A Greek tragedy is very unique in its structure, composition, and language. The tragedy usually begins with a prologue in which one or more characters introduce the drama and explain the background. It involves a Chorus of some sorts, which says or explains the situation that is developing on the scene and also includes a tragic hero who comes from a noble bloodline and has a tragic flaw that ultimately causes his downfall. The hero’s downfall is caused by oftentimes, by fate, something that is inevitable or unavoidable.
The tragedy then ends with the Exodus, which shows the dissolution of the story. Through the tragic downfall, the author usually strikes catharsis in readers, causing them to feel sympathy and remorse for the tragic hero. Sophocles, one of the masters of Greek tragedies, uses these characteristics to write “Antigone”. Through analysis of “Antigone”, it is clear that many elements of Greek tragedies are present, which obviously classify “Antigone” as a tragic play. One of the more evident characteristics of Greek tragedy exemplified in “Antigone” is the use of a Chorus.
The Chorus comes in around line one hundred and says, “Against our land he marched, sent here by the warring claims of Polyneices, with piercing screams, an eagle flying above our land, covered wings as white as snow, and hordes of warriors in arms, helmets topped with horsehair crests. ” The Chorus comes in celebrating the recent Theban victory. It serves as a means of providing background information on the scene. Through the chorus, it becomes clear that the Thebans have just won a battle.
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The Chorus tells the story of Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother, and his two sons fighting over the throne after their father’s death. The Chorus recreates in bloody imagery the battle to take Thebes. In Greek tragedies, the ultimate purpose of the Chorus is to offer a variety of background and information to help the audience follow the performance. The Chorus comments on themes and shows how an ideal audience might react to the drama. In “Antigone” the Chorus does just this; it directly affects the action of the play and helps provide background information.
Another characteristic of Greek tragedies that Sophocles uses in “Antigone” is the tragic hero. This element of tragedy is not as evident as others; it takes analysis and observation to breakdown every aspect of the character and prove that they are a tragic hero. In Sophocles’ classic play “Antigone”, Antigone meets the criteria of a tragic hero in a number of ways. She is at once virtuous in the eyes of others and guilty in the eyes of the law; she is willing to face the dire consequences of what she considered to be an honorable act, and she elicits great pity in others because she stands alone in her actions.
In a Greek tragedy, the tragic hero is defined as a person bearing high station with a character that can be judged as neither pure good nor pure evil, but it is that same character that leads to their inevitable downfall. A tragic flaw is a key to a tragic hero because it is the thing that brings them to their downfall. Antigone can be considered a tragic hero for multiple reasons. Antigone’s tragic flaw is her arrogance; her prideful, uncompromising, unyielding passion. An example of this unyielding passion is the burial of her brother.
She heard Creon’s decree concerning her brother’s burial, “and yet she dared defy the law”. Knowing she could die, she still would rather die for burying Polyneices than die a “death without honor,” for she believes “that this crime is holy. ” Full of courage, she is “not afraid of the danger,” and even though it means death she demands that ” she will bring him. ” Also, like many tragic heroes, Antigone arouses great pity because she stands alone in her actions. When she asks Ismene to accompany her in burying Polyneices, her sister replies that she must yield to those in authority and cannot break laws.
It is evident through the analysis of Sophocles’ play, “Antigone”, it can be considered as a Greek tragedy. A Greek tragedy consists of many elements, all of which “Antigone” possesses. Both the Chorus and Antigone’s inevitable downfall add to its classification as a Greek tragedy. “Antigone” is just one example of Sophocles’ excellence and mastering of Greek tragedies. . The story behind Antigone is one of the repulsive thoughts and gruesome endings, but a fitting piece into the workings of Greek tragedy.
This act eventually leads to the deaths of Antigone and other main characters. For the twenty-first century reader, it is important to understand how gender roles and relationships vary from time period to time period in order to fully appreciate the equal status of women in today’s society. The authors of the feminist play, Antigone, portrays the society’s perspective of women as vindictive people, the limitations of women, and the growing strong-willed quality of some women that start to rise in the respective time period. In Antigone, society generally views women as cruel people.
For example, Creon, in Antigone, exemplifies the general view of society towards women in a monologue to his son, Haemon. Creon speaks of how useless women are in his eyes: “the man who rears a brood of useless children…nothing but trouble for himself, and mockery from his enemies laughing in his face” (Sophocles, 766). When Creon, who represents the societal view towards women, describes “useless children,” he is referencing daughters. Creon believes that women are useless because he has been taught in his society and time period that women are not innately designed to rule and do not have significant, positive effects on society.
Additionally, Creon believes that women or daughters bring trouble to men because he has been taught that women are wicked by nature. Again, in the play Antigone, Creon describes the malevolence of women, especially when he talks about Antigone. Creon metaphorically describes women in his tirade about Antigone: “Anarchy-show me a greater crime…she destroys cities…breaks the ranks of spearmen…never let some woman triumph over us…never be rated inferior to a woman, never” (Sophocles, 754).
When Creon references “anarchy” and replaces it with the word “she” later in his speech, Creon believes that women are as lawless and chaotic as the concept of anarchy. Also, Creon has the ideal that women should be inferiors to men when he says “never let some woman triumph over us” (Sophocles, 767). Additionally, Creon believes that women try to become superior over men (another way that women are shown as malicious people) when he describes a woman, or anarchy, breaking the military status or military ranking of spearmen.
In Antigone, the societal view of women in the play, represented through Creon, respectively, is that women are malevolent people. This view persists through the play. During the time periods in Antigone, women have many limitations that stem from society and the state. In Antigone, Antigone, the main character, is limited by society when she attempts to voice her opinion. After Antigone passionately explains why she broke Creon’s law, the leader of the chorus remarks on Antigone’s behavior: “… she hasn’t learned to bend adversity” (Sophocles, 750).
As said by Ismene, Antigone’s sister, women are “not born to contend with men” (Sophocles, 758). In ancient Greece, women are believed to be subordinates to men. This perception possibly could have developed from the sight of the fragile physique of women that illustrates women’s physical weakness compared to men’s strong frames. During Antigone’s time, many laws and beliefs are set that greatly restrict women’s roles in society and the state. Antigone, the protagonist, possesses the character of a strong-willed human, unlike most of the women of their respective times.
In Antigone, Antigone demonstrates a very strong-willed personality throughout the entire play. When Creon questions Antigone to discover if Antigone did commit the crime of burying her brother, Antigone stands firm in her decision: “Nor did I think your edict had such force that you, a mere mortal, could override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakable traditions… This laws-I was not about to break them, not out of fear of some man’s wounded pride… die I must… to meet this doom of yours is precious little pain” (Sophocles, 750).
Antigone strongly believes that she is committing to the right decision of breaking the state’s law as seen in her insult of Creon.
