Antigone

The Sphinx does not destroy the city of Thebes in "Oedipus Rex."

Specifically, the monster sets up camp outside the city and forces everyone coming and going to answer a seemingly unanswerable riddle. Those who have no answer are killed by her. But Oedipus comes along and solves the riddle before the Sphinx can devour every last Theban or destroy the city.

No, Athena is not in the play "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Athena is the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom. Along with Apollo the sun god and Artemis the huntress, she is considered one of three guardian gods of Thebes. But she is not part of the cast of characters nor is her name even mentioned in the play.

'Tragic' refers to an unhappy turn of events. That's the perfect description of Theban King Oedipus' life. Specifically, he's a much respected and admired ruler who is happy in his personal life with his four attractive, intelligent children and his beautiful, kind wife.

But before play's end, Oedipus ends up blind, homeless, unemployed and widowed. He loses everything that gives him meaning and that ensures the admiration and respect of others. His albeit unknowing fall from grace is complete and tragic. He goes from being a personal and professional role model of happiness and success to becoming a despised and scorned murderer, sex offender and traitor.

Legality, morality, obedience and respect are the appearances and illegality, immorality, disobedience and disrespect the realities in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (c. 495 B.C.E. - c. 405 B.C.E.)

Specifically, the royal couple formed by Theban King Oedipus and Theban Queen Jocasta has the appearance of a happy, healthy family life. The couple seems to serve as a role model of the happy successes inherent in clean, decent living. The royal consort and her second, younger husband show respect to divine law, gods, and Theban traditions.

But the reality is an incestuous marriage of a mother to her only son who thereby becomes half-brother to his own children. At first glance, Oedipus looks every bit the respected ruler of honor and integrity. In reality, he turns out to be the albeit unknowing killer of his father and royal predecessor as well as the deliberate, two-time violator of divinely-ordained purification rituals.

That he only thinks of himself is the way in which the word "egotistic" describes Creon as a tragic hero in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon announces what needs to be done to ensure the security of his people and the stability of his rule. He decides on his own. He makes no changes regardless of opinions to the contrary or the resulting suffering of his people. That represents sheer egotism.

Answer #1

He had an unnatural sexual obsession with her. This obsession is the basis of the 'Oedipus Complex' term of Psychiatry.

Answer #2

Oedipus too thought that he could escape fate. He was warned against killing his own father and marrying his own mother. But he was operating under the mistaken impression that Polybus was his father, and Merope his mother. He therefore ran away from home.

Oedipus then made the mistake of not being vigilant, not maintaining his guard, and not looking a gift horse in the mouth. He would have served himself better to question any interactions with older individuals senior enough to be his father and his mother.

Yes, Antigone thinks her decision through in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone has her defense all ready for her conversations with her sister, Princess Ismene, and with their uncle, King Creon. Her interactions with her relatives in fact function as no more than one-way communications because she has no interest in another opinion. She anticipates the consequences of illegally burying her brother Polyneices and those of not doing so: capital punishment and welcome in the Underworld of the afterlife versus continued problems with Creon's reign and shunning in the afterlife.

Dramatic irony is when the words and actions of the characters of a work of literature have a different meaning for the reader than they do for the characters. This is the result of the reader having a greater knowledge than the characters themselves.

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It is a contradiction between what a character says and what the audience knows.

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Dramatic Irony occurs when the reader or spectator knows more about the true state of affairs then the characters themselves.
A situation in a play in which the audience knows more than the characters

His father is the person whom subsequent Theban King Oedipus learns that he'll kill. He thinks that his father is King Polybus of Corinth. But unbeknownst to him, the Corinthian monarch is his foster father.

In reaction to the horrendous prophecy, Oedipus runs away from home. He thinks that Thebes is far enough away to keep him from killing his father and marrying his mother. Little does he know that his real hometown of Thebes is the last place that he should choose as a new home.

Creon is the character who fails as the result of weakness in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon fails because he tries to be a strong ruler. He confuses strong rule with not being swayed from a set course by what is happening to and being said by others. He cannot see until it is too late that the best rule is based upon the sound advice of people who are experienced and can be trusted.

Creon's non-burial edict is the royal decree revealed by Antigone to Ismene in the opening scene of "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone already knows about her uncle King Creon's edict denying god-given rights of below-ground burials and proper funeral rights to perceived enemies such as Polyneices. Perhaps she has this advance knowledge because she is the betrothed of Prince Haemon, Creon's only remaining child and heir apparent. At any rate, she decides to share with her sister, Princess Ismene, whom she intend to ask for help in burying their brother Polyneices.

No, Antigone does not appreciate Ismene's claim to having helped bury Polyneices in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone alone takes the risk of burying her brother Polyneices despite a contradictory law by King Creon, her uncle and intended father-in-law. Because her sister Ismene does not help her, Antigone must give their brother a partial, above-ground burial instead of one below-ground. She therefore does not at all appreciate it when Ismene makes the false claim of helping in the burial and therefore deserving of a share of the blame.

That the two share the same character flaws even though they express opposite convictions is what the author wants us to understand about the "yes" and "no" between Antigone and Creon in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone believes that family, the gods and Theban traditions rule in life and death. In contrast, her uncle King Creon insists that the king, the law and the state rule in life and can carry over their effects into death. Despite their contrary convictions, the two unite in their characters flawed by pride, stubbornness and tunnel vision.

The carrying of the unburied bodies of the disloyal Theban dead to the Underworld is the equivalent of death trains in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the phrase death train describes transportation of people to their deaths or to their final disposition. Its presence may be assumed by an audience who is familiar with ancient Greek beliefs. It refers to the transport of the dead to the entrance to the Underworld of the afterlife.

Stability of royal rule and disdain for gods and mortals are Creon's principles in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon's principles are given the most prominent attention in his address to the chorus of Theban elders at the beginning of the play and in his interaction with his son, Prince Haemon, about midway through the play. Creon praises the respectful loyalty of Thebans who stand by the city's legitimate monarchs. But it is a one-way street, because he makes it clear that a law-and-order king such as he decides on his own, without the influence, input or interference of the city's guardian gods, royal household members, or Theban citizens.