Cause Effect Character Pride and Heroism Antigone

Sophocles explores the connection between fate and character in the play Antigone, in which the title character becomes a classic tragic hero due to flaws like hubris. However, it is not just her character traits that destine Antigone for her fateful end. Antigone’s character is inherently virtuous, as she wants to disobey the law for the right reasons. She has strong moral principles, and is guided by universal ethical values rather than the limited and unjust rules established by the authoritarian King Creon. Antigone values spiritual principles, mercy, and justice, making her an exemplar of virtue ethics in the Aristotelian sense. Moreover, Antigone acts selflessly, placing principles above her own self-interest and risking her life to promote her values. Yet Sophocles shows that a virtuous character or ethical behaviors sometimes lead to tragic results. When one’s principles conflict with those embodied by the state, tragedy is inevitable. Also, Antigone is stubborn. Her hubris manifests not so much as arrogance or pride in the egotistical sense, but in the sense of her not being realistic about the consequences of her actions. Antigone’s ethics are non-consequentialist; her worldview is based on character ethics. Through the character of Antigone, Sophocles shows that fate and character may both be immutable.
Unlike her father, Antigone’s hubris is not blind to the truth of her birth. She stubbornly clings to the belief that she is right and Creon is wrong, and Sophocles leads the audience to sympathize with his tragic heroine by portraying Antigone as being merciful and compassionate. Sophocles also shows how Antigone is intelligent and far more ethical than any other character in the play. From Antigone’s perspective, it does not matter what Polynices is or is not guilty of in the eyes of the law. What matters is that he be afforded a proper burial, which has little bearing on the meting out of the state’s justice. In the very first scene of the play, Ismene tries to convince Antigone not to bury their brother based on the fact that “the new law forbids it,” (p. 3). The law is both new and unjust, as Antigone points out. Antigone claims that the “laws of the gods” are far more important than the laws of men like Creon (p. 4). Ismene tries to use fear to encourage Antigone to give up on her cause, and Antigone strongly crticizes her sister. In fact, Ismene’s appeals only seem to make Antigone more determined than ever to bury her brother. Antigone exudes pride in her sense of self-righteousness, as well as a hint of recklessness as when she states, “I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, / It will not be the worst of deaths—death without honor,” (p. 5). Given that honor is an admirable character trait, the audience is led to side with the heroine of the play and not with the fearful sister or the arrogant and autocratic Creon.
Antigone is well aware of the possible, and likely, effects of her disobeying the law. She is willing to accept those consequences, including death. Therefore, Sophocles does not portray Antigone as being blinded by hubris, but rather, strengthened by her strong convictions. She never protests her own death sentence either, testimony to her courage and character. Antigone becomes a quintessential martyr to the cause of justice. Through her death, the audience comes to terms with the notion of personal responsibility to disobey unjust laws using forms of civil disobedience. Death is “no hardship,” according to Antigone, who would have never been able to live with herself had she acted out of fear (p. 15). Antigone also self-abnegates, claiming that her death is of “no importance,” even though she is setting an example that others can follow (p. 15). She does not make the sacrifice selfishly, so that she can become a hero. Rather, Antigone sacrifices herself primarily because she cannot imagine acting in ways that are not in accord with her true beliefs. The King’s law is arbitrary; universal law is not.
In some ways, Antigone is not a true tragic hero because she would have been a far more tragic figure had she left her brother unburied. Her opponents try to reframe her noble character as being flawed, such as by saying she is “headstrong, deaf to reason,” and also “inflexible,” (p. 15). Antigone is headstrong and inflexible, but she is not deaf to reason because her moral reasoning is absolutely sound. She is simply a product of fate, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, beholden to a new and unjust law arbitrarily imposed by Creon. Antigone does not recognize Creon’s authority, and she does not need to because she does not fear death. However, Antigone does betray her tendency towards arrogance when she claims, “I should have praise and honor for what I have done, / All these men here would praise me / Were their lips not frozen shut with fear of you,” (p. 16). Antigone might have been correct, but her words still seem arrogant given the audience has no idea what the other citizens actually believe. Her hubris is less of a tragic flaw, and more of a tragic virtue. Antigone’s stubbornness and pride are also tempered by her virtuous character, which Antigone exhibits when she refuses to incriminate her sister. Antigone also manages to make a strong move to control her own fate by causing her own death rather than allowing the state to kill her. This final act demonstrates Antigone’s power. There are worse fates than death. Antigone’s end is genuinely heroic and virtuous, not tragic.
