Profound Tragedy.
Brevis ipsa vita est sed malis fit longior
Antigone, the sequel to Oedipus Rex, is another example of a Greek tragedy. In this story, Creon is king after Oedipus killed himself. Oedipus' two oldest sons go to war over whether or not Creon is the rightful ruler. After both brothers are killed in battle, Creon honors one with a proper burial for supporting him, while he leaves the other to rot. Antigone, one of the sisters, believes this is not fair that one of the brothers should be neglected, as she views both of them as equal despite their views. She defies Creon's laws and goes to bury her brother herself. Creon sentences Antigone to death, against the wishes of his own son. After Antigone is locked up in a tomb to die, Creon realizes the error of his ways and changes his mind, after hearing a prophecy spelling out bad things if he doesn't. It is too late, however, as Antigone has killed herself within the tomb, Creon's son killed himself out of grief for Antigone, and Creon's wife kills herself after her son dies.
I think the tragedy of this story comes from Creon's failure to save his loved ones. In the end, he tries to change his erroneous ways, only to be too late. I think this story matches up well to my current understanding of tragedy. The only thing different about this particular tragedy compared to Oedipus was that the "hero" (Antigone was the main character but wasn't the one tragedy happened to) had a flaw that brought on his downfall. In this case, it was Creon's inability to listen to the advice of others, as he could have prevented all of this by seeing his error sooner through listening to Antigone and Haimon.
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AuthorSuch sad. Much tragedy. Wow. ArchivesCategories |