Antigone and Ismene :: English Literature Essays

Antidone for(p) and IsmeneTragic heroes are generally people of postgraduate social stature with a tragic flaw that usually manifests itself in the form of poor judgment and arrogance, condemning the hero to a fatal end and establishing the characters destiny. Antigone is a tragic heroine deeply conflicted in the midst of her virtue and her hubris, personifying courage in her civil disobedience against criminal leadership. A product of incest, her very existence is shameful, but perhaps this is why Antigone has such a burning desire for righteousness. She has great regard for following tradition, and a compulsion to follow these traditions even at the cost of her own life. pay is one of her qualities and she is ready to die for what she believes in. She shows disdain for Ismenes cowardice and aspiration to be a fair-weather friend. Her reprisals against traitors are especially fiery. Her concern for family becomes almost an edematous obsession, and her selflessness is soon sho wn to be madness and self-infliction. Being a tragic heroine, she shows excellence of character and bravery, but her fatal flaw is that her will to enthral the gods is greater than her will to preserve her own life. In the end, uncompromised rigidity is her downfall. She obeys the laws of the gods and is perfunctory about the mortal laws penalty, her own death. Antigone does not recognise the need to act according to humanitys place in the scheme in things, ones pleasing of the gods should continue up until the point when it puts ones life in danger. Our heroine shows hubris by breaking the rule of the fortunate mean, not because she is egotistical, but because her head gets in the clouds when she believes herself to be a naughty and mighty enforcer of virtue. This is a form of arrogance, which Zeus despises. Her conception of rightness is so rigid that she puts herself in harms way, which is not at all honorable in the eyes of the Greeks. Her holier than thou quest has gone to o far, and she is stubborn and irrational, lacking the common sense the Greeks so valued. unitary example of Antigones extremely twisted vision of unbending idealism is when she told Ismene she wouldnt care if she yelled incriminations about the burial from the rooftops, an unnecessary high temperature and clear disregard of moderation. The exact opposite of her sister, Ismene is, according to Greek effected wisdom of the time, functioning ideally in her moderation, aware that it is vital not to overstep her boundaries in the overall scheme of things.