time the gods would take her without giving her a chance. Readers could say that she Antigone is free person which could be why she die in the play. Antigone brought in a big play when it came to fate vs. free will which made a huge impact on the ending of the play. The people in the story believed the gods wanted Polyneices to die and not be buried. However, Antigone was going to against the fate that the gods laid out. With Antigone going against the gods this could mean that she was doing what she wanted and was not going listening to what was in her favor. This was her own feelings and thoughts no one had to tell her this is what was going to be done and she had to be okay with it which could have led to her death. The chorus stated, “pure immortals cannot escape” (Sophocles, 742). However, this is not entirely true she took her own life meaning freely took her life to escape the fate the god provided to