The play, "Antigone" by Sophocles is a classic example of a tragedy. In spite of the title of the play, it is clear that the protagonist is Creon, Antigone's uncle. Creon's tragic flaw was his stubbornness, and his abuse of power. He was unable to even compromise on the decision of the fate of Antigone's brother. He abuses his power by refusing to have a burial for rebels, and when he decides to have Antigone buried underground to starve to death. It's this tragic flaw that then causes the deaths of Creon's wife and son. This is clearly an example of a tragedy because the protagonist had a tragic flaw, which then caused the fall of him.
A common action that seems to be apparent in a lot of the tragedies we have read is suicide. The suicide usually takes place in conclusion to the fall of the tragic hero. For example, in "Oedipus the King" Jocasta commits suicide by hanging herself in response to finding out that Oedipus was her son. In "Antigone," Antigone commits suicide because she knew she was going to die in the tomb anyways. After finding Antigone dead, her fiance, Haemon, then kills himself. Haemon's mother then finds him dead and kills herself too. All of these suicides are caused by and ultimately affect the tragic hero. It's almost as if it's karma.
Tragedies are also very unpredictable. It's easy to believe you have the story figured out when all of a sudden the plot twists. Once Antigone was sentenced to be buried underground, I could maybe guess that she'd commit suicide, but the other two deaths were completely taken by surprise to me. It made sense after we finished the play because that would mean Creon was left by himself, but during the play the thought hadn't even crossed my mind. I actually thought the play was basically over after Antigone had killed herself. That is a huge difference between Tragedies and other works of literature. With literary fiction, the reader expects the story to end with all loose ends tied and everyone living happily ever after in order to feel content. However with tragedies, the reader doesn't have any expectations because there are no "rules". Tragedies don't end with the loose ends tied, nor do they end with a happy ending. Because of this, the reader has no idea what kind of twists are going to happen within the story.
A common action that seems to be apparent in a lot of the tragedies we have read is suicide. The suicide usually takes place in conclusion to the fall of the tragic hero. For example, in "Oedipus the King" Jocasta commits suicide by hanging herself in response to finding out that Oedipus was her son. In "Antigone," Antigone commits suicide because she knew she was going to die in the tomb anyways. After finding Antigone dead, her fiance, Haemon, then kills himself. Haemon's mother then finds him dead and kills herself too. All of these suicides are caused by and ultimately affect the tragic hero. It's almost as if it's karma.
Tragedies are also very unpredictable. It's easy to believe you have the story figured out when all of a sudden the plot twists. Once Antigone was sentenced to be buried underground, I could maybe guess that she'd commit suicide, but the other two deaths were completely taken by surprise to me. It made sense after we finished the play because that would mean Creon was left by himself, but during the play the thought hadn't even crossed my mind. I actually thought the play was basically over after Antigone had killed herself. That is a huge difference between Tragedies and other works of literature. With literary fiction, the reader expects the story to end with all loose ends tied and everyone living happily ever after in order to feel content. However with tragedies, the reader doesn't have any expectations because there are no "rules". Tragedies don't end with the loose ends tied, nor do they end with a happy ending. Because of this, the reader has no idea what kind of twists are going to happen within the story.