Tragedy

Antigone is certainly a tragedy which can be seen by most all who read it. The classic Greek elements that we see in past tragedy's are present without exception at every turn in Antigone. It seems as if Tragedy's always start out with some terrible fate that the hero is destined for and the story revolves around that person trying to escape that terrible prophecy. By trying to escape that fate the tragic hero seems to walk right into the trap and fulfill his destiny. Along the way there are warnings from the wise that the hero ignores or overlooks which eventually leads to the hero creating his own self full filling prophecy.

A prophet told Achilles that he would die if he went to Troy but he went anyway wishing only to be remembered through the ages.

I have heard people pose the question "can tragedy's be created today in today's world"? I think a tragedy can be created today but it would be difficult to do so. A famous example of a good present day tragedy is the story of the transformation of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Anakin tries so hard to prevent the fate of his wife dying in child birth that he actually makes the fate a self fulfilling prophecy. Little did he know that the dark side of the force clouded the light side and let him see bits and pieces of the future. By trying to change his fate he fell into the trap. He became Darth Vader and all the Jedi were massacred and for the first time in the series evil prevailed.

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In Antigone, the same flaws and events unfold that you see in Troy, Oedipus Rex, and even Star Wars. Antigone very well could have two tragic hero's but I feel that the main tragic hero in Antigone is Creon. That may come as a surprise since the name of the play is "Antigone". From examining the play I see the story revolving around Creon and the flaws, choices and consequences that unfolded throughout the play. Everything seems to go south based on Creon's excessive Hubris. If Creon had thought things over instead of letting his pride and greed get the better of him the people he loved would have lived.

It appears that everything that happened in Antigone was set into motion based off the choices Creon made. The flaws I see in this play include stubbornness, blindness, arrogance, stupidity, selfishness, and of course excessive pride. When I think of a tragic hero I think of the character that has everything going for them, the looks, the money, the power, and even the smarts. It seems that Creon used everything except his heart and especially his Brain when making the choices he did. The hero seems to have it all except for one small flaw that brings the whole program down. Just one small flaw that destroys the hero's world and everybody else living in it. Antigone may have been headstrong in the fact that she demanded to have her traitor brother buried but that wasn't asking much. Especially since the dead son was a family member and even more so that the kind was a family member. Creon should have made an exception and not only cut Antigone some slack but himself some slack as well. It would have saved his family. It wouldn't be a tragedy though if it wasn't for Creon.