In Antigone, we have Antigone who is a very determined yet disobedient girl. She goes against the King Creon’s rules to bury her brother and when confronted and punished decides to kill herself. Her death led to main tragedy as her husband and mother in law both commit suicide hence leaving the King in distress and pain. Even though the story line in Antigone is very different from that of Oedipus the King, the two plays do mirror each other in a vast number of aspects. The kings, Creon and Oedipus’ desire to do right despite being warned ultimately led both of them to their doom. Their arrogance towards Teiresas, the fear of being over throned and losing their wives are mirror images of each other. Creon and Oedipus’ love for their city and desire to do what is right led them to their doom. In both plays, the city of Thebes has been going through hard times and needs order and help from the kings. Creon and Oedipus’ love for Thebes is clearly portrayed when they respectfully say, “I call God to witness that if I saw my country headed to ruin, I should not be afraid to speak out plainly.”(Scene 1.22-23) and “I shall assist you willingly in every way I would be a hard-hearted man indeed, if I did not pity …show more content…
Antigone also mirrors Oedipus in the behavior of the kings towards the oracle. Both Kings had bad tempers and when advised by the Oracle, they did not listen. The way Oedipus talks to Teiresias when he says, “Say what you will. Whatever you say is worthless” (Scene 1.147) mirrors how Creon’s words “No doubt. Speak: Whatever you say, you will not change my will.” (Scene 5. 67-68) shows their inability to accept advise. The horrible turnout of events for both kings would have been avoided if only they had listened and obeyed the oracle, but their arrogance didn’t let them, showing that the pride and confidence of both kings was a significant factor in their
The Tragic Heroes in Antigone and Julius Caesar & nbsp; & nbsp; The two plays, "Antigone" and "Julius Caesar" both contained two very similar characters. In Antigone the nobleman, Creon, claimed the throne after his nephews, heirs to Thebes, killed each other in battle. Assuming that the populous was going to find him inadequate, he laid a strict rule in order to keep the people under his control. Creon wanted Thebes to prosper and grow and was willing to do anything to achieve this. Through a chain of events, Creon killed his entire family. & nbsp; Brutus, a senator in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, claims the life of Julius Caesar in order to preserve Rome, his country and home.
Sophocles’ Antigone and Euripides’ The Bacchae are indubitably plays of antitheses and conflicts, and this condition is personified in the manifestation of their characters, each completely opposed to the other. Both tragedians reveal tensions between two permanent and irreconcilable moral codes; divine law represented by Antigone and Dionysus and human law represented by Creon and Pentheus. The central purpose is evidently the association of law which has its consent in political authority and the law which has its consent in the private conscience, the association of obligations imposed on human beings as citizens and members of state, and the obligations imposed on them in the home as members of families. Both these laws presenting themselves in their most crucial form are in direct collision. Sophocles and Euripides include a great deal of controversial material, once the reader realizes the inquiries behind their work. Inquiries that pertain to the very fabric of life, that still make up the garments of society today.
Antigone and Oedipus, written by Sophocles, are dramatic plays with a tragic ending. The main theme for Antigone is that people sometimes have to learn the hard way from their mistakes. This theme is expressed in the final four lines of the play. They read, There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; No wisdom but in submission to the gods. Big words are always punished, And proud men in old age learn to be wise. These lines are an important part of the play. They symbolize Creon's bad decisions he made, his defiance to the gods, the punishment he went through because of his edict, and the wisdom he gained because of all his mistakes. "There is no happiness where there is no wisdom" demonstrates how Creon not using wisdom in his decision affected him. By declaring that Polyneices could not have a proper burial, he went against the gods and the other citizens of Thebes's beliefs. This was not a wise decision on his part, and because of it he lost his wife, his son, and his happiness. Creon also defied the laws of the gods. This is what is expressed in the line, "No wisdom but in submission to the gods." In Antigone, the edict and decisions that Creon made demonstrated that his law was more important then the gods laws. His defiance of the laws eventually made him believe, by talking to Teirisias, that something bad would happen to him, so he gave in to his decision.
Oedipus Rex and Antigone & nbsp; There is no curse in the house of Oedipus. Because of the many terrible things that happen to the members of Oedipus's family, a reader might be led to believe that there is such a curse. However, if that person examines the stories of Oedipus Rex and Antigone more closely, he or she will find that the reason so many tragedies happened to Oedipus's family is not because of some curse, but rather because of one common thread. Each person in the line of Oedipus tries to defy authority in one way or another.
Antigone is a play about the tension caused when two individuals have conflicting claims regarding law. In this case, the moral superiority of the laws of the city, represented by Creon, and the laws of the gods, represented bt Antigone. In contrast, Oedipus The King is driven by the tensions within Oedipus himself. That play both begins and concludes within the public domain, the plot being driven by the plague that troubles the city, and which is so graphically brought to life by the Priest. In both Antigone (ll179-82) and Oedipus The King (ll29-31) the city is likened to a storm tossed ship, and it cannot be merely coincidence that Oedipus The King was written at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, a time when Athens itself was suffering the effects of plague. Oedipus The King reaches its climax with a now blinded Oedipus daring to show himself to the people of Thebes, forgetting that he is no longer the leader of the state. In Antigone, it is Creons abuse of absolute power that leads to his tragic downfall. Whilst Oedipus determinedly tried to get to the root of his peoples ills, ultimately discovering that he was in fact the cause of them, Creon morphs from a supposedly caring leader into a tyrannical despot, eager to take the law into his own hands. It is the actions of Antigone that helps to bring about Creons fall from grace, as her steadfast refusal to accept th...
