Sophocles, an ancient Greek tragedian, composed “Antigone” in 441 BCE. He tells us a
story of a young woman named Antigone whose beliefs to the Gods are rejected by Creon, the
king of Thebes, when she tries to give her dead brother Polynices a decent burial. Meanwhile,
Michael Healey composed “The Drawer Boy” in which he tells us a story of two old farmers
named Morgan and Angus, whose lives are based on myths and a secret that Morgan hides from
Angus. These two plays contain a tragic hero, but each differ in the ending.
In “Antigone”, the classical tragic hero is Creon because he comes from the highest level of
royalty; he is neither perfect nor ultimate evil but his thirst of power and pride has led him to
write his own downfall. Creon has decided to put his niece, Antigone in jail because she has
buried the body of her dead brother Polynices by honoring the gods when the laws has prohibited
it and he mentions:
But whoever steps out of line, violates the laws
or presumes to hand out orders to his superiors,
he’ll win no praise for me. But that man
the city places in authority, his orders
must be obeyed, large and small
right and wrong. (lines 746-51)
Through this quote, the readers can see that Creon does not care about her nobility even though
she is his niece and son’s bride and that he will treat her just like one any other member of
society. This also illustrates his determination to put in actions his duty to the state in order to
protect and defend his own power so that he will not be seen from the eyes of the society as an
inferior man in front of a woman. However, he recognizes his sinful acts when the blind prophet,
Tiresias comes and announces that he has set a plague on Thebes and he tells him: “then you’ve
robbed the gods below the earth,/ keeping a dead body here in the bright air/unburied, unsung,
unhallowed by the rites (1189-91). This means that he has provoked anger among them because
he has put his own pride over the fact of appreciating the gods for having Polynices’ body rot in
the fields of war. Even though he has ordered to liberate Antigone after hearing the awful news,
his choices and decisions has already decided the fates of his son, wife, and Antigone. This
would lead to the denouement when his stubbornness has caused their death and more precisely
his two beloved and he says,” Take me away, I beg you, out of sight” (1459). Through this
quote, the readers can realize that he now sees the consequences of his narrow-minded pride
when he has put in actions the duty to the states while rejecting the one of the gods. Sophocles
portrays Creon as a tragic hero by the characteristics shown throughout the story. He is a
character that is easy to relate in a number of ways because he contains many flaws which in
result causes many problems such as the loss of his entire family.
Similarly, we can say that Morgan is the tragic hero in “The Drawer Boy” because through the
play, all the lies he has told to Angus and Miles fall on him; and the secret he has hidden finally
comes out. He has created an environment for Angus that is based on lies and myths. He thinks
that he is doing well to Angus when he tells him this story every single night due to the fact he
has lost his memories after a bombing in London. Nevertheless, due to the presence of Miles in
the farm Angus starts to recover almost all of his memories after watching the play that Miles
has made about the story that Morgan tells him every night and he says,” Morgan. Hello! The
houses joined. They never got started. Did they? You said they did. I want to go to them “(559).
Through this quote, the readers can see that now Angus comes at a point where he recalls a big
part of his memories such as the houses that he has drawn before he loses his short-term
memory. This puts Morgan in a situation that he does not know how to get out because the truth
is on its way to be known. This would lead to the climax when Angus says,” You lied. You’re a
bastard” (567). This shows that Angus and Miles have found that all the stories Morgan has told
them was totally based on lies and it would lead to the denouement when Morgan explains him
what really happens during the bombing and he says,” Finally, when you were racing up the
stairs to start over again, I tackled you. I hauled you down, and we sat on the stairs, and I told
you the lie. I told you the story of the black car crashing for the first time. I told it again, and you
stopped crying. I told it again, and you fell asleep. I kept telling it’ cause it made you feel better.
Goddamn it, it made me feel better” (571). Through this quote, the readers can see that he has
told Angus this lie to protect him from the truth of what has happened to Sally after he loses his
memory. By using the words “it made me feel better”, the readers can realize that he feels guilty
of the loss of memory of Angus because during the bombing he sends him outside to take
something and by telling him this story he feels that he was alive and forgiven . We can say that
Morgan corresponds to Miller’s concept of tragic heroism because has thought that telling him
the lies and this has put him in a situation where all secrets has been said since Miles has made
the play.
In short, both stories contain a tragic hero but differs in the ending. In “Antigone” the
tragic hero, that is Creon has lost all of his family because he has dishonoured the gods and in
“The Drawer Boy”, everything that Morgan has hidden from Angus comes out because of Miles.
Perhaps, the theme that could be associated to the play of Sophocles is the punishment that the
gods have given him because he has not followed the rituals and the one that could be associated
to the one of Healey is that truth would always come out no matter what you do to hide it.
STUDY QUESTIONS: Antigone and The Drawer Boy
1. Who would you say is the hero of The Drawer Boy? Does this hero
correspond to Miller’s concept of tragic heroism? In other words, is there
any indication of displacement or indignity? How is the heroism of
Antigone different?
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