The blind prophet Teiresias, who appears in Sophocles’s play about Antigone’s father Oedipus, echoes the truth of Antigone’s beliefs and the virtuosity of her actions. When speaking with the King, Teiresias reminds Creon that the only reason he is King is because of his prophesies (p. 32). Teiresias speaks out firmly in favor of Antigone, claiming that “the only crime is pride,” and that Creon, not Antigone, acts wrongly (p. 31). “You should be able to yield for your own good,” states Teiresias, ironically using the same arguments that her opponents use against Antigone (p. 32). Creon insists that Polynices is a criminal and does not deserve a proper burial but Teiresias states that punishing a dead man does no one any good. He also refers to Antigone as someone worthy of the praise of the gods. When the prophet leaves Creon, the king’s advisor tries to talk sense into the ruler to no avail. Choragos reminds the king that Teiresias has never been wrong and urges the king to free Antigone. This is a pivotal moment in Sophocles’s play, for it is a time at which Creon must make a choice that reflects his character. Unlike Antigone, Creon actually possesses true hubris, real arrogance and false pride. Creon at first believes he cannot relent because he believes it will make him look weak. He knows freeing Antigone is the right thing to do but the king is more concerned with his image and maintaining power than he is with truth, justice, or righteousness.
By the time Creon becomes willing to set aside his pride to do the right thing, Antigone has taken matters literally into her own hands by hanging herself. Antigone’s actions are the cause, and her death is the effect, but Antigone is about so much more than the unfortunate suicide of a noble human being. The play is about the arrogance of political leaders, and how their rigid, arbitrary, and unprincipled laws impede justice. Had Antigone not been determined to maintain power over the means of her death, she might have lived. Had Antigone lived, she might have seen how her determined actions led to an actual change in the King’s character and possibly even to a change in the law. Instead, Antigone succumbs to a death wish, and she sabotages herself. She willfully and unnecessarily becomes a martyr, and this is why Antigone is a true tragic hero. Her self-sabotage is the epitome of false pride, for had Antigone only waited a few minutes more, she might have spared not just her own suffering but the suffering of those around her.
Antigone’s death was not in vain. Her suicide caused suffering, but may have also led to meaningful change in Thebes. Moreover, Antigone’s death cannot be considered in isolation of the events taking place around her. She might have killed herself needlessly, but she did so because she truly believed that Creon would never have relented. Antigone would have survived had Teiresias reached her first, or had a messenger been able to stall her death. Sophocles shows that all tragedies are collective both in cause and in effect. Each person plays a role and takes responsibility for public affairs. Antigone exemplifies personal responsibility, and the role of citizens in fighting against tyranny and autocratic rule. Sophocles purposefully gives the last word to Choragos, the man who also had the courage to finally stand up for Antigone and stand up to the king. Choragos sums up Antigone’s life by saying, “There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; / No wisdom but in submission to the gods,” (p. 41). It took her death for Thebes to realize the virtue and truth in Antigone’s words and actions. Antigone is a hero because she bravely stood up to the King when no one else would, and because she courageously faced the consequences. However, Antigone is tragic because she remained determined to control her own destiny by managing the means by which she died.
Antigone’s martyrdom makes her a tragic hero. Her hubris is principled and virtuous. Antigone needed to retain the willingness to die for her principles, or else Antigone would never have risen to the status of a hero at all. Had Antigone been confident that Creon might eventually listen to her wisdom, perhaps she could have avoided death. Antigone had no way of knowing that the king would change his mind. Given the interactions she had previously with Creon, it seemed that her fate had been sealed. Taking her life ultimately reflects Antigone’s belief that men and women are often victims of their own character virtues and flaws, and can rarely escape their own fates.