Tragic Hero Essay Loyalty, being a foundation or moral in the lives of most, can refrain one’s mind and actions from rationality. This concept causes decisions to be altered in ways that don’t always result in positive outcomes. In Sophocles’ Antigone, loyalty is the root cause of some of the characters being in adverse circumstances. Defying her king's edict, Antigone went to bury her brother Polynieces, which set off a whirlwind of unfortunate events for her and those around her. Antigone's high and noble social status, her tragic flaw of inviolable loyalty, and her familiarity with hamartia make her a tragic hero. Antigone is one with a high and noble social status. The play of Antigone takes place in the kingdom of Thebes, where Antigone’s …show more content…
Eteocles was the brother who inherited the throne from his father, Oedipus. The current king of Thebes Creon has a son, Prince Haimon, who is the fiance to Princess Antigone, giving her the potential to be the future queen. Antigone’s engagement with the current prince and her relationships with the past kings show and prove her high and noble social status. Antigone’s high and noble social status is a strong and underlying factor that leads to her tragic flaw. Antigone is extremely loyal to me. In the play, Antigone’s upbringing was surrounded by her royal family, causing the bond between them to be strong. Antigone broke King Creon's edict and went to bury her brother Polyneices. She was well aware of the edict made by Creon, like the rest of the kingdom. However, her tragic flaw of loyalty would not allow her to do anything about her brother being left for the dogs and birds, even if she risked her own life. Along with risking her own life, her loyalty to Polyneices blinded her from considering her sister Ismene’s emotions in her sister sacrificing her life. Antigone’s tragic flaw leads us to her familiarity with hamartia. In Sophocles’ Antigone, the hamartia experienced by Antigone is caused by her