With the city stricken with a plague, a king will try to save it by finding the murder of the previous king. A truth will uncover the mystery behind the murder and reveal the current king’s past as false. This story is a simplified version of the play Oedipus the King and the play before sequel the play Antigone, both written by Sophocles. Both these stories have a theme that can relate to the both of them. The character Oedipus from Oedipus the King, Creon from Antigone, and the plot of Oedipus the King display the theme of sight vs. blindness, in which a respected person makes an error in judgment in the plays Antigone and Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles.
The character Oedipus from the book Oedipus the King displays the theme of sight
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blindness, Creon from the play Antigone supports the theme in Sophocles’ play through indirect characterization. Primarily, the whole conflict of Antigone revolved around the decree made by Creon to stop anyone from burying Polynices. Followed by everyone, Creon made the policy with the rule that Polynices received no “grave or any mourning” (Sophocles, Antigone 7).With no burial for Polynices, Antigone set out to bury him herself, which will lead to death of her family because of Creon’s actions. As Creon made the mistake of thinking that his law surpassed the Greek gods’ law of a proper burial, which will lead to the death of his family and the suffering of Thebes. Additionally, another instance happened when Haemon entered the room and started to argue with his father Creon. Filled with emotions of disagreement and anger, Antigone would not “be the only one to die” as Haemon announced his own suicide to Creon (Sophocles, Antigone 19). Haemon said that one more would die referring to himself. However, Creon made the mistake of assuming that it meant him and angrily sent him off to his death, unaware of the rash decision of suicide. In summary, with determined citizens of Thebes that want the burial of Polynices to happen, they called Teiresias to convince Creon to bury Polynices. Prophesying the consequences, Teiresias told Creon that it would not “be long before [Creon’s] house” develop[ed] into a house filled with grief of death …show more content…
blindness in which the smartest person made an error in judgment as seen with the characters Oedipus from Oedipus the King, Creon from Antigone, and the plot of Oedipus the King. Oedipus reflected the theme of sight vs. blindness as a king who discovered the truth that caused his downfall because he decided to pursue it. Creon displayed the theme of sight vs. blindness by existing as a king who made a decision not to bury Polynices, which led to the death of his family. Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King exhibited the theme of sight vs. blindness by the story revolving around a king, determined to find the truth, led his own downfall caused by the founding of the truth. With the king having found the truth, it led to the suicide of his wife and king wandering in exile as a blind man. The story continued as the sons of the king fight for the throne and both die. The new king orders a decree not to bury one of the sons; this decree will cause death of the new King’s family and suffering for the
In the play when Oedipus asks Teiresias to reveal the murderer of King Laois, Teiresias blames Oedipus as the murderer and Oedipus denies the blame and gets angry on Teiresias. The chorus even denies the blame on Oedipus and takes Oedipus’ side. The chorus says the following lines to protect Oedipus “This is the king who solved the famous riddle, and towered up, most powerful of men. No mortal eyes but looked on him with envy, Yet in the end ruin swept over him”(Freud 988). Oedipus on the other hand who is really mad at Teiresias blames him and Creon for plotting against him. As Oedipus was blind from the start he was unaware of his origins which will cause him to trigger the unavoidable chain of events that would lead to the fulfilment of the prophecy. But he didn’t knew the fate itself was unavoidable. The irony of theme sight and blindness is produced here when Oedipus is compared to Teiresias. Oedipus who is not blind and has the capability to see with both of his eyes doesn’t finds anything wrong in killing a man, who he later discovers was King Laois and his group. He even took over the throne of Thebes and was found to be lying with his mother thinking her as his wife and having babies with her. On the other hand is Teiresias who is really blind and unable to see than...
The opening events of the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, quickly establish the central conflict between Antigone and Creon. Creon has decreed that the traitor Polynices, who tried to burn down the temple of gods in Thebes, must not be given proper burial. Antigone is the only one who will speak against this decree and insists on the sacredness of family and a symbolic burial for her brother. Whereas Antigone sees no validity in a law that disregards the duty family members owe one another, Creon's point of view is exactly opposite. He has no use for anyone who places private ties above the common good, as he proclaims firmly to the Chorus and the audience as he revels in his victory over Polynices.
