“Antigone” is a play about struggle and passion. To fully understand the play, the previous plays needs to be understood. Antigone and her sister, Ismene, are the daughters of Oedipus, from the play “Oedipus Rex”. Eteocles takes control of Thebes and his brother Polynices raises an army to attack the city; both are killed in the battle. This is where the story of Antigone comes into play. Creon, Oedipus’s brother in law and uncle (Oedipus married his mother) is now King of Thebes. He issues a decree for Eteocles to be buried but for Polynices to be left where he was killed and not to be buried. He honors Eteocles for defending the city, but leaves Polynices body lying out for the people to see and the dogs to eat. However, as part of Polynices family, it is Antigone’s duty and obligation to bury her brothers, and she does so against the orders of the King. Under Creon’s decree, this places the death penalty upon the stubborn young girl. Creon becomes increasingly stubborn as well, eventually showing hubris, which means immense disrespect and excessive pride, this being his hamartia. He imprisons her alive in a tomb, not knowing that his son, Haemon, who is in love with her, follows them to the …show more content…
She at first, celebrates a victory when she is caught by the sentry and put to trial before Creon. However, there is no moment of ‘Oh, it’s going to be alright now’ as there is in Oedipus Rex when Oedipus finds that Polybus is dead of natural causes and thinks that half the prophecy about him marrying his mother and murdering his father is unfulfilled. Aristotle used Oedipus Rex as the example of a perfect representation of a tragic play in the Poetics, However, Antigone, although she does experience a tragic end due to her own actions and harmatia, or flaw, she does not experience that lifting up. Indeed, it is obvious from the beginning that she is heading towards