Tragedy

Antigone is one of the more famous tragedies ever to be written. Sophocles' play
has served as a model for countless other playwrights over the years.
Interestingly, though, it does differ from the model that Aristotle sets out in his
tragic how-to manual Poetics.
Antigone differs from Aristotle's model in that it is the antagonist (not the
protagonist as in Oedipus) Creon, who experiences peripeteia and anagnorisis.
This leads some to believe that he's the real tragic hero here instead of his niece.
Some people even argue that they both are tragic heroes. The lack of agreement
on this key issue makes it pretty clear that the play doesn't fit all that neatly into
Aristotle's definition.
The play does, however, meet Aristotle's other criteria. The action of the play has
universal ramifications. The characters are of proper stature for tragedy. Both
Creon and Antigone are of noble birth and both fall hard in the play. Both
characters have a hamartia, a tragic error or flaw. With both Antigone and her
uncle, their immense stubbornness and pride bring about their downfall.
Antigone like Oedipus the King also has the distinct cause and effect that
Aristotle so admired. Each event brings on the next. The action of the play is a
neat and orderly progression to catastrophe.

Peripeteia: A sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances, esp. in

reference to fictional narrative.

Anagnorisis: the critical moment of recognition or discovery, especially

preceding peripeteia.
IT is a moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical
discovery. Anagnorisis originally meant recognition in its Greek context, not only
of a person but also of what that person stood for. It was the hero's sudden
awareness of a real situation, the realisation of things as they stood, and finally,
the hero's insight into a relationship with an often antagonistic character in
Aristotelian tragedy