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Kohlberg's Tragic Hero In Sophocles Antigone

594 Words3 Pages

In the tragic play, Antigone, Sophocles writes the tale of a girl who disobeys laws and wishes to be seen as a martyr. With her obsession and devotion to the Gods, she reveals unfavorable traits that lead to her fall from glory. Throughout the story, Antigone expresses her pre-conventional morals, which is level one, stage two of Kohlberg’s mode of moral development. Primarily, Antigone revels her true self in her desire to be recognized as a hero to the Gods. In the story, Antigone engages in a fight with her sister, Ismene, who claims partial credit of Antigone’s crimes (Sophocles line 659, 671). Antigone becomes outraged when Ismeme desperately tries to rekindle any connection with her sister, as Antigone sees Ismene’s pleas as a way to …show more content…

When Kin Kreon decides to kill Antigone, he says she’d be more of a king than he is if she ever escaped her crimes unscathed (Sophocles line 589-591). Antigone is stubborn and claims she is better than her punishment, which proves she does not truly understand her place in society as Kreon says. As a conventional mind, one knows what they contribute to society, but the fact she committed her crimes and escaped her sentence proves she does not value Kreon’s power or rules, making her pre-conventional. In an essay about Scofflaws, the author highlights the people’s (and Antigone’s) thought processes when he says people are fools if they follow someone else’s rules (Trippett). Antigone’s thought process and personality shows in Antigone’s conversation she has with Ismene in the beginning of the book (Sophocles line 35-40). Antigone claims Ismene is a fool for following Kreon’s laws, but Antigone does not understand and consequences of her actions, or how they will affect the people surrounding her. Ismene and Haimon are destroyed and distraught at her death, yet Antigone does not stop and think about how her fiancé and her sister will grieve for her, wanting to rebel against Kreon’s unjust rules. Her recklessness and rebellious attitude proves she does not understand the effect she has on society, where her place is in society, and how her actions will affect the others care for her, which restricts her to level two of Kohlberg’s model of moral

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