Antigone Through the Eyes of Aristotle

The play Antigone, is a Greek tragedy. To most, a tragedy is able to be identified as such due to its use of plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and song. However, Aristotle takes things one step further and claims that a work can only be considered a tragedy if it evokes the the feelings of pity and fear. He singles out these two because they are the most common feelings that viewers have while witnessing a tragedy. One feels pity for people when they are not the one going through the tragedy personally, but are the ones to feel fear when they go through it themselves. Additionally, one may feel fear for the characters and their outcomes. For example, while reading I felt fear for Antigone and the future of her fate. At the same time, I felt pity for her because she is just trying to honor her dead brother.

Furthermore, Aristotle says, in a tragedy, a happy ending doesn't make us happy. In the story of Antigone there is no happy ending. I agree with Aristotle in this case because if there was a happy ending, then there would be no justice. If Antigone did not fight for her cause then the rest of Thebes would not have earned the courage to overtake Creon. A happy ending would not have been as satisfying as an ending to this story for the readers.

In our crowdsourced Glossary of Greek Words, I was assigned dikaios (righteous/just), kleos (fame/glory), and moira (a group of three goddesses who assign individual destinies to mortals at birth). Together these words do not give a clear sense of what the play is about. Dikaios can refer to the justice that Antigone is trying to get for her brother. Kleos relates to Creon and his rule over Thebes. However, when put together, the powerful fight that Antigone fought and the outcomes that come from it do not come across.