ESSAY ABOUT DRAMA: TRAGIC HERO

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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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