Antigone, By Sophocles, The King And Oedipus

For centuries men have been finding ways to gain control over everything and everyone. One group that has been oppressed by men throughout history are women. Men have placed rules and regulations upon women making them seen as unequal and inferior. Was it fear? Was it the hunger for power? Was is the highness of superiority? Whatever the reasons were, men had to be seen as the highest being next to whom they worshiped. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the audience is exposed to the roles of men and women in an ancient Greece society known as Thebes. Although ancient Greece was a male-dominant society where women had as much freedom as a slave, Sophocles’ main character in the play, Antigone, is an example of a brave, strong-minded woman who goes against the limitations that were unfairly set upon women during that time to do what she believes is right. In this play, gender roles assists in the process of portraying the story since it affects some of the decisions of the characters and helps lead the story into the climax.

"The Landlady" is a chilling short story written by Roald Dahl. As Billy steps through the door of what he assumed looked like any ordinary bed and breakfast in an unfamiliar town he had no idea of what he was getting himself into. Dahl creates a sense of foreboding in "The LandLady" by implying that there is something more disturbing behind the lady's innocent smile. When one good thing piles on top of the other everything starts to become to good to be true. Seventeen year old Billy was on his way to a nearby pub before coming across the bed and breakfast that had captured his eyes.

Creon’s Foil “Zeus hates an arrogant boasting tongue”(lines 152-153). Antigone's words, action, and ideas contrast with Creon’s to the point of these two characters having conflicting motivations. These conflicting motivations caused the characteristics of stubbornness, disrespect, and anger to be highlighted within Creon’s character. Overall, these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by emphasizing the characteristics that all tragic heroes must have. His interactions with Antigone develops the theme by showing their distinct views.

"Ah Creon! Is there no man left in the world” (Sophocles page #). Greek theatre played a large role in Greece. The citizens were supposed to learn from the mistakes made in tragedies. The citizens should have learned what not to be like as a citizen or person. In Antigone, written by Sophocles, there are two main characters, Antigone and Creon. They are both strong willed and stubborn people. Both being unwilling to change, they both seal each other’s fate with their stubbornness, shortsightedness, extreme beliefs and their hubris.

Throughout Sophocles’ Antigone and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar the use of women within the tragedies displays and enforces the omniscient patriarchal society characterized in the plays. In Antigone the main character is a headstrong and courageous teenager who is always at the forefront of the conflict, whereas In Julius Caesar, women play no significant role throughout the tragedy, though ultimately all women in both works are subjected to and ignored by the more “dominant” sex.

Since the play’s inception, there has always existed a contention concerning the true hero of Sophocles’ Antigone. It is a widely held belief that Antigone must be the main character simply because she and the drama share name. This is, of course, a very logical assumption. Certainly Sophocles must have at least meant her to be viewed as the protagonist, else he would not have given her the play’s title. Analytically speaking, however, Creon does seem to more categorically fit the appellation of “Tragic Hero.” There is no doubt as to the nature of the work, that being tragedy. Along with this genre comes certain established prerequisites, and Creon is the only character that satisfactorily

“Zeus did not announce those laws to me. And Justice living with the gods sent no such laws for men,” (508-510) said Antigone with frustration towards Creon about the act of her burying her brother, even though it was against the law. Antigone’s words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character to the point of these two characters having conflicting motivations. These conflicting motivations cause the characteristics of stubbornness, disrespect, and anger to be highlighted within Creon’s character. Ultimately, these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by finding in himself that he is wrong about what should have been done with Polyneices’ corpse and the character interactions advance the plot and/or develop the theme by keeping a conflict between Antigone and Creon about who is right.

