Sophocles

It is of the common belief that a strong ruler is what makes a successful country. However, strength can be both a blessing and a curse. In the wrong hands, power has the potential to destroy a nation- to cause chaos instead of hold order. In Sophocles’ Antigone, this is the case. Creon, king of Thebes, believes that the king’s word is ultimate law, and that it must be carried out regardless of the consequences. Antigone, however, is more intelligent in her thinking that sometimes, a ruler’s law…

Divine mediation is the glue that holds together the morality of Antigone in Sophocles play of the same name, but the divine law of life is not as territorial as Creon’s man-made interventions. The central conflict of Antigone is between this moral divide of man or god and which one accounts for society. From the conflict analysis presented by Professor Francisco J. Gonzalez, Walter Kaufmann’s defense of the essential Greek tragedy in the case of Antigone provides a clearer perspective that both…

Author Bentley Little once said, “Murder is an inherently evil act, no matter what the circumstances, no matter how convincing the rationalizations.” This quote applies to the character Creon in Sophocles’ play Antigone. Creon caused the deaths of many other characters in this play, and this should not be forgiven, but rather recognized as murder. Creon is guilty of the murder of Antigone, Eurydice, and Haemon; even though all three characters took their own lives. In Antigone’s case, he caused…

Electra by Euripides plot is the same as Sophocles’ Electra for it tells a story about Electra and her brother Orestes wanting to get revenge on their mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, for killing their father Agamemnon. The events that led to the actions in this play was Clytemnestra killing her husband, to avenge her daughter Iphigenia, Agamemnon and his concubine Cassandra after they returned from the Trojan War. The play’s setting unlike Sophocles’ does not take place entirely in…

falls off his throne due to these same flaws in his character. In scene ii of Oedipus Rex, Sophocles uses the literary device of irony to develop the central idea of ignorance, and how it can affect one’s actions and future. Ignorance can plague a man’s mind and affects his whole life and his actions. Oedipus was from another land originally, and when he heard of his fate he “ran away from Corinth” (Sophocles 955). Running away from Corinth is what led him to the city of Thebes. His action…

My fellow Thebans, I am here today to justify Antigone’s actions in burying her brother. As I stand here and profess my feelings, I hope you can imagine yourself in Antigone's shoes. Many believe Eteocles was a traitor for starting a war on this country, and did not deserve to be buried. Antigone is being taken as a traitor for burying her beloved brother. Antigone’s actions are justified in the way she honored her brother in a proper burial. Now as I know many of you are contentious because…

Some major themes found in the play, Antigone, are divine law versus the law of men, determination, and power. As king, Creon orders that the body of Polyneices not be buried and instead laid outside for animals to scavenge. Creon also orders anyone who goes against the law and buries Polyneices to be sentenced to death. Antigone, believing that divine law trumps the law of man, goes against Creon and buries her brother Polyneices, causing her doom. Determination plays a big role in the play.…

As I read the play of Antigone by Sophocles, I wondered many things, but I wondered why Antigone is the "hero" of this tragedy? What is so heroic about her act, insight and principle throughout this story? While thinking about these things of Antigone I began to wonder why Sophocles made Antigone the role of being the hero, why not someone else, such as Creon? We learn and hear of Creon throughout this story, and though the reader sees him as the opposite of Antigone, I felt that there was much…

What facets are necessary to deem a character tragic? Characters in Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Antigone, wholly encompass such factors. In Aristotle’s Poetics, he describes four characteristics that help make up a tragic character. However, the main concept in understanding a tragic character is to know that the character is not a victim. Of the essence of tragic characters, Aristotle states, “[They are] between two extremes - that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose…

determined, and why are some fates more detrimental than others? These questions remain unanswered but were expounded by Sophocles over 2,500 years ago. If one was doomed by fate there was no escaping it; fate would, inevitably, lead to their tragic demise. Oedipus the King is the epitome of the Aristotelian definition of tragedy with Oedipus serving as the tragic hero. Sophocles structures his plot as a series of events related by cause and effect. The first incident, the sickness sweeping over…