Pathetic vs Ethical

Aristotle’s Poetics is a “reservoir of the themes and schemes deployed in ancient Greek tragedy and poetry” (Poetics iii). Written around 330 B.C., it was the first work of literature to make a distinction amongst the various literary genres and provide a proper analysis of them. In Poetics, Aristotle places a big emphasis on the genre of tragedy. When one hears of the word tragedy, one already assumes that something bad has occurred to an individual and an immediate emotion of sorrow occurs, but how does Aristotle see tragedy? Aristotle gives us his formal definition of tragedy on page 10: “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.” He goes on and explains all the components that make up tragedy. A tragedy must fall into two parts: complication and unraveling (also known as the denouement). Aristotle elaborates on that and speaks of four types of tragedy: “the Complex, depending entirely on Reversal of the Situation and Recognition; the Pathetic (where the motive is passion); the Ethical (where the motives are ethical). The fourth kind is the Simple.

Antigone is Sophocles Greek tragedy where we see a woman as the main character. Antigone is part of the “saga of Thebes” that deals with Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Produced around 442 B.C., we see the children of Oedipus deal with what fate has brought them. Antigone deals with the conflict of her burying her brother which would be in defiance of an order given by an egotistical ruler, Creon. In Antigone, one s...

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...vice from the Chorus (Thebes) and tries to fix all the mayhem he has created. Unfortunately, the timing was too late and more has transpired that Creon was able to handle. Creon, being the coward that he is, sends himself with a messenger to free Antigone. Antigone has already committed suicide and Haemon, upon seeing his dead bride, kills himself as well. Eurydice, his wife, finds out about Haemon and kills herself as well. Creon, the ruler who once had everything, now has nothing. His passion for pride and to rule has proven tragic and his life subsequently has nothing to live for.

Sophocles was able to incorporate Poetics in his tragedy of Antigone. We see two different characters, moved with two different purposes: one ethical and one pathetic. Through the complication and unraveling we see how Antigone embodies the fundamentals of what a Greek tragedy is.