Not understanding or listening to the opinion of others can frequently have unfortunate consequences and even lead to tragedy. In the play, Antigone, written by Sophocles, the two main characters, Antigone and Creon, both failed to listen which led to the death of several people. It was exhibited how important it is to acknowledge the truth and this was the central theme of the play. The conflict between Antigone and Creon started because they had opposing viewpoints of whether or not Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, should have been buried after he died in battle. Antigone strongly believed that Polyneices should have because it was the law of the gods and they are eternal, while man’s laws are not. However, Creon, on the other hand,
“Blindness”, the state in which someone is unwilling or unable to perceive or understand. This definition becomes the underlying motif in Steven Spielberg’s, “Minority Report” and Sophocles’, “Oedipus the King” as both protagonists struggle to come to terms with their actions and the reality they have put themselves in. Both the film and play employ the use of blindness through loss of vision and physical sight but also through the understanding of the past and future killings which predominate the storyline. In some aspects central elements of play are not only featured but emphasized in the film. Particularly, the film shares emphasis on symbolic vision of committing a murder, balancing on a pedestal of future, fate, and freewill.
Antigone, as a character, is extremely strong-willed and loyal to her faith. Creon is similarly loyal, but rather to his homeland, the city of Thebes, instead of the gods. Both characters are dedicated to a fault, a certain stubbornness that effectively blinds them from the repercussions of their actions. Preceding the story, Antigone has been left to deal with the burden of her parents’ and both her brothers’ deaths. Merely a young child, intense grief is to be expected; however, Antigone’s emotional state is portrayed as frivolous when it leads her to directly disobey Creon’s orders. She buries her brother Polynices because of her obedience to family and to the gods, claiming to follow “the gods’ unfailing, unwritten laws” (Sophocles 456-457). CONTINUE
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...
The cover up of Creon in a golden blanket, blinded and trapped, shown in the production of Antigone by the Wilma theatre implicates Creon 's blindness. He cannot see that his actions upon setting the law to prohibit any citizen from giving Polynikes a proper burial is against the law of the gods and many objections of his people. He blinded himself in his golden blanket of sovereign power as the king of Thebes that whatever he does is for the good of his kingdom. As Antigone points out to him many of the citizens shares her thought that Polynikes needs a proper burial but they “trim their tongues to [Creon]” because they do not want to disobey the law (Antigone 219). How could he, Creon, not learn from the mistake of Oedipus? Has he not
Creon’s rise to the throne and Teiresias’ expert skills in being a clairvoyant intertwined the sight motif into this quote by Teiresias, “A blind man, who has his eyes now; a penniless man, who is rich now.” Teiresias played a key role in this play, a blind clairvoyant who advised Oedipus on his fate, told him about his prophecy for him. The sight motif makes the audience feel that Teiresias is the one who is well-sighted and Oedipus the one blind. Oedipus was blind to terror and his mistakes he made. The penniless man is used to describe Creon, who once was a nobody in the beginning, and he rose to the throne and became king in Exodos.
The crux of the play, the causal factor to all the following events is how the new King Creon deals with the dead traitor Polynices, brother of Antigone. The decree not to bury the corpse must be considered from the viewpoint of a 5th Century Athenian, watching this play. The Antigone was written during a time of great strife for the city of Athens and they were in the middle of their conflict with the Spartans. At a time such as this , concern for the city was foremost in a citizen's mind. Creon's decree not to bury him at this stage then is right. Essentially not burying a body, any body, is an offence to the gods, and the persons spirit will not be able to go down to the underworld and cross the River Styx and Archeron. However, the Greeks believed that for some the sentence was deserved. The sentence of non-burial is appropriate in this case, as the Greeks believed that "those convicted of sa...
