Essays on Sophocles

Introduction

The main antagonist in the Theban plays, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, Creon undergoes a major character transformation. This is clearly indicated in the three roles he takes up in respective plays. In Oedipus the King, Creon is the loyal brother-in-law who is accused by the former of murder. He is depicted as a lover of his family and of the people of Thebes. In Oedipus at Colonus, this nature slowly fades away and he becomes devious and deceptive. As a king, Creon, a noble statesman finds himself between a rock and a hard place while

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Antigone and Creon

Antigone and Creon are the main characters in the play Antigone by Sophocles. These two characters have opposed views on various issues but are alike in many ways. The play Antigone features these two central characters that have different set of values and loyalties against each other in the public. Despite their enormous discrepancies, Antigone and Creon have many similarities that make them uniquely alike in numerous ways. They are both loyal towards their views, independent as well as arrogant and hasty in decision making. However, Sophocles tried to make Creon and Antigone different, at the same time he

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3 Short Essays

The conversation between Crito and Socrates took place inside the prison wherein Socrates was waiting for his execution. His loyal friend Crito arrived earlier before the break of dawn to tell Socrates to save his life by escaping from prison. By escaping, Crito will keep him as his true friend and will not be accused by people that he did not do what was needed to save a friend’s life. However, Socrates does not care about the majority’s opinion. What he was concerned about is his friends’ would be in trouble from the authorities

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‘Instructor’s Name’

‘Subject’
Thinking Critically with Drama- Antigone
Antigone is a tragic play written by Sophocles in or before 441 BCE. Although it is the last of the Oedipus trilogy, Antigone was written first and bagged the first prize at the Dionysia festival. The play deals with a female protagonist who acts against the order of the king, and in the process meets her untimely death. The conflicts between the two main characters Creon and Antigone, is a powerful human struggle, which is still relevant as it was during that day. It is a struggle of an individual against the establishment.

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Just like anyone else, all characters in a story have their own historical background and information regarding their pasts. This information is usually very important in understanding their traits and their current lives. Therefore such information assist readers understand a specific story. This is what is referred to as exposition. Generally it can be defined as the historical background touching on the characters and setting in a given story usually at the beginning of the story. The major information is usually occurrences that took place before the story was initiated. Therefore it is usually the initial part of the

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The hard-boiled detective seems a decidedly modern invention – the noir gumshoe who cynically navigates a world that seems to conspire against him, working his way through a seedy culture that he can capitalize upon. With hard-boiled detectives in film and literature, there is often a measure of moral ambiguity, as the main character is conflicted between what he does for a living and who he wants to be, or is otherwise blind to the harsher truths that surround him. Roman Polanski’s classic 1974 noir film Chinatown certainly fits this description, with Jack Nicholson’s Jake Gittes being a

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A story is written when a prediction is made. A character’s journey is laid out as they’re being guided towards their fate by the invisible hands of the Gods. Fate is as important today as it was thousands of years ago and this was the reason the Greeks incorporated the concept of fate in their stories and plays. While fate can decide a person’s well-being or destruction, the Greeks almost always depicted fate in a tragic sense. By depicting their heroes as prone to tragedy and fate, the ancient Greeks who conceived these fables might have

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Introduction

Myth, particularly in the Greek tradition, places a great significance on place and location – cities such as Thebes, Athens and Crete are given almost mythical importance of their own through their roles in the characters’ journeys. In the case of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Thebes is both the setting and the goal of the story – Oedipus’ loyalty to Thebes, a suffering city, provides a complex goal and metaphor for Oedipus’ own journey to the truth of his own existence and past with King Laius. Thebes is just as much of a character in Oedipus Rex as Oedipus himself or any

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World Literature

‘Antigone’ by Sophocles:
Analyzing the importance of Teiresias in Greek tragedy
Greek Literature speaks of ‘Antigone’ as the tragic play, which was written by Sophocles during 441 B.C. Some of the literary experts are of the view that the original manuscript belonged to years much before 441 B.C.; however, the lack of evidence certifying the earlier dates suggest the former as the age of this storyline (Leach).
This play is an important asset that World Literature preserves with care, and serves as the source for many important inferences that can be drawn from each event that takes place in

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Sophocles’ literary work “Antigone,” is one of the most popular books related to Greek mythology. Antigone, the central character of the book, believes that both her birth and family history instilled a desire of death in her instead of a desire for life. When Antigone realizes that Creon’s prohibition on burying a body is against the law of gods, she does not risk death to bury a child or a husband. However, in the case of her brother Polyneices, Antigone happily risks death to bury as she desires death to have a union with her brother that she

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The book “Antigone,” written by Sophocles is one of the most famous works on philosophy. The attitudes and actions of several characters in the play showcase gender and tragic morality. In regards to gender, Antigone showcases feminist logic, while Creon favors patriarchal society. While Creon demands the people to follow the laws set by him by ignoring religious and moral beliefs, Antigone believes that God’s laws lay above all other laws. The confrontation between Antigone and Creon gives rise to the conflicts between genders in “Antigone.” Excluding Antigone, Sophocles portrays the other female characters as timid before men.

