Antigone: A Tragic Hero

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Antigone: A Tragic Hero

Heroes come in many forms. Some such as immense in size and strength as

Hercules, some in the form of people that are shunned upon, such as Harriet

Tubman, and some that are only valorous heroes to some, such as Kurt Cobain.

These heroes have many characteristics that make people flock to their side and

follow them without a thought of hesitation. In Sophocles' Antigone the hero

is a women that believes in her heart far stronger than that of her leader's

rule. This brings up many characteristics that are shown within her that are

also seen in other heroes. One being that she is up against an impossible enemy,

one who does not fit well into society's mold, and is destroyed by her own pride.

For these characteristics Antigone is given the title of an epic Heroin.

Antigone is one of the lucky townsfolk to be born of a royal house, yet is

unlucky to be born in the House that she is born into. As Antigone defies

Creon's law, she is cast into a pool of danger between what she believes is

right and what the state's law decrees is right. As Antigone is charged with

the burying of her brother, an action which the King has declared unlawful, she

holds like stone to her undying gratitude for her deceased brother. She holds

to this thought because of the fact that she believes that her, who died

fighting against the state, must be interred with the same honor as her brother

who died defending the state. She believes that this will help lift the curse

plagued on the household. The curse in which there father tried to hold at bay

and failed. Her sister Ismene warned Antigone by exclaiming "Sister please,

please! remember how our father die: hated, in disgrace, wrapped in horror of

himself, his own hand stabbing out his sight. And how his mother-wife in one,

twisted off her earthly days with a cord. And thirdly how our two brothers in

a single day each achieved for each a suicidal Nemesis" (166). This has

already gave Antigone the mind set that even the Gods are against her will. She

is also up against a great foe in fighting that of Creon's edict. Ismene has

said this: "The rest, if we defy our sovereign's edict and his power. Remind

ourselves that we are women, and such not made to fight with men.

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