Antigone Tragic Hero Essay

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The Ancient Greek Tragedies was a way for poets to tell a story with a twist. A way for others to see that life isn’t perfect for anyone. People get the feeling that if someone is from money, or they have the best house, that their lives must be perfect. With the Ancient Greek Tragedies, Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Medea, the poems followed Aristotle’s ideas of a real tragedy and a tragic hero. “The tragic hero is a man of noble stature. The tragic hero is good but must fall due to some flaw, inordinate ambition, quickness to anger, a tendency to jealousy, or pride. The hero’s downfall is his own fault. The hero’s misfortune is not wholly deserved. The audience must feel the punishment exceeds the crime. The tragic fall is not a pure loss, and there is some discovery. The tragedy needs to arouse compassion. Don’t leave the …show more content…

Antigone has lost everyone except one sister. Her brother Polyneices is left to rot on the battlefield. Poyneices is believed to be a traitor while her other brother that died was buried a hero. Antigone is the perfect tragic hero. She is already cursed by her royal bloodline that is no fault of her own. Antigone is not going to sit back and let her brother’s body be disrespected. Antigone pride for her family is what lead to her downfall. She doesn’t take no for an answer, even going against the Kreon, the king. Antigone sacrifices everything in the end, even her life because she is stubborn. She lets her pride and self-confidence win over rational thought. She had no self-preservation for her life. The reader is left feeling like Antigone did the right thing. She is condemned to death and takes her own life because she doesn’t want to give Kreon any satisfaction. She ended her life on her own terms, not on Kreon’s. King Kreon was losing everything that gave his life meaning. Kreon is left with nothing because he wanted to be defiant, and he wanted his way no matter the

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