Anouilh uses the contrasting concepts of beauty and ugliness throughout Antigone to illustrate his definition of tragedy. The obviously beautiful Ismene is constantly compared to more unconventionally beautiful Antigone. While everyone expects Haemon to be in love with Ismene, he instead asks Antigone; while everyone describes Ismene as being beautiful, the children stare at Antigone whenever she walks by. There is this ambiguity that surrounds Antigone and her level of beauty. Creon, on page 43, says that Antigone is ugly for yelling about the futility of hope; Antigone counters this by saying that one only becomes beautiful after all hope has been extinguished and all questions answered, like her father at the end of his life. This idea of beauty-after-anguish conforms to the definition of tragedy that Anouilh presented earlier in the play through Chorus, in that"nothing is in doubt and everyone's destiny is known. That makes for tranquility" (24). Anouilh is, at this point in the novel, using this contrast of beauty and ugliness to parallel the ideas of hope and futility. Those who are beautiful in Antigone's way are also hopelessly trapped, where there are no questions about their destiny or their death. They are peaceful, at rest, tranquil, and beautiful.
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