Antigone Analysis

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Harmony Blankenship Mrs. Malone English 1210 16, April 2012 Antigone Analysis The play Antigone is a Greek Tragedy written by Sophocles in 405 BC. The two main characters are Creon and Antigone. The main conflict of the drama is between Antigone and Creon. Creon is the tragic hero and antagonist in the conflict. Due to Creon’s tragic flaw and destructive pride, he suffered at the hands of the angry Gods. According to Aristotle, a tragedy “arouses pity and fear in the audience so that they may be cleansed of these unsettling emotions.” Dr. Larry A. Brown, a professor of theater, says a tragedy “examines the major questions of human existence. Why are we here? How can we know the will of the gods? What meaning does life have in the face of death?”(Brown, para 1). In tragedies people’s morals are often tested by the gods. The gods control the fates of the people, and the people try to interpret the will of the gods. According to Brown, “The dramatist depicts incidents which arouse pity and fear for the protagonist [Antigone], then during the course of the action, he resolves the major conflicts, bringing the plot to a logic and foreseeable conclusion (Brown, para 5). The tragic hero in Antigone is Creon. Tragic heroes are not all good and not all bad. Creon suffers a great deal due to his tragic flaw and destructive pride. Creon believes the gods make him suffer the loss of his wife and son as punishment for his pride. He cries to the gods “Oh the dread, I shudder with dread! Why not kill me too? – run me through with a good sharp sword? Oh god, the misery, anguish – I, I’m churning with it, going under” (1432 – 1436). He would rather die himself than to feel the loss of his family. However, Creon must suffer his fate. As he mourns the bodies of his wife and son laid out on their piers he said “Whatever I touch goes wrong – once more

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