Similarities Between Oedipus And Antigone

The first specification for the tragic hero is one of the few that both Antigone and Creon exhibit; both characters are between the extremes of perfect morality and pure villainy. Antigone’s moral neutrality is illustrated through her noble intentions and the unorthodox way she acts upon them. When she is confronted by Creon and demanded to give an explanation for her disobedience, Antigone says, “For me it was not Zeus who made that order. Nor did that Justice who lives with the gods below mark out such laws to hold among mankind” (Sophocles 207 ll. 450-2). Along with love and loyalty to her brother, Antigone is largely motivated by her desire for justice and appeasement of the gods. While her intentions are noble, Antigone’s actions in the

If Antigone did nothing, living with the guilt of not helping her brother would be worse. She breaks these rules for divine law, a law that is believed to come directly from god. Antigones actions for Polyneices that he must be buried is a requirement from the gods. If not buried properly the souls of the deceased were let to walk to river Styx, the entrance to the under world, for eternity and their souls would never be at rest. Not burying a body was a great insult to the dead and Antigone could not live with that on her conscience. Creon on the other hand ignores the laws of the gods and believes his duty to the city comes first. Creon believes his decision was in the best interest of Thebes to show that he is a strong ruler and the city of Thebes will be safe in his hands.

Either way, Antigone and Oedipus’ personalities make them what they are, tragic heroes, as well make them renowned for their story since they were first on the stage to now. Sharing the characteristic of pride and stubbornness, yet being completely different when it come to insight and ignorance, also compassion and being self-absorbed, Antigone and Oedipus are rather alike. Thought this might not seem important, whether make believe character are similar and different, but nearly everything in pop culture, from movies to plays are derived from works of fiction from the past. Tragic heroes exist everywhere even in modern culture for example Tiger Woods, O.J. Simpson, Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton, and Michael Jackson, etc. All people of power once loved by many but due to mistakes they losted fame, fortune, and even love; all with a tragic downfall; and all with a tragic flaw, that got them in the situation they are in or was in. All very similar yet different to the tragic heroes of the past, Antigone and

Greek theater encompassed many aspects that reflected the moral values and ideals of society. Their customs were tightly woven into the scripts of plays. Antigone and Oedipus the King, two renowned works of the Greek playwright Sophocles, explore these values through a plot thick with corruption, virtue, and determination. These plays reveal the burdens two Theban kings, Oedipus and Creon, as their lies and poor judgment corrode the integrity of their city, their families and themselves. Possessing a strong faith in their respective gods, the characters of these Greek plays are often led astray as they try to escape the twisted hand of fate, further warping their perception of reality. As their vain

Even though Antigone exhibits a blamable pride and a hunger for glory, her disobedience is less serious than those of Creon. It is evident that Antigone’s actions are driven by a love for her brother, and a desire to please the gods. While Creon’s actions are

Antigone's tragedy was a story that is unbearable, and horrific when it is fully understood in the sense of the magnitude of all of the factors that came together to form a fragile, problematic situation. The joint murder of her brothers that was committed against each other, they turned against each other, driven by the lust for power and control. An opinion about how and why the conflict began, is that megalomania was an overwhelming aspect of the provocateur. Creon’s choice between honoring one brother and leaving the other to decompose shamefully with no honor at all. The way these enabling events led to the formation of a partially self-detrimental plan by Antigone, who was appalled that a decision such as that could've even been considered, much less imposed. For her to deal with the turn of events in such a quick succession can be seen as cruel and unbearable, which is one of the aspects

Until Creon follows the simple burial rites, numerous misfortunes, including the deaths of his loved ones, will occur as a result of his actions. One may think that Creon must challenge the Gods because Antigone challenges his laws; however, fear of the Gods and guilt motivate Antigone to defy Creon. Antigone’s defiance does not lead to the deaths of others because she defies an individual who did not follow the law, while Creon’s disobedience ends in violence.

