Tragic hero characterization in Agamemnon and Antigone

"Pity and Awe, reconciliation, exaltation and a sense of emotion purged and purified thereby"1. As this quote from Aristotle's Poetics states, a tragedy must arouse feelings of pity and fear, thus producing a catharsis of these emotions in the audience. In order to arouse the emotions of the audience or reader, writers must produce characters that are known as tragic heroes. A tragic hero is characterized as the hero of a tragedy who is usually …

…cause Agamemnon does not. Sophocles proved that there can be two opposing tragic heroes in a tragedy where neither side wins. These writers produced characters that compare and contrast. 1 Aristotle 2 Agamemnon by Aeschylus; translated by Robert Fitzgerald; pg.133 lns794-797 3 Antigone by Sophocles; translated by Robert Fitzgerald and Dudley Fitts pg. 527 lns 5 Scene 4 4 Agamemnon by Aeschylus; translated by Robert Fitzgerald; pg159 ln 1370-1371 5 Antigone by Sophocles; translated by Robert Fitzgerald and Dudley Fitts pg.495 ln. 35 1