Antigone’s Underlying Aristotelian Flair
The Greek philosophers were the first to say what we’ve known to be true to ourselves in both literary, physical and visual art: art is representation. They believed that our enduring fascination with such art exists because we are, in turn, fascinated with who we are. As Aristotle argues in Poetics, his critical work concerning the qualities of poetry and ultimately that of tragic works, “representation… comes naturally to us” and is the underlying reason why audiences across the centuries still resonate with art forms, no matter the medium (Aristotle 20).
Even though representation (or mimesis) transcends the many varying forms of art, it is clear that tragedies, as exemplified by Sophocles’ Theban trilogy, are the medium best fitted to profoundly move and evoke extreme emotion within the average outward observer. Shown through its general alignment with Aristotle’s evaluative criteria of tragedy, Antigone, Sophocles’ third chronological installment in his tragic trilogy, is clearly a very successful theatrical and literary work. Despite its brief divergence from Aristotle’s interpretation of character, Antigone is an effective tragedy that adheres to the majority of Aristotle’s specific prescriptions.
At large, Antigone has a successful tragic plot structure as defined by Aristotle, as the specific actions that push this tragic play’s plot…
