A Tragedy with Two Heroes: Can the protagonist and antagonist both be heroes? This question is a central idea of the play Antigone, written by Sophocles. Antigone is a tragedy set in 441 BCE in the city of Thebes that follows a Woman named Antigone, who was born into the House of Thebes. Antigone’s journey begins when she decides that she wants justice for her dead brother and is going to bury him, even though King Creon declared that he shall not be buried and instead will be left in the forest to decompose. Antigone goes against Creon’s law and sets out to bury her brother, however she was caught in the act and is taken to Creon’s court, where Creon sentences Antigone to death by starvation. As Antigone is being taken to her dungeon, Creon has multiple conversations about the harshness of his sentencing and is ultimately …show more content…
One final characterization trait that makes Antigone and Creon tragic heroes is how both characters have a moment of realization of why their downfall occurred. This moment of realization is typically the final step of a tragic hero’s journey and is what solidifies a character as a tragic hero. For Antigone, she knew from the beginning of her journey that she was doomed to fail, however in her last words she spoke of how she understood why her downfall occurred, “ANTIGONE: O tomb, vaulted bride-bed in eternal rock, soon I shall be with my own again where Persephone welcome the thin ghost underground: And I shall see my father again, and you, mother, and dearest Polyneices–– dearest indeed to me, since it was my hand That washed him clean and poured the ritual wine: And my reward is death And yet, as men’s hearts know, I have done no wrong, I have not sinned before God. Or if I have, I shall know the truth of death. But if the guilt lies upon the Creon who judged me, then, I pray, may his punishment equal my own” (Sophocles