The Real Tragic Hero When people think about the meaning of tragedy the first thought that reaches them is that it is an unfortunate event. However, tragedies are a little more complicated than “just an unfortunate event”. In Poetics, Aristotle states, “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and possessing magnitude; in embellished language, each kind of which is used separately in different parts; in the mode of action and not narrated; and effecting through pitty and fear the catharsis of such emotions.” This means a play must concentrate on an important and severe issue, which will be acted out in an extremely dramatic way, and will lead the audience to feel sorry for the main character who is the tragic hero. For a character to be considered a tragic hero, he must possess certain qualities that classify him as tragic. According to Aristotle, two important traits these heroes will represent in a tragedy are tragic flaws, known as hamartia, and the other trait is recognition towards the end of play. …show more content…
The play is fired off by the improper burial of Polyneices, Antigone’s brother; she devises a plan to bury him even though it means breaking King Kreon’s law. As she attempts to bury her brother, she is caught in the act, and brought to Kreon. He refuses to take pity to the fact that she is his niece and his sons soon to be bride, and decides she should be imprisoned. However, while she is locked away, she takes her own life; this creates a dominio effect since Haemon also kills himself, and later Eurydice does as well. In the end Kreon is left empty and alone. After analyzing the play, although Antigone is a major character, and the play is named after her, she is not the tragic hero in the play. When compared to all the attributes a tragic hero holds, Antigone falls short, and Kreon becomes the