This play is ultimately concerned with one person defying another person and paying the price. Antigone went against the law of the land, set by the newly crowned King Creon. Antigone was passionate about doing right by her brother and burying him according to her religious beliefs even though Creon deemed him a traitor and ordered him to be left for the animals to devour. Creon was passionate about being king and making his mark from his new throne. Although they differed in their views, the passion Creon and Antigone shared for those opinions was the same, they were equally passionate about their opposing views. Creon would have found it very difficult to see that he had anything in common with Antigone however as he appears to be

Many authors have employed the religious beliefs of their cultures in literature. The deities contained in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Biblical book of Exodus reflect the nature of the gods in their respective societies. Upon examination of these two works, there are three major areas where the gods of the Greek epic seem to directly contrast the nature of the God of the Israelites: the way problems are solved, the prestige and status that separates the divine from the masses, and the extent of power among the immortal beings.

Oedipus is the quintessential Greek tragic hero; his story marks a tale of inevitable distress and sorrow. However, in Antigone, this was not the case and the tragic hero was not easily identifiable. A tragic hero is a character, usually of high birth, neither completely good nor evil, whose downfall is brought about by some weakness or error in judgement. In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Creon is portrayed as a struggling king who must come to the reality that his actions are in favor against him. Stubbornness and excessive pride are the driving force behind Creon’s downfall as a tragic hero. He is reluctant to acknowledge the views of others, ignores familial values, and executes his rule as a king in a tyrannical manner.

“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of

Both Creon of Sophocles’ Antigone and Achilles of Homer’s The Iliad end up allowing the body of their enemy a proper burial. During the time following the death of Hector, Achilles is in a position very similar to that which Creon deals with in Antigone. Both men show similar flaws, and face similar struggles. The difference between the two men is only subtly discernible until the telling moment when each man is faced with pressure to change his stance on the fate of the fallen warrior. Each man’s initial reaction is quite telling of his character, and the motives behind each man’s decision (although the motives are debatable) also help to expose his true nature. In the end, there seems to be a quality within each man which lies above

Along with the contrasting conflicts the main characters, Oedipus and Antigone, are also very different in regards to their behavior and how they handle situations. Antigone is much more level headed than Oedipus. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus immediately kills a man just for being in his way and forcing him off the road a bit. Antigone on the other hand, does not take any physical action toward Creon despite not giving her brother a burial. Another difference in character is Oedipus’s defiance to the gods and the oracle while Antigone obeys the laws of the gods. Oedipus, to the people of Thebes, claims if they pray to him he himself would rid the city of the plague; making an implication that he is above the gods. Antigone however, wishes to obey the laws of the gods and demands her brother be given a proper burial. A closing example of the difference in how each character is rendered is how Antigone knowing breaks the law (defies Creon) for what she believes is right while Oedipus breaks the law without knowing; Antigone is

The concept of fate and the influence of gods on mortals’ lives are prominent aspects of Greek mythology. While the gods of Olympus are commonly presented as the primary manipulators of human lives, the Fates are the true creators of destiny. Gods may be able to affect human lives in monumental ways, but predetermined destiny and the Fates’ intentions ultimately reign. The gods have respect for this authority, as well, as they’re aware that a limit on their ability to intervene is necessary to maintain the order of the universe. This leaves one to question the amount of knowledge that the gods themselves have of fate, and whether they have their own free will to refrain from intervening or if they truly must submit to the authority of the Fates and their plans. The gods do have some knowledge of the Fates’ plan, but they are also wise enough to avoid too much interference and therefore don’t necessarily need to be commanded; they sometimes help guide mortals by sending them messages and symbols—and sometimes even influencing them for their own advantage—but ultimate fate cannot be avoided.

The role of the gods/fate in human affairs is a central theme in most works of literature. In Greek literature, particularly, the will of the gods is commonly attributed to human experiences. In Oedipus the King, for instance, the oracle’s message that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his own mother suggests that he was a puppet in the hands of the gods, who manipulated the events that led to his fall. However, the character’s fate is not entirely attributable to the work of the gods. In the play, Oedipus meets his fate due to his determination to unravel the mysteries surrounding the king’s death, despite warnings by the prophet Tiresias and his wife/mother, and his quest to prove the oracles wrong in their declaration that he is