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Antigone
The play 'Antigone' is at least 2,440 years old. Still timely nevertheless are its main concerns over what to do about a bad law and how far to go for the sake of love or justice. Contributors typically ask and answer questions about the play's author, characters, imagery, literary devices, plot, and relationship to other plays of the same themes or time period.
3,361 Questions
What is the summary of the first part of 'Oedipus Rex'?
That Oedipus must end the pestilence in Thebes before it ends all life in the city, that the solution demands the identification and punishment of the guilty in Laius' murder and that Oedipus appears to be the prime suspect is a summary of the first part of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).
Specifically, Theban King Oedipus must end the pestilence before it leaves him with no city over which to rule. He therefore does what any well-trained royal does in ancient Greece: he seeks to understand divine will as expressed by the Apolline oracle and Teiresias the blind prophet. The oracle charges him with identifying and punishing the guilty in the unsolved murder of his royal predecessor, King Laius. Teiresias calls him the very murderer whose execution or exile all gods and Thebans demand. After learning that Laius' crime scene and that of a murder committed by him against a similar person at about the same time, Oedipus believes that Teiresias may be right. He therefore begins to look into his own past.
What is Polyneices' punishment?
Polyneices' punishment was non-burial. The application of the sentence was his corpse being left, above ground and exposed to the weather, the dogs, and the birds. This sentence wasn't in keeping with the way that Polyneices had led his life and made ready for his death. Polyneices was the Theban descendant of Thebes' founder, Cadmus [fl. 2000 B.C.E.*]. As a Theban, and particularly as a founding member's descendant, he was supposed to be guaranteed of a burial in accord with the god-given rites and rituals. It didn't matter that he had helped his hometown's enemies lead a treacherous, but ultimately disastrous, invasion of Thebes. The hatreds of a lifetime were supposed to end with death. But Polyneices' uncle, Theban King Creon, decided that family ties ended, in life and in death, with betrayal of the hometown by a hometown boy. He therefore continued Polyneices' punishment in life into death. He did so by denying his nephew the god-given right to a proper below-ground burial. *Before the Christian Era.
Who is more powerful between Antigone and Creon in 'Antigone'?
It is Antigone who is more powerful than Creon in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).
Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone becomes a rebel in her own royal household. She gets away with defying her uncle King Creon, who is the city's most powerful political figure, and his laws in that all Thebes is on her side. It is only the chorus who will not support her because they are so attuned to being on the side of the city's reigning power figure and because they are so lacking in understanding of her personal pain.
Aztec mythology frequently features deities who are symbolic representations of one another. When it is suggested that Tezcatlipoca "became" Mixcoatl to invent fire, the real message is that Tezcatlipoca, as one of the most powerful gods in the pantheon, needed to borrow the auspices or powers of a different god in order to do so since fire was outside his normal milieu. It's not that Tezcatlipoca and Mixcoatl are the same person as much as it's that Aztec myths are fluid about allowing the one to stand in for the other as necessary.
And by the same token, Tezcatlipoca being Quetzalcoatl's brother may not be meant to be taken literally, either. The two gods were in many ways polar opposites representing very different concepts and ideas; viewing them as twins might be a result of the fact that the things they represented were sort of twinned, like calling darkness and light or life and death twins.
Keep in mind also that the Aztec empire was by no means operating under a unified religion that was the same in all areas. It was a collection of different city states and ethnic groups united under Mexica rulership, and therefore the myths are different from area to area. Mixcoatl, in particular, went through a lot of different forms and versions as he was originally a major patron god of some of the local ethnic groups that were conquered by the Aztecs and only later became less important.
Basically, Aztec mythology is not simply linear like Greco-Roman or Celtic myth, so what look like contradictions are often just different ways of looking at the same gods and ideas.
Why is 'Antigone Rising' the name of the band?
It's possible that the name 'Antigone Rising' just reflects the university backgrounds of the band's members. Classical mythology always is a popular subject in the ending years of high school and the beginning years of college. It's a subject that ties the two otherwise disparate experiences together. In the play 'Antigone', the main character of the same name refuses to accept an obedient, subordinate, subservient follower role in Theban society. She speaks her mind, and follows her conscience and her heart. In the play, her maverick defense of tradition against tradition-busting change earns her a death sentence. But other versions of her story indicate that she escapes capital punishment and starts life anew elsewhere with a newborn son of the husband that she can't save. Either way, Antigone ultimately is seen as the victorious defender of ancient, classical traditions. So the 'Rising' part of the band's name may refer to the classical figure's ultimate victories. And the band indeed traces its initial successes to a faithfulness to classic rock in a time of experimentation.
What social psychological and or aesthetic role did the chorus serve in the play 'Antigone'?