Both Antigone and Oedipus, written by Sophocles, use character’s opinions and approach to leadership to show Sophocles’ ideal leadership style for a king.
The characters of Antigone fail to avoid irony alive; however Creon remains the sole target of Sophocles’s apparatus of irony. Specifically in Antigone, the attribute of Creon that sets him apart as the candidate in Sophocles’s eye for ironic tragedy is his incentive in his actions. Creon exhibits harsh irony on his part when he comments that Antigone’s death “gives him everything” (Sophocles, 709). His rebuttal is ironical, because it is ultimately Antigone’s death that vacuums all the love out of Creon’s life when he is left with no family. In that moment when Antigone, the daughter of his bother Oedipus, remains defiant to his laws, his desire for an assurance in power and uncontrollable rage drives him almost to an obsession in following through with Antigone’s death. Therefore, Creon’s incentive in an adamant vocalization of his desire for Antigone’s death is not because he truly feels that Antigone’s death justifies her “crime”, but rather that her death paves way Creon’s satisfaction with being a sovereign leader. Yet Sophocles takes his explanation to the...
Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Antigone follow the outrageous misfortunes of Oedipus and his children over the course of several generations. Throughout the events of both plays, Creon, Oedipus’ brother in law, remains a constant presence. However, Creon’s attitudes and actions change drastically between Oedipus the King and Antigone; gradually coming to mirror Oedipus himself, shifting from humility to the stubborn pride of a tyrant. Though he is the same man, Creon’s personality between the two works is so different that he can be thought of as two separate characters: Creon from Oedipus the King and Creon as he is in Antigone.
Creon does not learn a lesson from Oedipus' accusatory behavior. Instead he adapts this bad personality trait. Throughout Antigone, he accuses everyone who tries to give him advice of betraying him. Whereas, in Oedipus, he is falsely accused by Oedipus of trying to take over the throne. This paper will compare and contrast his behavior and evaluate if he learned anything from one play to the next.
Oedipus has the leadership quality of serving others. “...Service to others is the highest honor and greatest obligation of a true leader” (Givray 2). The whole point of being a leader is to lead over the people. Everything a leader does should be for the greater good. Oedipus puts the people’s needs before his. An example from the story is, “My spirit groans for the city and myself and you at once” (Sophocles, "Oedipus" 70). Oedipus listens to the needs of the people and makes a decision based on that. However, Creon is not like this. He is more private and does not make decisions based on what they people think. In the story of Antigone, Creon usually only speaks to the Chorus, whereas Oedipus spoke to all the people that were there. Creon does what he thinks is right. Creon’s leadership quality that Oedipus does not have is that he possesses self-awareness. Self-awareness means knowing your own motives. (quote where creon says he has to kill antigone as an example). He is aware that he can save Antigone, his son’s fiancé. However, he needs to kill her so the people will know that he is serious, or else the city will not take him seriously when he gives special treatment out. These are traits that distinguish Oedipus and
According to Lines, “The flaw of hubris is easy to spot in Oedipus, but Antigone’s brilliance is so dazzling that we overlook her flaw.” (par.18) We want to root for the person that we consider being fighting for a just cause with forces fighting against her in every way. Everyone loves the underdog, and Antigone is just that. A child born to a warped family line against her will and also born a woman. At first glance, she just seems as someone who is fighting a fight that is way ahead of her time. Antigone is someone who follows her voice and does not allow others to persuade her to change her actions. Whereas, Creon does what is to be expected of him. He does not try to rock the boat. He has just gotten into the role of king and intends to keep it by maintaining happiness among the polis. In retrospect when you look deeper, Antigone is actually looking backward. In Lines article, she fails to realize that her actions actually speak of the past, something of which was addressed by Bennett and
In OC, Creon still retains some respect for divine prophecies. These have after all motivated his desire to return Oedipus to Thebes. Antigone reveals the ultimate extent to which Creon's character deteriorates. His transformation completes itself; he has become an unreasonable tyrant. Creon can no longer be called a king. He has become a despot.
In the plays Antigone and the Crito the two lead characters, Antigone and Socrates, showed completely different ideas regarding their responsibilities to the State. Antigone believes in divine law and does what she thinks that the Gods would want her to do. Socrates, on the other hand, believes that he owes it to the State to follow their laws whether he thinks they are right or not.
Although Incendies (2010), filmed by Denis Villeneuve, is the rewrite of Sophocles’ play, Oedipus The King, these two stories have their own variations in them. Both of their narratives are surrounding with the same concept: nobody could escape from their family’s history, which it has some tragedy outcomes and violence as the characters’ journey begin. Each character from Oedipus Tyrannus and Incendies responds differently obtaining knowledge about their past, and the closure of these two stories are completely diverse.
One may deduce that Antigone and Creon are somewhat alike. They both stand up for what they believe in, and never falter. Although their causes are completely different, the focus remains the same. Antigone is a hero in the eyes of the people, and Creon the bad guy. Therefore, when a dictator dies, his ordinance ends, but when a self-sacrificing individual dies, her legacy