Character Foil, Parallel Character, or Catalyst?

Each of the minor characters played an important role in Sophocles' play, Antigone. The minor characters are Ismene, Haemon, the Sentry, Tiresias, Eurydice, and the Messenger. Each character was a foil, parallel character, and/or a catalyst. The foil has an opposite personality of one of the main characters, the parallel character brings out the theme in a larger way, and the catalyst starts trouble.

In Sophocles' Antigone, Ismene is considered to be the foil to Antigone. Compared to Antigone, Ismene is cowardly; Antigone is brave. Antigone showed courage by standing up to Creon whilst Ismene wanted to obey the law instead of showing family honor. When she tried to be a part of Antigone's plan, Ismene's resistance backfired because Antigone became just as stubborn to not let her help after the first lost cause.

Haemon was a character foil to Creon and also a catalyst. Haemon was calm compared to how Creon overreacted repeatedly. He was a catalyst due to the fact that he killed himself after Antigone hanged herself. When Haemon committed suicide, his mother, Eurydice, stabbed herself to death because by this time both of her sons were dead. Eurydice blamed everything on Creon.

The Sentry was a catalyst. The Sentry told Creon that Polyneices recieved a proper burial. At first they had no clue who did it, but then the Sentry saw Antigone by the burial and caught her red-handed. This caused Creon to give Antigone the death penalty.

Eurydice was a parallel character. Bringing on more death just enhanced the theme. She was also a catalyst because she brought more grief to her husband, Creon.

The Messenger was a catalyst which is pretty much self-explanatory. The messenger alerted the kingsmen that Antigone and Haemon transgressed suicide. Eurydice overheard that news and in turn went to the altar and stabbed herself to death.

Tiresias was both a parallel character and a catalyst. He was a parallel character because he was a blind prophet. He knew exactly what would happen and what the outcomes would be; he told Creon what was going to happen. Tiresias was a catalyst for a few reasons. For one thing, he indirectly put Creon onto the throne when he told Oedipus that he killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus was banished and so were his children, so, indirectly, Creon obtained the throne and became king. Because Creon became king and was a prideful jerk, Polyneices was not allowed to have a proper burial, leading to Antigone needing to break the law. Also, Tiresias caused Creon the be in fear of the gods for not giving Polyneices a proper burial. In turn, Creon buries Polyneices and tries to free Antigone, but he was too late for she had hanged herself.