Antigone by Sophocles is known by all to be a masterpiece.

It

starts out in the city of Thebes, where a Civil War has just ended. Two

brothers, Eteocles and Polyneicess are killed in war, but they were on

opposite sides. Polyneicess led the revolt, against Thebes whereas

Eteocles died as a hero. The play tells a story about a young woman,

Antigone trying to convince her uncle, Creon, the king of Thebes, that

his decree about not allowing Polyneicess to be buried because of his

treacherous activity towards the city is incorrect and against the ways

of the gods.

Throughout the play, many different characters approach Creon,

in the act of trying to convince him to listen to Antigone. The play itself

was very well written. It shows the values and morals that the Ancient

Greeks possessed. The author, Sophocles, chooses unique characters

to have a role in this play. The beginning of the novel was very well

thought-out. The author writes in a way that convinces the reader that

Creon, the king will not change his decree, and will ultimately fail

because of the Hamartia, or fatal flaw. Each Greek tragedy had a tragic

hero who fell because of his or her Hamartia. .

Throughout the play, many people come to Creon to persuade

him to allow Antigone to burry her brother, Polyneicess. Creon is very

stubborn in his decree, and does not want to let a “young woman”

change his mind. Haimon, the Kings son, and Antigone’s fiancé, also

comes to Creon to convince him, but he uses a different method. First,

he comes in and “flatters” his father telling Creon what he wants to

hear, but then, he quickly changes his direction and tells his father that

what he has done is incorrect. The king is aghast that his own son

would disagree with him. Lastly, Teirisias who Is portrayed as a “blind

prophet” comes to Creon to tell him the marvel he had seen involving

a fight between birds. Teirisias, told Creon that he must change his

decree soon, because even the people of Thebes are in disagreement

with the King. Also, according to the Gods, everyone gets a proper

burial, and here Creon is going against the Gods, which is unheard of in

ancient Greece. Eventually, Creon is convinced, and when he goes to

unlock Antigone from the prison that he sent her to, she had

committed suicide alongside his son Haimon, which led to the last

suicide of Haimon’s mother, and Creon’s wife who did not believe that

life was worth living anymore and killed herself.

Every Greek tragedy has a tragic hero, who falls because of his

or her Hamartia. In the case of Antigone, one can argue that Creon was

the tragic hero, because in the end, his life is over without his family.

Also, he was the one to blame for the death of Antigone, Haimon and

his wife because of his fatal flaw. His fatal flaw here is called Hubris,

which is excessive pride, and Creon had too much pride to admit his

mistake. Therefore, Creon suffered the consequences of his mistake.

Others say that Antigone was the tragic hero, because although the

king eventually reversed his decree, Antigone had been dead by then
and had not been granted the ability to bury her brother while she was

alive. Therefore, she is the tragic hero. The play was four and a half out

of five stars. The main things that were really great about this play

were the fast pace, interesting characters and surprising end. The end

of the play could have been written a little more clearly as opposed to

choppy and ambiguous. In all, this play was fascinating and it displays

the character of Sophocles, the playwright.