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Oedipus the King is one of the most eminent literary works in the history of literature. The work has stood the test of time, and has left an everlasting mark on the minds of the avid readers. The critics across the world have spoken in unison regarding the literary quintessence of the literary work. The character of the protagonist, Oedipus, is an immortalized literary character that embodies one of the most tragic fates in the history of literature. His characteristic traits set him apart, and the chronology of events in his life that shape him as an individual leaves

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In Othello and Oedipus we see characters that are vain and incapable of coming to peace with the truth that their lives have reached because the truth is deeply tragic. Both feel compelled to punish themselves. The manner of punishment that they inflict on themselves is different. This difference is revealing of the personalities of the two characters. When we compare literary characters, many considerations must be taken into account. What the plot of the story is; where does the character figure among other characters in the plot; and what the personality traits of the characters are, are few

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It is clear that a modern and ancient audiences use different concepts and words to express their emotional credentials with tragic characters. According to Aristotle concept of pity and fear in more detail, that indicates why ancient audience may not apply to the modern theater. Aristotle legendarily recognized characteristic emotions produced by tragedy as eleos and phobos which simply means pity and fear. The concept explanation provides a valuable idea as to how ancient audience replied to tragedy. However, to take advantage of his insight, we must clearly understand his concept of pity and fear. Words, after all, change

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Sophocles was an ancient Greek writer, who along with Aeschylus and Euripides had a great influence on the development of the dramaturgy in general and became the forefather of the tragedy in particular. Those several dramas that remained till nowadays (“Ajax”, “Antigone”, “Electra”, “Philoctetes”) are the masterpieces of ancient Greek literature, and “Oedipus the King” is recognized as one of the peaks of the world drama and the crown of a tragic theater. On the first stages of Athenian tragedy’s formation and development Aristotle was one of the first philosophers who determined the features of this form of

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Law and the Language of Power

Laws are an essential part of life because they are necessary for there to be the order. There are both natural and man-made laws. Even at a very basic level where we eliminate man from the equation laws are necessities. For example, if nature opposed what we now term as the laws of physics then life on earth would not exist. The very premise of man-made laws is that they are designed to benefits persons in positions of power. The code of Hammurabi epitomizes this property of man-made laws. Natural laws on the other hand attempt to bring order

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In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, the young king Oedipus must deal with demons from his past and the uncertain nature of his future, as he learns the fate of the previous king and the ways in inextricably ties with his own parentage (and marriage to the former king’s bride). Oedipus Rex, being a tragedy, deals primarily with the phenomenon of dramatic irony, in which the main character does not know things that will inexorably change their point of view once they know it. Oedipus is directly contrasted with the prophet Tiresias, who is without eyesight but has a much

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Introduction:

As in Oedipus the King, a major theme in Othello is man's inability to reliably distinguish between what seems to be and what actually is. Explain how this shared theme of "uncertain vision" is treated somewhat differently in Othello than it is in Oedipus the King.

In this land, said the god; "who seeks shall find; Who sits with folded hands or sleeps is blind."

Thesis:
The shared theme of "uncertain vision" is treated somewhat differently in Othello than it is in Oedipus the King
Argument:
Oedipus and Othello both suffer because they believe lies that others told. However the motivations behind those lies, and the reasons for believing them are different. Iago lies out of malice. The

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Motion in the basic and simple functions in a movie or artistic work is to break the monotony that could accrue from still scenes. When the actors and actresses move about during the film, it helps the viewer or the audience in general to accept and appreciate newer scenes that would be equally interesting. This is one benefit that the motion has over still scenes and still films, where all the scenes are acted, or role played in a still or stagnant place. The overriding disadvantage of motion is that the viewer or the audience may lose grip and

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Aristotle was one of the greatest Greek philosophers. He wrote on many areas including, meteorology, climate, biology, animal anatomy, psychology and ethics. His philosophical works focused on logic and the use of inference and deduction. He also wrote a number of works on the arts including the structure of the Greek Play. For the ancient Greeks, the tragic play was the greatest form of drama, and Aristotle ideas of Greek Tragedy and the tragic hero were based on the views of the times. According to Golden, Aristotle’s defined a Greek Tradgedy as, ". . . an imitation of a noble and

