Essay on Oedipus and Play Antigone

Submitted By charliee3

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Antigone Essay

People of power such as kings are often forced to choose between family and law. In the play Antigone, Creon has to make such a decision. He issues the edict to outlaw the burial of his traitor nephew, Poleneices. Creon makes all of his decisions based on his pride and his he position as the king. In Antigone, Sophocles uses characterization to emphasize that “There is no happiness where there is no wisdom.” (Sophocles, 767) and that too much pride is never good.
"Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust." (Sophocles, 767) Creon was once full of pride, that was until his talk with Teiresias. Teiresias told Creon about his fate, which was not going to end well for him unless he did the right thing and let Antigone be free. On his way to the vault to release her, his own son attempted to stab him, when he failed, he turn around and killed himself. In the end, Creon had lost everything that mattered to him.
"Proud men in old age learn to be wise." (Sophocles, 767) This quote was said by Chorgus after Creon has realized he has brought around his own downfall. In Antigone, Sophocles eleborates on how Creon thinks he is always right and that no ones opinion is more important than his own. He was being stubborn. Towars the end of the play he realizes he was wrong and he must fix things before his own fate turns against him. He becomes wiser. "Creon was happy once...And now it has all gone from him!" (Sophocles) This shows that everything was going

Creon's Role In Oedipus

Throughout the plays Antigone and Oedipus The King we see the role of the chorus play a major part. The main characters constantly have conversations with the chorus, and the chorus provides advice, asks questions, serve as a jury, and take many other roles in the plays. The chorus in the Antigone is much more judgemental of Creon than the chorus in Oedipus The King, because we see Creon doing what he wants over seeking advice from people, yet Oedipus listens to his people. In Oedipus The King, the…

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Antigone The Role Of Fate In Oedipus

1. With reference to the text, compare the role of fate in Oedipus the King and The Eumenides. Explain what the idea of fate shows us about human nature and/or the situation of choice. It is acceptable for this answer to treat the Furies as ‘human’ rather than ‘god’ but you can also think of them as gods. The role of fate in Oedipus the King and The Eumenides correlates with one another because it is pre-determined that Oedipus and Orestes would kill their parents. The concepts of Greek philosophy…

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Oedipus And Antigone Analysis

Even though Sophocles wrote approximately 123 plays, only seven of them have survived. Two of these seven plays are Oedipus the King and Antigone, which both have very similar themes. Oedipus the King takes place in a city called Thebes where a plague occurs. The king of Thebes, Oedipus, is trying to save his city, trying to figure out what is causing these tragic events, but he is blind to the fact that he is the problem. In the play Antigone, Creon, the new king, has a tragic flaw very similar…

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Free Will In Antigone

Oedipus killed his own father, the king of Thebes, without knowing it was actually his father and then married his mother, Iocaste. Together they had four children; including a girl named Antigone-- from which the play gets it's namesake-- who is the heroine of the play discussed in this essay. When Oedipus discovered who he was and what he had done he left the kingdom and cut out his own eyes. Iocaste’s cousin, Creon, took over as King of Thebes. Creon manipulated Oedipus’ two sons, Eteocles and…

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Suicide In Sophocles Antigone

In Sophocles’ tragedies Oedipus Rex and Antigone, suicide is eminent in the story when a main character committed suicide it cause other character’s to do the same thing. From Oedipus’s wife/mother, Jocasta hanging herself when Oedipus finds out that he married his own mother and murdered his own father causing him to stab his eyes out. The deaths of Eteocles and Polyneices unintentionally causing Iseme to refuse to help Antigone bury Polneices, Antigone to commit suicide, causing her fiancé Haemon…

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Oedipus Rex Analysis

Oedipus the King How is the riddle of the Sphinx a metaphor for the life of Oedipus? Why then is it ironic that Oedipus solved the riddle? How does Oedipus’ revelation of the riddle of the Sphinx further support the perspective of Oedipus as the archetypal tragic man? The riddle that the Sphinx poses parallels Oedipus’s own rise and fall. When he is young, he crawls as all toddlers crawl. As an adult, he walks on two legs. However, after he learns about his background, he blinds himself and has…

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Essay on HIST Dropbox 2

Charlie Steen HIST 101 Assignment #1 In my opinion the Theban Plays, Antigone, Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Calonna were all so very horrifying. Sophocles is the author of The Theban Plays who also wrote several more. It was said that he was concerned with the individual struggle people had with fate. Each of his stories involves a lesson that he wanted to teach the audience. Still to this day the lessons can be taught to people. The plays would include fate, loyalty, courage, politics, religion and…

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Theme in Anitgone Essay

of Antigone The Theban Trio logy tragedies were written to be performed at the Great Dionysus, a festival held in honor goddess Dionysus the goddess of fertility, theater, and wine, in Athens. Attending these plays was considered a civic duty and even criminals were let out of jail to attend. Antigone won Sophocles first prize at the festival and was an enormous success. The is one of the series in the Theban Trilogy which are the stories of Oedipus. Antigone sets after the story of Oedipus Rex…

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Oedipus Rex And Antigone Critical Lens Essay

Knowing the future can destroy a character’s life. In Oedipus Rex and Antigone by Sophocles, Laios, Oedipus, and Creon try to break free from their known destinies because they are too proud, and this leads to their overall downfall. In both plays, the characters hear prophecies that they instantly deny. By trying to alter the inevitable, they cause more suffering for themselves and the people around them. In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Iocaste, Oedipus’ wife, describes how Laios received a prediction…

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Antigone Essay

The Oedipus myth was well known even in Sophocles’ day, so his audience already knew what would happen at the end of Antigone. The contrast between what the audience knows and what the characters know sets up the tension, the dramatic irony. However, Sophocles uses dramatic license and adds events that are not found in any previous account of the myth, including the quarrels between Antigone and Ismene, Antigone’s two attempts to bury Polynices, Antigone’s betrothal to Haemon, the entombment of Antigone…

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