"Hubris", a Tragic Imperfection
A Greek tragedy is not simply a story that ends oddly or disastrously, it is more a story of a character that brings tragedy upon them by clashing directly against a higher authority. Whether the higher authority is society, the law or the gods, many times the character's main fault is hubris, a theme that is present in many Greek tragedies. The hubris theme is described as a character's journey toward their ill fate because of their arrogance. In fact, hubris is originated from two Greek words meaning "arrogantly blind". Whatever the cause of this arrogance, the character's ultimate downfall is inevitable and irreversible, because it usually ends with death. In Sophocles' Antigone, there are several characters that possess some type of imperfection which consequently is directly responsible for their tragic downfall. The character that fits directly into this class of arrogance is Antigone, who continually refuses to accept her status and ultimately her fate. The hubris of her character comes in the form of pride and ignorance, fueled by her loyalty to her family. This is reflected very clearly when referring to her brother she says "I never shall be found to be his traitor" (ll. 46). In the century after Sophocles, many Greek
In both cases, Antigone had some type of justification to disobey and rebel against Creon. Each case exemplified a different type of reason for her to be proud. The first was for her to stay loyal to her family by putting her love for her brother above everything, including her own life. The second reason of her pride was her desire to rebel against the gender issue that oppressed her. Her pride in many ways could easily be viewed as honorable by someone in our time but in actuality it is her pride that is interpreted as the "hubris" of her character. Her pride is the characteristic she is the most arrogantly defending, she shows this when she refuses to back down at all costs. It leaves one wondering how her most leader like characteristic is transformed into her biggest weakness. As stated before Greek tragedies told stories of characters who conflict with some type of higher authority. Athenian tragedies simply told stories that were intended to teach social and religious lessons. They were designed to show the right and wrong paths in life. Defiance was therefore intolerable by all entities, whether divine or not. Defiance was also believed to be the direct result of liberation from common thought. Antigone's unrelenting defiance was the result of the pride in doing what she believed in. Antigone's gender also had many affects on the meanings of her actions. She was further compelled to rebel because she was a woman, and she did not repress her pride and determination because of her gender. Such fearless determination especially by a woman in Sophocles' time was unheard of. This is illustrated when Creon admitted to having to do away with Antigony especially because he refused to be defied by a woman. Confronting Antigone he says "Then go down there; if you must love; and love the dead. No woman rules me while I live" (ll. 525-526). The freedom of Greek women as illustrated was very limited, and a case like Antigon
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Approximate Word count = 1304
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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