Aaliyah Jackson
Ms. MacArthur
IB English
8 May 2018
Prompt #2: The Role of Antigone
In the play Antigone, Sophocles never really make it clear who is the real tragic hero. The
readers can conflicted as for is Antigone the real tragic hero of this play. However, I saw
Antigone as a catalyst of the story, not the tragic hero. Antigone is the character who made the
real tragic hero, Creon, recognize his faults and flaws. Creon fit the characteristics of a tragic
hero, not Antigone.
Antigone couldn’t be a tragic hero based from of Aristotle’s definition. In Aristotle’s
eyes, a tragic hero has certain characteristics: have a flaw (hamartia), a reversal of fortune that is
brought made their error of judgement, and a recognition of their actions and its consequences.
Throughout the play, Antigone only has one characteristic, which is her stubbornness. She
doesn’t have a reversal scene or recognition. She keeps the same mentality throughout the whole
play, which is that she must go against Creon to bury her brother because that’s what the Gods
want. In the play, she said “And if I have to die for this pure crime, I am content, for I shall rest
beside him; His love will answer mine” This shows that she doesn’t regret her decision to defy
Creon and was willing to die for it. This is why Antigone isn’t the tragic hero of the play.
Even though Antigone isn’t tragic hero, she is important to the plot of the play and there
wouldn’t be a play without her actions. She is a catalyst that forces Creon to go through his
journey as the tragic hero. Without her defiance, Creon wouldn’t have realized his faults and
their consequences. Her de...