The social role of the chorus is the voicing of consensus and conflict within Thebes. The psychological role is the articulating of the conflicts within the minds of the main characters. And the aesthetic role is the representation of the community onstage.
What kind of person is Creon in 'Oedipus Rex' and 'Antigone'?
A compassionate bureaucrat and a heartless dictator is the kind of person that Creon respectively is in "Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).
Specifically, Creon follows proper procedure but leaves room for compassion and respect when he team rules with Theban King Oedipus, his brother-in-law and royal colleague. For example, he keeps a respectful stance when he defends himself against Oedipus' rabid, unfounded charges of treasonous conspiracy. He lets Oedipus meet with his children even though the latter needs to be arrested and confined pending divine judgment for criminal acts and immoral behavior.
But Creon makes an about face once he becomes sole ruler of Thebes. He heartlessly refuses to honor for the disloyal Theban dead their god-given rights as Thebans to below ground burials. He rejects all pleas to give the disloyal Theban dead below ground protection from ravaging weather and scrounging wildlife. He rules alone, arbitrarily, cruelly and most dictatorially.
What happens to Thebes after the first years of Oedipus' rule?
Thebes prospers for awhile but then the famine comes in and can only end after Oedipus leaves.
Is there a link between Oedipus and Athens?
Yes, Oedipus and Athens are linked. They're linked in the living of his life by Oedipus. Oedipus was exiled from his home town of Thebes. He ended up dying in Colonus, which was under the protection of Athens. He died a good death after having lived a miserable exile. That happy death was due in part to the friendship of Athenian King Theseus.
Oedipus and Athens also are linked in the telling of his life by Sophocles [c. 496 B.C.E. - c. 406 B.C.E.]. Sophocles was born in Colonus, where Oedipus died. Oedipus' death was predicted to bring as much good luck to Colonus, as it had brought bad luck to Thebes. Sophocles spent much of his life in and about Athens, which was in many ways the 'New York City' of ancient Greece. In fact, he became known as an Athenianplaywright.
Some think that the Oedipus stories are made up. One reason for so thinking is the lack of the story's telling anywhere but in the literature of ancient Greece. But it's interesting that the story's main teller was from Colonus and lived in Athens. With Corinth and Thebes, the two cities make up the four places that most are associated with Oedipus' name in ancient Greece. And they're the most important, because of their role in giving final honors to a noble king who had become an abomination in his own opinion and according to the consensus of others.
Are Creon and Oedipus half brothers?
No, Theban Kings Creon and Oedipus aren't half brothers. Instead, their relationship is one of brothers-in-law and of uncle to nephew. They're brothers-in-law, because Oedipus is married to Creon's sister, Theban Queen Jocasta. Their relationship also is one of uncle to nephew, because Oedipus actually and unknowingly is his wife's son from her first marriage to Oedipus' father, deceased Theban King Laius.
Why does the chorus leader not oppose Creon's decree in 'Antigone'?
That royals must rule as need be is the reason why the chorus leader does not oppose Creon's decree in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).
Specifically, the chorus leader is made up of Theban elders. The elders represent the most accomplished and wisest of Theban citizens. They tend to validate royal choices and refrain from publicly contradicting the reigning king.
What do the other characters think of Antigone in 'Antigone'?
Negatively by her uncle, positively by her betrothed, and questioningly by her sister is what other characters think of Antigone in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).
Specifically, Theban King Creon characterizes his niece, Princess Antigone, as foolish. His son, Prince Haemon, considers Antigone, his first cousin and bride-to-be, the love and role model of his life. But Princess Ismene has questions about her sister breaking the law and the social mold.
What city has seven gates in a yawning ring in 'Antigone'?
Thebes is the city that has seven gates in a yawning ring in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).
Specifically, the interior of the city of Thebes can be accessed by seven gates. Each of the gates directs incoming and outgoing Thebans through a different entrance. But all paths lead the traveller to the city's center.
Can you be arrested for leaving your children with their mother?
If you have sole legal guardianship/custody of them and the mother has none and you just drop the kids off with her and leave them there and never call or come back to pick them up that's child abandonment henceforth you getting arrested.
Whose laws does Creon realize are broken in 'Antigone'?
Human and divine laws are the laws that Creon realizes are broken in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).
Specifically, Theban King Creon issues an edict that contradicts divinely ordained rights to below-ground burials and funeral rites for all Thebans. His niece, Princess Antigone, breaks the law and is sentenced to death. All Creon cares about is the breaking of his law. It is not until Teiresias the blind prophet warns him of divine fury descending upon and destroying the royal household that Creon develops a conscience about breaking the pre-existing divine law by issuing his contrary human law.
Why is Oedipus still afraid of the prophecy?
Oedipus is still afraid of the prophecy because he fears that he might actually be the man of which they speak, this murderer of King Liaus; he also fears that he has married his own mother.
