- Does hamartia apply to Antigone? What might her flaw be?
- Does this apply to other characters? Is she actually the hero in this play? What arguments do you see that suggest she might not be? Why wouldn’t she be a good tragic hero?
- Pick a passage, and do some close reading. Look for both hamartia, and dramatic irony in this play.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Hamartia
The great Greek dramatic critic, Aristotle, suggested that all tragic heroes suffer from a single failure in personality or nature that brings about their downfall. The Greek word for this is hamartia—we call it a tragic flaw. Recent critics have suggested that hamartia is not supposed to be interpreted as a personality flaw, but a lack of knowledge or understanding of an event.
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I think hamartia applies to Antigone. To me, her "flaw" appears to be her deep love for her brother and desire to fulfill traditions. She knew that she was going against the decree when she buried her brother, but she did it anyway for her brother. She didn't do it just to rebel against the decree - she buried him because that was how she was raised to treat the dead. She was too young and naive to accept that there could have been any other way to handle her brother's burial. Her single mindset was to go and bury her brother - not to talk with Creon about it or even Haemon. Even when she's talking to Ismene at the beginning, she's just asking for help. She's not asking if she should do it or not - Antigone knows she's going to do it.
I mostly agree with Meshell. I think that hamartia applies very much to Antigone. She can see nothing else except the task in front of her.She loved her brother very much, but I think even more than she loved him she felt a duty to him. This duty rose above any duty she may have felt to abide by the laws of her uncle, King Creon. By placing herself in this situation and not listening to any around her, she developed a flaw in her reasoning.
I believe that Hamartia definitely applies to Antigone. One of her flaws was definitely that she allowed the feelings within her to overwhelm her sense of reason. She may have been raised to perform certain burial rituals for the dead, but there will always be laws, decrees, and leaders that one must follow. She may have loved her brother, but sacrificing herself does not do anything to change his death. Another flaw is certainly that she allows stubbornness to overcome her sense of self-preservation. Once she commits to burying her brother, she refuses to listen to anyone else, or even attempt to reason with anyone. She becomes so obsessed with the idea that she actually begins to look forward to death.
"Another flaw is certainly that she allows stubbornness to overcome her sense of self-preservation. Once she commits to burying her brother, she refuses to listen to anyone else, or even attempt to reason with anyone. She becomes so obsessed with the idea that she actually begins to look forward to death."
Wow... I think this is a very good point. There is a fine line there. It's hard to say whether she gave up or not. Showing concern for her own life may have come across as selfish or uncommitted. However, Antigone did gain a sense of martyrdom. She seemed to begin to think of herself as dying for a noble cause when really she probably could have had her life and what she wanted if she'd only approached the situation differently.
That is exactly the point I was trying to get to! "Martyrdom"....that's the word I was looking for! Antigone basically saw two roles that she could play....the selfish sister, or the martyr....and she chose the latter. She didn't even stop to think "hey! This guy is my uncle...I could totally talk to him, and possibly get this worked out". Instead, she just dove right off the deep end and gave up before it even began.
So how reasonable does Creon seem? Would he have listened to her?
By the way, leaving the dead unburied was a big violation of religious belief. It's hard for me to even come up with an analogy for modern culture.
I understand that this was HIGHLY important to her and her people and that what Creon ordered was COMPLETELY unreasonable for them. Also, he does not seem like a very reasonable person & the story of her family probably would not have brought him to have much sympathy for her plight. I suppose by burying him without first asking made it possible that she would not be caught whereas if she had asked first they would have automatically accused her after the burial. Still, it seems that if she had only tried another way she would have seemed slightly less suicidal. Plus, sometimes people aren't always what they seem. Perhaps Creon would have seen the light. If not, she still would have been a martyr so the outcome was the same... only difference is the steps and attitude that took her there.
I agree with Bailee. Hamartia applies to Antigone mainly because of her stubborness and unwilliness to listen to anybody. She was so set on burying her brother, that she completely lost all reason. The reader is left with the feeling that Antigone could have possibly reasoned with Creon. She was simply too stubborn and wanted to do things her own way.
I actually think that hamartia does not apply to Antigone. I believe it applies to Ismene. Wouldn't it be a flaw of her character to not go along with her sister? If she had, Creon may have decided that his decree was not morally sound. With both of them against him he may have seen that this was going to continue with others burying their dead family members.
That goes along with what Scott said. Sure Antigone had a chance to reason with Creon, but with her sisters help there might have been a better chance of getting a quicker, more gratifying response from him.
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