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[In Montmartre – Paris, France, at a fancy outdoor terrace, served by a young American boy.]
[Enter Antigone, followed by Gregor Samsa, who pursues Antigone everywhere, declaring his true love for her]
ANTIGONE: By Zeus, dear Insect, please offer me no more dishonor and allow me to rest at this table, thinking of my own troubles.
GREGOR SAMSA [with a squeaky voice]: Good Lady, I mean no harm to your exquisite beauty. I ask only to listen to the soft tone of my voice, to sense my true soul and see me as a person. Because I am a

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In Sophocles’ Theban play Antigone, the titular character defies the orders of her king in order to permit an honorable burial for her brother, who had just rebelled against the state of Greece. By showing the flaws of the state, Antigone is successful in her suicide; Antigone’s steadfast dedication to the individual and the family unit (supported by the gods) is a harsh critique of the cold-hearted nature of the state, as well as the corrupting nature of power. While Antigone knows systemic oppression as a woman, she knows she must fight for what she feels is right;

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Gender is a social construct, not tied to sex in any neat, definitive manner and hence, amenable and open to (re)construction in order to challenge power relations. This paper explores gendered power relations in Euripedes’ Medea and Sophocles’ Antigone, in an endeavour to explicate upon how such relations manifest themselves in the text, and thereby, shape, influence and contribute to an understanding of the overwhelmingly misogynist and patriarchal social reality of ancient Greece. The paper also seeks to take issue with the use of language as mediating an elucidation and plurification of meaning/s in the text, and aiding

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English

Sophocles’ Antigone is the story of two protagonists’ Antigone and King Creon, who, in their pursuit to define their destiny, fade into oblivion. The two form the nucleus of the play around which Sophocles develops his tragedy. On close observation of the reading of this play, it is hard to eliminate the explication of the Greek rhetoric that, all humans are mortals. The phrase, “We die for ever” (58), was told by Antigone to her sister Ismene, when Ismene tells her that they would have to face the wrath of Creon, should he come to know of their act.

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Introduction

Oedipus the King and The allegory at the Cave are great allegories with excellent moral teachings. Oedipus the King is an Athenian tragedy that was written by Sophocles. It tells the story of King Oedipus and his virtuous reign in power over the people of Thebes. The allegory at the Cave was written by Plato and it offers moral lessons on the importance of education. Both stories compare relatively well on several areas and offer timeless moral lessons to societies across social and cultural divides.

Comparisons of the stories

The two stories were told by philosophers who defined morality and upright living in

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Over the years, the definition of tragedy has undergone considerable evolution. According to Aristotle, a tragic play can exist without characters but it cannot exist without a plot (Poetics), however, this is not agreeable from a modern standpoint. By today’s standards, both the characters and the plot are vital aspects to a meaningful tragic play. On the other hand, Arthur Miller is more focused on the “tragic hero,” exposing the man behind the tragic mask rather than the contents of the plot itself. His idea of depicting a tragic hero as a common man is more up to

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Looking at Antigone the play, it is a play that originates from ancient Greece. The play however has themes that are really applicable to our day to day lives. In this play, the broad themes include state control, natural law and contemporary legal institutions, civil disobedience, citizenship, fidelity, portrayal of the gods and lastly, there is love and family. If then all this themes are applied in a movie, it will attract attention and curiosity from the viewers. With the current issues, it will shed light on the inhuman political leaders we have in the world. It will then

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Written around 441 BC, Antigone is one of the seven surviving plays produced by the Greek playwright Sophocles and is considered to be the classic example of hubris, meaning extreme pride or arrogance that is ultimately a person’s undoing. This play, however, has several other important themes including Sophocles perspectives on human rights and women’s rights. Both are quite fascinating considering ancient Greece practiced slavery and certainly was a male dominated society, but the burial of Polyneices by the hand of Antigone, as well as her rejection of Creon’s decree denying those funeral rites, illustrate Sophocles

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The aim of this essay is to present you with a portrait of a drama which was written in the Ancient Greek Classical period in approximately 442 B.C., by Sophocles, one of the three poets of Ancient Greece, who along with Aeschylus and Euripides are considered to have established the tragedy as a poetic, theatrical kind of writing.
This portrait will emphasize on the main thematic core of this drama and how this idea which is its thematic core, is of classical value. The main idea ‘Antigone’ puts across to its audience and readers is the idea of the

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The aim of this essay is to present you with a portrait of two dramas. The first one is ‘Antigone’ and it was written in the Ancient Greek Classical period in approximately 442 B.C., by Sophocles, one of the three poets of Ancient Greece, who along with Aeschylus and Euripides are considered to have established the tragedy as a poetic, theatrical kind of writing. The second play is ‘Another Antigone’, a modern theatrical play of nowadays which was written by A.R. Gurney and first produced in 1987. The portrait of both plays will be drawn in this essay so