In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters' attitudes change from close-minded to open-minded. It is their close-minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultimately to a series of deaths. In the beginning Antigone is a close minded character who later becomes open minded. After the death of her brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. He decides that Eteocles will receive a funeral with military honors because he fought for his country. However, Polyneices, who broke his exile to " spill the blood of his father and sell his own people into slavery", will have no burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon's unjust actions and says, " Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." She vows to bury her brother so that his soul may gain the peace of the underworld. Antigone is torn between the law placed against burying her brother and her own thoughts of doing what she feels should be done for her family. Her intent is simply to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial so that she will follow "the laws of the gods." Antigone knows that she is in danger of being killed for her actions and she says, "I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me." Her own laws, or morals, drive her to break Creon's law placed against Polyneices burial. Even after she realizes that she will have to bury Polyneices without the help of her sister, Ismene, she says: Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of deaths-death without honor. Here Ismene is trying to reason with Antigone by saying that she cannot disobey the law because of the consequences. Antigone is close-minded when she immediately tells her to go away and refuses to listen to her. Later in the play, Antigone is sorrowful for her actions and the consequences yet she is not regretful for her crime. She says her crime is just, yet she does regret being forced to commit it.
In Oedipus the King, Sophocles uses Oedipus and various other characters to convey the theme of blindness. King Oedipus ruled over Thebes, after solving the Sphinx’s riddle. After Oedipus is victorious over the sphinx, Oedipus becomes swollen with hubris leading into his figurative and literal blindness throughout the book. The author, Sophocles uses a blind seer to convey the sense that a physically blind man can know more about the issues concerning Thebes over their respected rulers Oedipus, and Jocasta who were not physically blind like the blind seer. Oedipus was not only just blind to the issues concerning Thebes he was blind to almost everything else. Then when the truth comes out blindness is even emphasized more with Oedipus blinding his self physically. His hubris is caused by many things one may be him thinking he has evaded his cursed prophecy, and even having his own townspeople pray to him as if he were one of the God’s. Blindness in Oedipus Rex was both literal and figurative. People can be physically blind as well as be blinded by the truth figuratively.
Ironically, this causes the king to gouge out his eyes, which have been blind to the truth for so long. He screams, You, you'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind from this hour on! Blind in the darkness—blind! Oedipus furthers Sophocles' sight metaphor when he defends his decision to humble himself through blindness: "What good were eyes to me?
In Antigone, Creon becomes king of Thebes after Polynices and Eteocles commit fratricide in battle. Antigone commits her ‘crime of reverence(74)' by burying Polynices after a direct order from Creon dictating that everyone leave him on the ground, unburied. Creon first accuses the council of elders of being stupid and old (281) when they suggest that the gods were behind Polynices' burial. After this, he goes on a tirade against men who supposedly were not happy with his leadership and therefore paid off the watchmen to bury the body. Creon blames the watchman of burying the body for money and the watchman tells him that, "It's terrible when false judgment guides the judge (323)."
People can be “blinded” to the truth. The answer to their question or solution to their problem may have been obvious. Yet, they could not "see" the answer. They were blinded to the truth. Associations have been made between being blind and enlightened. A blind person is said to have powers to see invisible things. They "see" into the future. The blind may not have physical sight, but they have another kind of vision. In Sophocles' King Oedipus, Teiresias, the blind prophet, presents the truth to King Oedipus and Jocasta. Oedipus has been blinded to the truth his whole life. When he does find the truth, he loses his physical vision. Because of the truth, Oedipus blinds himself. Jocasta was blind to the true identity of Oedipus. Even when she found out the truth, she refused to accept it. In this case, those who are blind ultimately do have a higher vision - the truth.
Ancient Greeks cared deeply about the pursuit of knowledge. Although the truth was often a terrifying concept, they still saw it as a critical virtue. One of the main underlying themes in Oedipus the King is the struggle of sight vs. blindness. Oedipus’ blindness is not just physical blindness, but intellectual blindness as well. Sophocles has broken blindness into two distinct components. The first component, Oedipus's ability to "see" (ignorance or lack thereof), is a physical characteristic. The second component is Oedipus's willingness to "see", his ability to accept and understand his fate. Throughout the play, Sophocles demonstrates to us how these components.