When is anagnorisis in 'Antigone'?

Answer 1

It is when Antigone realizes that she is dying because she obeys the gods and when Creon realizes that he is the source of the problems in Thebes that anagnorisis takes place in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term anagnorisis describes the discovery of a truth. Theban Princess Antigone makes the realization that she is sentenced to death precisely because she does what she is supposed to: obey divine law and respect the gods. Shortly thereafter, her uncle Creon makes the realization that he is the cause of the pestilence and three suicides in Thebes.

Answer 2

Anagnorisis takes place when Creon realizes that his tragic flaw of pride initiated the death of his son and his wife. At the news of his wife’s death, Creon states,

Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish.

I have killed my son and my wife.

I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead

Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing.

Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust. (5. 1034-1038).

The recognition that he has been impulsive and that he was the cause of his wife’s and son's death is an example of anagnorisis. Anagnorisis enhances the story because Creon finally acknowledges his fatal flaw, hubris.