Sophocles

The names Aristotle and Sophocles were well known throughout all of classical Greece. They are known for their teachings and writings. Sophocles was the most successful writer of Greek tragedies. He often won first place prizes for best tragedy. His most famous tragedy is Oedipus. In Oedipus it is foretold that the main character Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother. Sophocles wrote another tragedy to follow the events after Oedipus called Antigone. Antigone follows the troubles…

In the play “Antigone” by Sophocles, the author converses the thought of the tragic hero as the person who does what everyone knows is right, pays for it in the end. The character, Antigone can be classified as the tragic hero in the play because she goes against Creon’s law on burying her brother Polyneices, who died protecting their land. Paul Epstein 's, who wrote "The Recovery of a Comprehensive View Of Greek Tragedy" said, “only the hero’s experience of an opposed aspect of both human and…

In the play “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles, blindness is more than just the literal definition, it extends to lack of self-awareness. The protagonist Oedipus suffers from metaphorical blindness and later suffers physical blindness as a result of lack of self awareness. Terisias is a significant character because his blindness is limited to only being physical, but he is self-aware and insightful to the truth. Blindness is not necessarily a disability, rather can be a defining feature in a person’s…

Oedipus: The King by Sophocles is a tragedy about a king named Oedipus who once had a father, King Laius of Thebes, who ruled before him. King Laius was given a prophecy by an oracle which explained how his son will kill him and have a child with his wife. Giving into the prophecy, he ordered to have his son killed, which did not work out leading him (Oedipus) to come back. Irony has been expressed throughout the entire play since Oedipus went through so much to find the person who killed King…

Most of us know our family and our family history, but how would that change if one didn’t know that? Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex because he thought that men were trying to place themselves above the gods, since the discovery of science. He wanted to remind the people that the gods were all powerful, and that man was not. In the play, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus doesn’t know himself, both literally and figuratively. Oedipus doesn’t know himself; he has been living a lie all his life. When he was born,…

There is an inevitable internal conflict waiting to occur in every person who knows they need to make a personal decision that goes against the teachings of their nation or deities. In Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, as well as Antigone by Sophocles, a heavier emphasis is placed on humans and humanity rather…

There were three great tragedians in Greek Society: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. (1) Sophocles’s works were between Aeschylus and Euripides. Sophocles had written 123 plays during his life is the information we can get from Suda, a 10th-century encyclopedia. However, only seven of the plays were completely being saved. One of the plays that were being saved is Oedipus at Colonus, which was the last play Sophocles wrote. (2) Sophocles’s life experiences had influenced how he wrote his…

Antigone Essay Sophocles’ perplexing play illustrates a heroic journey of the leading protagonist, Antigone. In the play, Antigone suffered through a heartache after she lost her brother Polyneices in war. The ruler, Creon passed a decree that whoever buries Polyneices will die. Family and authority are common themes and misconceptions in the play Antigone. When comparing the essential themes of family and authority, Creon and Ismene characterize the theme of authority, while Antigone and…

two main ways of interpreting Sophocles Oedipus Rex, as far as the main theme of the tragedy is concerned; “The first one could be marked “the tragedy about infallibility or power of divinity”, the second could be labelled “the tragedy of arriving at the truth” ” (Grelka 2013). It is the view of this author that Sophocles intended a much more progressive concept for his ancient Greek audience than simply the “infallibility of divinity”, that the main idea of Sophocles work leans more towards a…

A tragic hero is best defined as a person of high power, such as a king or queen, who has a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall and causes the conflict of the play. Antigone is the tragic heroine of Antigone, and Creon can also be considered a tragic hero because of his role in the plot. The young woman is a person of power, since she is in line to be queen. For many, Antigone’s tragic flaw should not be considered a flaw at all. She is unbelievably loyal to her beliefs and family and that…