Aristotle's Poetics is a “reservoir of themes and patterns deployed in the tragedy and poetry of ancient Greece” (Poetics iii). Written around 330 BC, it was the first literary work to distinguish the various literary genres and provide an adequate analysis. In the Poetics Aristotle places great emphasis on the genre of tragedy. When you hear the word tragedy, you already assume that something bad has happened to an individual and you experience an immediate emotion of grief, but how does Aristotle view tragedy? Aristotle gives us his formal definition of tragedy on page 10: “Tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in a language embellished with all kinds of artistic ornamentation, the different types are found in separate parts of the work; in the form of action; through pity and fear carrying out the right purification of these emotions. He continues by explaining all the components that make up the tragedy. A tragedy must have two parts: complication and unraveling (also known as epilogue). Aristotle delves into this topic and talks about four types of tragedy: “the Complex, which depends entirely on the reversal of the situation and recognition; the Pathetic (where the motive is passion); the Ethical (where the motivations are ethical). The fourth type is Simple. Antigone is Sophocles' Greek tragedy in which we see a woman as the main character. Antigone is part of the “Thebes saga” which deals with Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Made around 442 BC, we see the children of Oedipus deal with what fate has brought to them. Antigone faces the conflict regarding the burial of her brother, which would have happened despite an order given by a selfish ruler, Creon. In Antigone, a s...... middle of paper ......vice of the Chorus (Thebes) and tries to remedy all the chaos he has created. Unfortunately, the time was too late and more emerged that Creon was able to handle. Creon, coward that he is, sends himself with a messenger to free Antigone. Antigone has already committed suicide and Haemon, seeing his bride dead, kills himself too. Eurydice, his wife, finds out about Haemon and kills herself too. Creon, the ruler who once had everything, now has nothing. His passion for pride and government turned out to be tragic and his life subsequently had nothing left to live for. Sophocles was able to incorporate poetics into his tragedy of Antigone. We see two different characters, moved with two different purposes: one ethical and one pathetic. Through complication and unraveling we see how Antigone embodies the foundations of what a Greek tragedy is.