Sophocles According to Aristotle, the Tragic Hero\'s

Sophocles

According to Aristotle, the tragic hero's suffering results from an error (hamartia) he or she makes. Does Antigone make a mistake, and if so, of what kind?

Sophocles wrote the play Antigone in 441 BC in which the emotions of loyalty, love and honor are found in conflict of each other as Antigone ignores Creon's law and follows that of the Gods, by burying her brother, Polynices who otherwise has died a traitor.

In this regard, Antigone shows nothing but pure, unadulterated love for her brother, coupled with the need to fulfill what has been written above that of Creon and the laws of man.

Antigone therefore does not make a mistake in wanting to bury her brother and disobey Creon, as she states in "As for the poor corpse of Polynices, however, they say that an edict has been published to the townsmen that no one shall bury him or mourn him, but instead leave him unwept, unentombed, for the birds a pleasing store" (Antigone, line 26-30). If Antigone has made a mistake, it was to step into martyrdom and wanting to redeem her family's honor in this fashion.

Having said this, I feel Antigone's character is one that considers family over law and the city, while Creon is the opposite. These two characters are strong-willed and have high individual beliefs and morals, it just so happens they do not mingle well.

Creon may understand Antigone's views on family, but as a new king, he had to establish his respect quickly amongst society. He must put the people first over the wishes of family, even though he appreciates their role within the community. His loyalties lie on the survival of his city after the rages of war.

Antigone's mistake is coupled with defiance as she shows no interest in taking the views of society into consideration. She has made her decision to bury her brother, and this so happens, goes against Creon's decree. Antigone is following what she believes is the honorable and right thing to do.

By doing this, Antigone has shifted the power from Creon to herself by proving that the law of the Gods is above that of the King's decree. Nevertheless she is subject to doom because she has broken the decree, and therefore the law of the new king. This is the most important aspect of Antigone's mistake. Antigone also rebels against her traditional role as a woman within Ancient Greece.

While Creon is able to 'bend' his views, Antigone has literally substituted her views as those of the Gods, especially when she says to Creon, "Similarly to you as well my views must be displeasing. And yet, how could I have won a nobler glory than by giving burial to my own brother?" (lines 500-506).

Antigone makes the mistake of letting her ego dictate and overshadow what originally was her goal: to bury Polynices. She convinces herself that committing suicide is the only way now to 'wash away' the tragedy that has befallen her and her family honor.

As Teiresias remarks to Creon, "All men are liable to err. But when an error is made, that man is no longer unwise or unblessed who heals the evil into which he has fallen and does not remain stubborn. Self-will, we know, invites the charge of foolishness. Concede the claim of the dead. Do not kick at the fallen." (1025-1030).

I feel this outlines Antigone's error well. She has found that she has gone further than she wanted to but how can she turn back now? She must fulfill her goal, and then save her family's honor by killing herself.

In creating her own tragedy, she has made the mistake of wanting too much from the situation and from wanting to make it more to her beliefs, than about the burial of her beloved brother. It became a scenario of a woman rebelling against and eventually unwilling to make a compromise.

Antigone's decision to mourn her dead brother, coupled with the one to disobey Creon's decree, shows her loyalty to her beliefs and the Gods, but it is also this unbendable belief that causes her the greatest tragedy - the loss of her life.

Had she swayed in her beliefs for a moment, she would have been spared, but at what cost? Antigone may have committed suicide because she would have committed more an injustice against the Gods law.

Antigone does not want to continue her life with the guilt that has been created by her civil disobedience. At this point Antigone does not realize that by showing her loyalty to family she has not necessarily committed a crime against the Gods, or herself.