Antigone by Sophocles using Aristotle’s theory of tragedy
Aristotle, in his work Poetics, used the character of Oedipus to bring out the concept of tragedy and claims the prime component of any tragedy is that it should induce the experience of Catharsis in the audience by focusing on an event or issue of considerable magnitude although there are ingredients he believed in, like plot, characters, thought, diction etc. Antigone by Sophocles is considered to be one of the greatest tragedies in Greek. But, does it meet the requirements set by Aristotle to be considered as tragedy? Let’s get into it by looking at the Plot and characters in the play.
Plot
The play of antigone begins with the death of two brothers Polyneices and Eteocles who slay one another for the contention of throne of Thebes, which is quite tragic in itself to start off, and discussion between their two sisters Antigone and Ismene to bury Polyneices against the orders of Creon, now the king of Thebes, who opposed Polyneices burial because he fought against Thebes. On the rising action of the play, Antigone is enraged at Creon’s decree against Polyneices not to receive burial while Eteocles is to be given honourable death and anyone who interferes with the law is to be stoned. Antigone claims that Creon’s law is unjust since every mortal must be given proper burial. Antigone argues with Ismene that she will bury Polyneices at the cost of her death. With the consequence of Antigone burying Polyneices leads to the tragic deaths of herself, Creon’s son and wife. The plot is all about the arguments between characters, whether it is noble to bury Polyneices.
Characters
Antigone (Main character) — She is the daughter of Oedipus and niece of Creon (the king of Thebes) and was engaged to Creon’s son Haemon.. She defies Creon’s orders that her brother Polyneices body remains unburied even though the punishment is death. She was brave enough to prepare to die in order to bury his brother’s body. She argues with her sister of what unjust it is, not to bury their brother. When her sister refuses to help, she alone buries the body. When caught by a graveman and summoned in the before Creon, she admits what she had done without any hesitation and is prepared for punishment. She believes honoring the gods is more important than human laws. After Creon sends her to the cave, she hangs herself in the cave, before Haemon tries to rescue her.
Creon — Creon, the newly appointed king of thebes, is the brother of Oedipus, uncle of Antigone and Ismene and father of Haemon. He believes the laws are to be followed by everyone which are meant to protect the sovereignty of the Kingdom and ultimate authority. He disagrees with the justification of Antigone to bury her brother. In the end, all he is left with is misery, as a consequence of his arrogance, which led to death of the people he loved.
Ismene — She is the sister of Antigone and Polyneices who refuses to help Antigone to help bury her brother’s body. She was afraid of the punishment attached for disobeying the orders of Creon. She believes enough tragedy has already happened to their family and is not ready for another one. But, when Antigone admits of burying her brother, Ismene falsely confesses of having helped her sister. Although Antigone refuses her claims of taking help.
Haemon — He appears in the pre-climax of the play, and is the son of Creon and engaged to Antigone. He tries to find the logic in the argument of Antigone against her father. Even after all his efforts, Creon doesn’t take back his words and sends Antigone to a cave to die of hunger. Realising that his fiancee was punished, he runs to the cave only to find her dead. Seeing his lover dead, he couldn’t stop but stab himself with his knife to death.
Antigone by Sophocles is a great tragedy meeting the criteria set by Aristotle. It has two heroes of noble birth who fall from their high positions through their tragic flaws (hamartia). It contains hubris (impious arrogance) on the part of Creon and anagnorisis in his realization of what he has done. Aristotle emphasizes on the plot, especially the unity of place, time and action, occurring in a single day or a course of short time, in order to get into the head of the audience so that they might relate it without any confusion.The main character here being Antigone starts off by risking her life for burying her brother and ends up being dead. This gives the audience to empathise with the character arousing fear and pity to create catharsis. A young woman rebelling against the ruler knowing she might die and admitting what she has done and arguing for it, shows her courage. The tragic part is Creon realized his mistake and tried to bring her back from the cave. But, it’s too late because she hung herself up by then.
Defending the purgative power of tragedy, Aristotle, in direct contradiction to Plato, makes moral ambiguity the essence of tragedy. The tragic hero must be neither a villain nor a virtuous man but a “character between these two extremes, a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty. This exactly fits the character ‘Antigone’ who exhibits the same characteristics fighting against unjust being done to her brother. There are other interpretations of the play where the main character is Creon who suffered the tragedy himself by losing the loved ones.
References
Essay on Antigone Is a Tragedy by Aristotle’s Rules, Anum Zafar College of DuPage, 2010
According to Aristotle, is Antigone a fine tragedy? eNotes Editorial, 22 Nov. 2011,
Antigone by Sophocles | Plot summary, Course Hero
