Antigone
The Three Theban Plays
Sophocles
“Come out of the twilight and walk before us a while, friendly, with alight step of one whose mind is fully made up…” (Knox 37).
According to Aristotle, the best form of tragedy has a complex plot; it strikes in the audience feelings of horror, fear and pity, as the hero's fortune changes from happiness to misery because of some tragic mistake that they make. Aristotle also says that the characters must be good, appropriate, consistent, or consistently inconsistent (Aristotle). I would type Antigone as good and consistent. From the beginning of the play, until the end, her mind is completely made up of what she wants to do, through which she is brought to ruin and suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, and inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances resulting in an unhappy but meaningful ending .
It states in the introductory chapter of Antigone that “Antigone appeals not only to the bond of kindred blood but also to the unwritten law, sanctioned by the gods, that the dead must be given a proper burial- a religious principle” (Knox 40). Antigone knew from the beginning that she was fighting for a just cause. In ancient Greece it was the woman’s duty and privilege to perform funeral rights, Antigone being as devoted to family as she was felt it was “the great unwritten, unshakable tradition” that the gods put in place for her to follow. The play portrays a conflict between man and state, as well as between earthly and divine law. Antigone’s faith in the Gods gave her the strength to accept her fate.
The term tragic hero is one I associate with Antigone. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw when, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy (Aristotle). There are five basic characteristics that a character must possess to be considered a tragic hero. The first characteristic is that the character has to possess nobility or wisdom. Antigone showed this when she put all of her faith in the gods which led her to bury Polyneises, despite the risk. At this point Antigone is faced with a very serious decision, to disobey the state or to disobey the gods. She understands what will happen to her if she disobeys the state, she knows that the penalty is death and she knows that acting upon what she believes to be good and true, means that her own actions would be the reason for her own death. She accepts her fate and says to her sister, Ismene, “even if I die in the act, that death will be a glory. I will lie with the one I love and loved by him- an outrage sacred to the gods! I have longer to please the dead than please the living here: Do as you like, dishonor the laws the god hold in honor” (Fagles 63). Ismene did not want to help Antigone with the burial, for she knew the cost of the action, and that was not a price she was willing to pay. Antigone says to Ismene, “Your wisdom appealed to one world- mine another” (Fagles 88). Antigone believed in divine law opposed to Ismenes’ faith in earthly law. Antigone also states “I know I please where I must please the most”, meaning that on earth she has no one to please, it is the gods she aims to please and she is so proud of her family that she feels she needs to bury her brother no matter what the cost, which is part of her tragic flaw, she knows that nothing on earth is so worth living for to dishonor her family. Her uncle, Creon, was who put the city-wide proclamation forbidding anyone to bury or mourn Polynices. It was not Creon she wanted to rebel against, I believe she didn’t want to rebel at all. When confronting Creon, she says to him “These laws- I was not about to break them, not out of fear of some mans wounded pride, and face the retribution of the gods. Die I must, I’ve known it all my life- how could I keep from knowing?- even without your death-sentence ringing in my ears. And if I am to die before my time I consider that a gain. Who on earth, alive in the midst of so much grief as I, could fail to find his death a rich reward? So for me, at least, to meet this doom of yours is precious little pain. But if I had allowed my own mother’s son to rot, unburied corpse- that would have been an agony!” (Fagles 82). She did have a rebellious spirit; she however, wasn’t aiming to rebel against, or disrespect anyone clearly in her family. At that point she had to weigh out her obligation to her immediate, dead, family and to her extended, living, family.
Antigone was doomed from the start, but is not responsible for possessing her flaw; she is stubborn by nature and carries a rash, fiery personality, which is just her. In the play I wasn’t sure at first what she truly wanted the outcome of her actions to be, I thought that she knew she was going to die someday and she saw a noble cause so she jumped on board not only because she believed in proper burial rights for her brother, but because she wanted to die for a cause; or if she did truly believe in her cause and that is what she wanted to die for. Either way, she was willing to die for it, which leads her to a reversal of fortune that is brought upon her by her flaw. Her fortune being life, and relationships; she chooses her duty to her dead brother over the love and friendship of her living sister. She challenges her uncle, Creon, who represents the state and the laws. After her brothers death Antigone is emotionally wounded and Creon poured salt on her wound after he announced that her brother was not to be buried. Her heart was crushed from grief, but she was spiritually unbroken and she knew what the right thing to do was, but grieving can lead you to sometimes make the wrong choices. I have lost people close to me, and I know I didn’t think straight for months afterwards. Sometimes what seems right at the moment seems crazy in hindsight. I wonder if Antigone was just caught up in the moment or if later she would still believe so firmly in what she fought to the death for? “I was born to join in love, not hate- that is my nature” (Fagles 86).
