Aeschylus

Some issues and obstacles faced by humans withstand change over time. This is highly evident in the plays of Medea and Oedipus the King. W.J. Miller even states that although the ideology of humans changed, people who love literature find themselves facing the same challenges literary characters, such as Oedipus, have. Oedipus the King presents the audience with the themes of fate versing freewill and disease and epidemics, these themes are apparent in any civilization located anywhere in the…

The ancient Western world was a world filled with awe and wonder. Never once was there ever a sense of doing something solely for the sake of doing it. During this time, anything that was done was done to the pleasure (or displeasure) of the gods. The gods were treated with the utmost respect in the ancient world. These ancient civilizations are so interesting to us because they are so different us. The way the members of the ancient West lived out their daily lives was quite different to how we…

In Oedipus the King by Sophocles and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller each playwright constructs a main characters who despite being written in different eras act as a cautionary example due to a common characteristic. Through the similar use of symbolism and irony as well as the contrasting view of what it means to be a tragic hero, Sophocles and Miller put forward the idea that an individual’s misfortune is closely related to lack of self-consciousness. The similar use of symbolism allows…

Herodotus, in his work, The Histories, describes the leaders of the two combatant coalitions in the Persian War, Themistocles of the Greeks and Xerxes of the Persians, in very different ways. Herodotus often points to how both men handle council and their own piety as a tool to depict what kind of men they are, and at times reinforces his own generalizations of the Greek and Persian people using these men as his proxy. Herodotus seems to accept the idea that men, as individuals, can shape great…

Theatre has been around for thousands of years and began in Greece. The main purpose of theatre is to tell a story with either an actor or actress crying their eyes out or with someone singing. Being involved with theatre has many benefits, especially for introverts, which are people who are shy or someone who tends to be more concerned with their own thoughts and feelings rather than others. Somethings introverts benefit from being in theatre is that they learn how to express themselves, they…

Sophocles, a well-known Greek play writer, demonstrated in many ways how Oedipus led to his downfall. Sophocles used Oedipus the king to describe the time period and Greek culture. Sophocles exaggerates Oedipus’ actions and attitude to convey the story line. Sophocles gave Oedipus excessive pride and anger for the reader to acknowledge his downfall. Oedipus had complete power over Thebes. The people of Thebes were desperate until Oedipus came and solved the Sphinx’s riddle and the monster…

Sophocles’ Oedipus the King tells of the mysteries involving the royal family of Thebes. It depicts Oedipus’ mission to uncover the murderer of Laius, while in turn discovering the unfortunate truths of his reality. As the play progresses, the portrayal of the mighty, proud king intensifies, until the moment of truth drastically changes him into a lowly criminal who pleads for pity. It is through this portrayal that Sophocles uses the connection between hubris and anagnorisis to communicate…

Ancient Greek theaters were one of the corner stone’s of ancient architecture to modern architecture. The influence that the ancient Greeks had on other cultures architecture is astounding giving their lack of resources and materials. The vast beauty of how the theater evolved is something incredible. We will see how the Greek theater started and how much it actually changed over time. Also we will get a look into one of the famous ancient Greek theaters; Delphi. The first recorded Greek…

A tragic hero is a character of an honorable stature and has greatness for all. Oedipus the king is a story of a man who marries his mother and kills his father. This story is a classic Greek play. At the time the Greeks were told that their god was the oversaw of everyone everything that they do. In the play, Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the typical tragic hero. “For Aristotle, Sophocles' play featured the ideal tragic hero in Oedipus, a man of "great repute and good fortune," whose fall,…

Fate is the development of events beyond a person’s control, it is destined to happen, and free will is the ability to act at one’s own will, you can voluntarily choose what happens in your life. To me, being able to do whatever I want without fate getting in my way is incredible, people seem happier when they can practice their own free will, rather than being told what is going to happen in their lives and being forced to do so. However, the ancient Greeks believed that your free will was…