As a young man, Oedipus runs away from Corinth once he hears of the prophecy, which shows Oedipus murdering his father, and sleeping with his mother. His travels bring him to the crossroad, where he unknowingly meets, and proceeds to kill his father, Laius, in...
Introduction The concept of “free will” in Greek philosophy lacks a precise definition, yet its implications can be both positive and negative. Essentially, free will entails the ability to make choices based on one’s own understanding of what is morally right or appropriate. It empowers...
In the play Antigone by Sophocles, a tragic thing happens where Antigone and Creon are torn apart between the law and family. The law clearly states that “Polyneices who came back from exile intending to burn and destroy his fatherland and the gods of his...
Fifth century ancient Greece, a time when society was dominated by men and women hidden away in the shadows of men. Publicly, women had no life. Women were given restricted rules in society under the rule of men, such as listen to their husbands and...
Understanding Tragedy in Literature Tragedy is defined as an “event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress.” It can be challenging to see someone else’s viewpoint on tragedy, as people’s experiences with it vary. Everyone who has an opinion will weigh in—agreeing, or simply not able...
In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, Kreon was seen to portray the villain of the plot. His position of king was gained unlawfully due to the deaths of Eteocles and Polyneices. Kreon, had allowed only Eteocles to be buried and said that Polyneices must stay on the...
Aristotle’s passage Poetics (350 BC) was written the century after the composition of Sophocles Oedipus the King (428 BC). Despite their chronological separation, the two texts relate in incisive ways. In particular, Aristotle used Oedipus as the foundation for his explanation theory. For Aristotle, a...
Antigone written by Sophocles, speaks about the power struggle between Antigone and her Uncle Creon who is the King of Thebes. Both characters seemed to have their own beliefs in how Antigone’s brother Polyneices should be buried. With both Creon and Antigone being strong-willed individuals,...
Author Shannon Alder once said, “Often those that criticise others reveal what he himself lacks.” Essentially what Alder is saying is that the things we find fault with in other people are really the things that we do not have and therefore desire. In their...
Introduction Chorus, in drama and music, are those who function vocally in a crew as antagonistic to those who perform singly. The chorus in Classical Greek drama was once a group of artists who expressed and commented upon the foremost motion of a play with...
Characterization of The Tragic Hero Creon in Antigone A tragic hero is an overall good person who has flaws that lead to their own downfall. The concept of a tragic hero is represented in the drama “Antigone” written by Sophocles. Creon, the king of Thebes,...
Sophocles’ play Antigone centers around a conflict between oikos and polis. Oikos, “home,” is the concept of the household, dominated by women and kinship; polis, “city,” is the concept of the collective city-state, dominated by men and power or money. Antigone, bound by the family...
There is no shortage of violence and death in the stories and myths adapted to the stage by the Ancient Greek tragedians. However, these actions are almost never depicted explicitly onstage: murders play out offstage while the audience is only privy to the sound of...
Our first impression of Creon is his fair manner of dictating laws. As his pride starts affecting his reasoning, he dismisses other people’s opinion, Creon thinks he is always right. This is evident where Creon says “whatever you say, you will not change my will.”...
Considered by many as the greatest of classic Greek tragedies, Oedipus the King (“Oedipus Tyrannus”) by Sophocles is set in the remoteness of ancient Greece and has come down to us in the form of a tragic myth allegedly inspired by true events and actual...
Even though it was forbidden, Antigone decided to defy the state’s law and give her brother a burialThe opening sentence could be rephrased to make it more engaging. . Antigone was right to defy King Creon because she had the right to bury her brother...
In Sophocles’ Antigone, Creon, the King of Thebes, is entrusted to care for Antigone and Ismene, the daughters of the deceased Theban King Oedipus. However, Creon and the strong-willed Antigone clash on the issue of the burial of Antigone and Ismene’s brother Polyneices. Polyneices and...
What happens when pride takes control of a human? In the plays Oedipus Rex and Antigone, Sophocles paints a dismal picture of what happens, where pride is depicted as both an obstruction to sight and an obstruction to hearing. According to Sophocles, the pride of...
A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction. Every Greek tragedy must have a tragic hero. In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, that tragic hero is Creon. He possesses the tragic flaws of excessive...
Antigone, the title character of Sophocles’ Antigone, faces the moral dilemma of whether to honor divine or mortal laws. While King Creon has decreed “no one shall bury [Polyneices],” the laws of the Gods dictate that all corpses must be buried (Prologue. 20). As such,...
The purpose of this paper is to expound on the plot of “Oedipus rex”. The plot of a play contains a rising activity, falling activity, determination, exposition and peak. The rising activity takes after exposition and works towards the greatest part of a play. The...
The state of Thebes cursed with many tragedies, where two brothers, Polynices and Eteocles, fought for the crown of Thebes after the death and curse of their father, Oedipus. When both brothers died from the cause of each other, the new King of Thebes, Creon,...
In Sophocles’ Electra the driving force behind the plot is the notion of achieving justice outside of a formal justice system. The play shows how seeking justice can quickly turn into plotting revenge. Without any formal authority, cycles of violence quickly develop as tit for...
Oedipus is a self-confident, intelligent, strong willed man and a great king. Ironically these are the very traits that bring about his tragic discovery. There are many themes in the play that add to his character, which ultimately instigates his own undoing. Going through the...
Though it was written over two millennia ago, Sophocles’ Antigone features one of the preeminent symbols of female defiance in its title character. The play centers on the exploits of Antigone as she openly goes against the king’s decree in the name of honor and...
Seamus Deane’s Reading in the Dark features a variety of references to Oedipus Rex in its plot and characterizations. Several critics have discussed these similarities in psychoanalytic interpretations of the novel, but the Oedipus parallels serve a more pragmatic purpose aligned with the Aristotelian narrative...
Introduction Everyone loves the hero of a story. A hero inspires you and gives you a sense of hope and security. Heroes are characters who are admirable, noble, brave, intelligent, and powerful. They are great examples and positive role models. But what if the hero...
Sophocles used his plays to encourage Athenians to take responsibility for their own actions. In the fifth century B.C., Greece was experiencing an era of military exploration, political turmoil and social revolution, including women’s empowerment. Sophocles included all of these elements in plays, especially in...
It is a well-known fact of life that even the most accomplished people can feel insecure. They suffer self-doubt and, in some cases, are in constant need of support and assurance that they are the great people everyone else perceives them to be. Written by...
In the modern world, theater serves as a way for people to escape their daily lives, but it is much more than that. Both today and in Ancient Greece these performances helped teach people lessons and learn about historical events. Although in today’s society, it...
“Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.”
“One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been.”
“The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.”
“You can kill a man but you cant kill a idea.”
Date
c.496 BCE - 406 BCE
Activity
Sophocles, with Aeschylus and Euripides, is one of classical Athens’s three great tragic playwrights. The best known of his 123 dramas is Oedipus the King.
Works
Sophocles is thought to have written over 100 plays, but only seven fully survive today: Ajax, Antigone, Trachinian Women, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. Trackers, a satyr play, exists only as a 400-line fragment.
Influence
Sophocles is credited with diverging from the typical format of a tragedy: he increased the number of speaking actors, increased the number of chorus members, and used painted scenery. He also made an impact on Aristotle, who references Oedipus Rex numerous times in his book Poetics.
Quotes
“Leave me to my own absurdity.”
“You must remember that no one lives a life free from pain and suffering.”
“Yes it will be a grace if I die. To exist is pain. Life is no desire of mine anymore.”