After she performs the actual act of giving her brother proper burial rights she doesn’t deny it, when asked by her uncle, Creon if she did the act he had forbidden, she responds, “Of course I did. It wasn’t Zues, not in the least, who made this proclamation- not to me. Nor did that Justice, dwelling with the gods beneath the earth, ordain such laws for men. Nor did I think your edict had such force, that you, a mere mortal, could override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakable traditions. They are alive, not just today or yesterday; they live forever, from the first time and no one knows when they first saw the light” (Fagles 82). She says to Creon, her uncle and soon to be father in law, that no edict he could make would outweigh the gods’ wishes. Creon of course does not agree with her, because he believes that in times of crisis, such as war, the loyalty of the citizen is to be to the state and its constituted authorities. That conflict, and conversation she had with Creon, sealed her fate.
Antigone is left with her sister, her only living immediate family member, both of her parents are dead, and their two brothers were both killed the same day. Antigone spoke with her sister prior to her giving her brother proper burial rites, and Ismene wanted nothing to do with it, she didn’t know if their luck would improve or if worse was yet to come. Ismene tells Antigone that she will beg the dead to forgive her but she saw that she had no choice, that she would not disobey the ones in power, and that she would not rush to extremes (Fagles 62). Antigone acts as an unruly spirit, a bold individual, while Ismene is content to recognize her own limitations and her inadequacy of being a woman. Antigone, not happy with her sisters response scolds Ismene for not participating in her crime and for her weakness, saying, “Set your own life in order” (Fagles 63). Ismene isn’t the only conflict Antigone comes in contact with; she also has a conflict with Creon, her uncle, head of the state addressing the conflict between man and state. With the decision to bury her brother she also had to account for the loss of her sister and for the loss of her fiancé. She would have herself killed, to mourn her brother who is dead who fought for what he believed in, an inconsiderate move, taking her own life away from the people who love her fighting for what she believes in. Antigone shows her pain when the sentry had uncovered the body of her brother and left it for the buzzards, “she cried out a sharp, piercing cry, like a bird come back to an empty nest, peering into it’s bed, and all the babies gone…Just so, when she seen the corpse bare she bursts into a long, shattering wail and calls down withering curses on the heads of all who did the work” (80). Antigone was able to take the pain she had for her whole life, of grief and loss, and put it on someone who could not possibly understand- Creon. She showed him the feeling of grief and loss; she taught him a lesson the only way she could, by taking her own life, “hanging herself in a fine linen noose” (Fagles 122), and being the first link in a chain of deaths so he could feel her pain. Had Creon not been so cold hearted, he would have had more compassion for her situation and her feelings of grief, he would have not lost all that was dear to him. Tiresias sees through the situation and tries to talk sense into Creon telling him, “never stab the fighter when he’s down. Where’s the glory, killing the dead twice over” (Fagles 112)? It is obvious that Antigone has suffered a life of loss, and Tiresias was speaking empathetically, however Creons’ stubborn pride wouldn’t let him budge.
When Creon found out who defied him he had to set the consequences in order, “These are my principles. Never at my hands will the traitor be honored above the patriot. But whoever proves his loyalty to the state- ill prize that man in death as well in life” (Fagles 68). Creon believes in earthly law and a set way of power. The chorus speaks to Antigone and tells her something she already knew, “attacks on power never go unchecked, not by the man who hold the reigns of power. Your own blind will your passion has destroyed you” (Fagles 104). It was not her that was destroyed and Antigone, Ismene and Creon all face consequences. Ismene loses her sister, Creon loses his family, and Antigone loses her life. In death she will be rewarded, so Antigone, in the end, is not the one who lost.
Through the play Antigone is in no way celebrated as a heroine, she is looked down upon which made her choices even harder. She is called a wretched child that came from a wretched father, by the chorus, (Fagles 78). She gets it the worst from her sister, Ismene who scolds her about being on a hopeless quest and being in love with impossibility. The sentry says “Only a fool could be in love with death” (Fagles 69). Doing the right thing sometimes is not easy especially when it is looked down upon by the masses. It took Antigone an extreme amount of courage to stand up for what she believes in, to look into the eye of Death and stay strong. Creon says “even the bravest will cut and run, once they see Death coming for their lives”, this was not true with Antigone. I believe that is part of what makes her a true heroine.
“No woman’ they say, ‘ever deserved death less, and such a brutal death for such a glorious action. She with her own dear brother lying in his blood- she couldn’t bare to leave him dead, unburied, food for the wild dogs or wheeling vultures. Death? She deserves a glowing crown of gold!” (Fagles 95).