King Creon’s tragic flaw is hubris. He does not listen to advice given to him by the blind prophet Teiresias. When Teiresias tells Creon, “Give in to the dead man, then: do not fight with a corpse- what glory is it to kill a man who is dead? Think, I beg you: It is for your own good that I speak as I do. You should be able to yield for your own good” (Antigone 36-40). King Creon does not like the fact that the prophet believes he is wrong and should do what everyone else has so far advised him to do. He accuses Teiresias as giving him such a prophecy because of bribery from others and a hunger for gold. Hubris is also revealed from King Creon in Scene III. Creon’s son, Haemon, tells Creon that the people of Thebes believe they have never seen a girl die such a shameful death and that the people live in fear of Creon. Haemon tells Creon he also believes Antigone should have been allowed to bury Polyneices and should be set free. King Creon responds with, “You consider it right for a man of my years and experience to go to school to a boy?” (Antigone 95-96). This shows that Creon does not believe a man of such age, “wisdom”, and “experience” should listen to anyone or change because of anyone else’s

Antigone’s words, actions and ideas contrast with Creon’s characters to the point of these two characters having conflicting motivations. These Conflicting motivations cause the characteristics of abomination, discourteous, and egocentric to be highlighted within Creon’s character. Ultimately, these conflicting motivations develop Creon a tragic hero by his downfalls, how he’s been aggressive, and also when Haemon and Antigone killed their selves.

In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, the main character uses rhetoric to effectively persuade her audiences to sympathize with her. In the play, Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, dies a traitor to the Theban people. The king, Creon, decrees that no one is to bury the traitor despite the necessity of burial for proper passing into the afterlife. Believing that Creon’s decree is unjust, Antigone buries her brother. When she is brought to the king, Antigone uses this speech in defense of her actions. In the speech, she uses allusion, diction, and particular sentence structure to increase the effectiveness of her argument.

A stubborn man may rule the land, but what's in the hearts of his people will shift what's in his beloved’s hands. King Creon’s ego will be overturned when his family’s lives begin to diminish all for his own selfishness when justifying laws. As seen in Antigone by Sophocles, King Creon is a tragic figure that through his own stubbornness and pride, he promotes the suffering of not only his son, Haemon, but as well as Antigone herself, which shapes Creon’s character development and will function as a platform for the play’s tragedy to unveil . A tragedy is more than deaths and suffering, it's at the moment where one realizes that everything they've done has further doomed themselves.

The death of Antigone is truly a tragic episode in the Theban Plays, where she hung herself with a woven linen of her dress. By convention, her death would be characterized with feminine quality. However, Antigone, one of the few female characters in the book, possessed distinguishable female characteristics that are as remarkable as a male hero. Antigone was determined when she made up her mind to bury her brother. She was an agent of her words and took up the risks that accompanied to her deeds. Antigone was very passionate from the beginning to her death and she displayed tremendous courage when facing the death penalty. Moreover, Antigone, as a female individual, confronted bravely with the state and the authority of Creon. Throughout

Oedipus the King was written by Sophocles and was is titled Oedipus Rex in Latin. It is one of the most well-known Greek tragedies. As is the case with Greek tragedies—or roughly most tragedies that make their way to stage—fate plays a key role in the events in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus discovers there is a plague on his city. The only way to lift the plague is by slaying the former king’s killer. As the play’s acts unfold one discovers about the prophecy concerning Oedipus. The prophecy states that Oedipus is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. But was this just by chance or his predetermined fate.

The main character, Oedipus, in Sophocles’ play Oedipus The King is heroic in his search for the truth, just as scholar Bernard Knox states. Oedipus is faced with a decision: he can either seek out a potentially terrible truth, or ignore it and let the city of Thebes succumb to the plague that has befallen them. Oedipus chooses to search for the truth and does so heroically because he is doing it for his people rather than personal gain, he is transparent about new findings, and he will stop at nothing to find the truth.

Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, has risen many questions concerning the main character and whether or not he acts on free will or if his future is predestined by the gods. I am going to test the theory that although Oedipus believes he is acting on his own free will, he is in fact a victim of the gods. I will analyze several different sources that discuss fate and human agency in Oedipus the King and then proceed to build my original argument on the archaic debate.