Antigone

Independence versus obedience is the difference between Antigone's and Ismene's respective views on the role of women in society in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone believes strongly about the importance of family ties, the gods and Theban traditions. She does not allow anyone or anything to dissuade or intimidate her. She feels confident of her ability to analyze situations and act upon what she sees. In contrast, all notion of independence is lost on Antigone's sister, Princess Ismene. Ismene thinks that men are born and destined to dominate and lead and that women are born and destined to follow and obey.

At home, in a library or online are places where people can read "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, readers can buy their own copies from bookstores. They can check a copy out from a local library for reading there or at home. They can google the title and read the text on the screen or through printed copies.

Rebellious versus cowed are the terms that summarize the different ways in which Antigone and Ismene deal with perceived injustice in the play "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone and her sister Ismene learn that their brother Eteocles will have his god-given right to a proper Theban-style burial honored as a defender of Thebes in the recent civil war of royal succession. In contrast, their brother Polyneices will have that right denied as a traitor to Thebes. Ismene focuses on the fact that one brother will receive his proper due and that it is not her right to question the ways of the men who rule. In contrast, Antigone focuses on the discrimination against Polyneices and about what she can do to resist an unfair law that she considers illegal in contradicting divinely-expressed will and Theban traditions.

King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth raise subsequent Theban King Oedipus as their own son and heir.

Specifically, as a three-day-old infant, Oedipus is supposed to die by exposure to the wildlife and weather outside Thebes. This measure is intended to prevent him from growing and fulfilling his unenviable fate to kill his father and marry his mother. But the shepherd who is entrusted with the task instead gives Oedipus to a fellow shepherd from Corinth. The Corinthian shepherd returns home and hands Oedipus over to the childless Corinthian monarchs.

Stabbing himself in the eyes with the brooches from Theban Queen Jocasta's robe is what Theban King Oedipus does when he realizes that he himself has seen to the fulfillment of the Oracle's dreadful prophecies. Specifically, his parents, Theban King Laius and Theban Queen Jocasta, are told that any son of theirs will grow up to kill his father and sovereign. Oedipus subsequently is told that he will marry his own mother.

Laius and Jocasta think that they prevent the prophecy that they receive by planning to have the three-day-old infant left to die on a hillside. The grown-up Oedipus thinks that he prevents the prophecy that he in turn receives by running away from what he thinks is home in Corinth, to what he thinks is a fresh start ... in Thebes. Everything that the family does to try to prevent such an unenviable fate only makes the prophecies more of a dreadful reality.