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Argue for or against the validity of Sophocles' Oedipus the King being interpreted through Sigmund Freud's theory of the Oedipus complex
According to Sigmund Freud, the stalwart of psychology, Oedipus complex is the tension between the child and the father as the child takes his mother as his object of sexual desire. Thus, a friction grows between the two male members of the family. The child sees the father as a competition to him for the lady’s love and affection. The child despises the love and bond between the parents and feels like being in the centre of

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Biographic Information of the Author

The topic, which has been chosen for this paper is Oedipus the King. The author of this piece of writing is Sophocles. Sophocles was the innovator of drama. He has well known as the master of tragedy. Sophocles was appreciated because of his multiple roles including a political, priest and the leader of the military (Zachrisson pp. 313). There are several writings, which are associated with Sophocles. However, most of these writings are ancient. Therefore, it is not possible to consider them trustworthy. The biographical information of Sophocles, presented in this paper, is related to the general information, which

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Sophocles’ plays and Elie Wiesel's holocaust are two works that are closely correlated. Sophocles is one of the ancient Greek tragedians whose play has endured the aspect of time. Born in around 496 BC, and a luminary force in Classical Athenian culture, his plays have ostensibly attracted lots of attention since most of them portrayed the real things that were actually going on in the society during those times. The themes that Sophocles wrote about are still relevant even in the contemporary world. Elie Wiesel, born in 1928, was a human activist who tried so much to reconcile his

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Oedipus the King and Antigone are great plays written by Sophocles. They give an account of the tragedies which befell Thebes. Whereas Oedipus the King chronicles the story of Oedipus, a mysterious man who suffers during childhood before eventually murdering his biological father, marrying mother and becoming a king, Antigone continues the chronicle by giving the story of King Creone who established his rein before eventually falling due to fate and his own arrogance.
Both plays have heroes. Although they establish their leadership regimes in this kingdom, they really suffer. However, this suffering is not only attributed to fate,

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Antigone, by Greek author Sophocles, is one of the most famous and important plays of all time. It has gone through numerous reincarnations in many different time periods, and has been studied by such famous philosophers as Hegel and Goethe. This may be because it includes issues that have been problematic throughout Western civilization: the difference between right and wrong, between just and unjust laws, the importance of family, the place of deity, etc. Nevertheless, contrary to what its name suggests, the tragedy is not Antigone’s, but Creon’s, as this is the character whose downfall through a

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Antigone is a Greek play written by Sophocles. It is a Greek tragedy full of love, betrayal and death. Antigone the main character in the play is portrayed as rebellious and refuses to follow the rules in the family. Even though she took care of her blind father to his death, as was her duty as a daughter and woman, and although she sought to perform rituals over her brother’s corpse to send him to the after life that were tasks known to be reserved for women, Antigone’s character goes against nearly every Greek ideal for women

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The concept of free will is an interesting one when taken in a Biblical context – if God has a divine plan, and everything happens for a reason, where then is the level of choice we are assumed to have as human beings? The tale of Joseph in Genesis 37, 39-46 demonstrates the ability of God to provide for those who are good through the effective use of prophecy. This is slightly different from Sophocles’ tale of Oedipus Rex, wherein prophecy is treated as completely immutable – there is nothing you can do to stop it no matter what you do.

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Sophocles’ Oedipus the King portrays the tragic fall of Oedipus from his paramount position of the king of Thebes as he gets to know of his real identity in the chronology of events. The fall of the transcendental figure can be analyzed into definite transition phases. The literary work documents the omnipotence of fatalism and mocks the human strength which is exposed to be futile. Oedipus’ fall can be analyzed into three transitions.
In the beginning, Oedipus is found in the midst of a testing time when a plague hits the land and he sends Creon, his brother-in-law, to

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The two characters Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and Oedipus the King of Thebes have been presented as being responsible characters. Oedipus is ruler who takes quick action with great insight working to the expectations of the people he rules. For instance, when the citizens request him to act on the plaque, he has is already a step in advance having sent Creon to the Delphi oracle for top seek advice on the issue. Jimmy Cross on the other hand takes responsibility in the Vietnam War. He is unwilling to take up a role as a team leader in the Vietnam

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Sophocles Oedipus-analysis of the play

The play revolves around a young Greek man who is almost run over by a chariot belonging to a rich arrogant person. This defines the position that Oedipus takes in the society. The play developed in a Greek mythology. Oedipus meets a lot of riddles and challenges that move him to the state of solution and prompts him to use his problem solving skills and resolution tactics. Eventually, due to the solution of one of the riddles that faced him, he rises and becomes the king of Thebes. The previous king is murdered by unknown person, which put Oedipus

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