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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
Does Haemon wound Creon by stabbing him?
No. He lunges at Creon, misses, and stabs himself to be dead with Antigone.
Yes. Oedipus killed his biological father, king laius.
What is antigone's defenition of a traitor?
Antigone's meaning of the word traitor is a daughter that buries her brother's body.
The role of Antigone in the play of the same name is the fighter on the behalf of just traditions and moral behavior in the face of drastic change. For she fights for those who can't defend themselves: the dead who are denied the god-given rights to proper burial; and the Theban citizenry who fear reprisals for speaking their minds. Likewise, she fights for the rightness of respect for one's humanity and the wrongness of disrespect for one's passage through life and into death.
What were the names of Antigone's sister and two brothers?
Antigone's sister was named Ismene. Antigone's brothers were named Eteocles and Polyneices. The brothers were twins. They succeeded their father, Theban King Oedipus, as rulers of Thebes. They were supposed to cooperate on a royal power-sharing arrangement. But Eteocles took the first turn as monarch. When the allotted time was up, he refused to give up the throne. He even had Polyneices banished from Thebes. Polyneices came back with a combined force of invading Argives and discontented Thebans. The two brothers ended up killing each other on the battlefield.
Why does Antigone look forward to death?
Antigone looks forward to death. She accepts that she will spend more time in the underworld realms of the dead than in the above-ground life of the living. She knows that many loved ones such as her parents and her brothers await her there. She respects the god-given traditions by which Thebans organize their lives and make ready for their deaths. Those traditions emphasize the importance of honoring dead Thebans with proper burial rites and rituals. She trusts in the afterlife, underground reception that she will find for having honored the beloved dead and the god-given customs.
Who was Perseus and why does the Chorus mention him as Antigone is led to her death?
Perseus=god of underworld
Why does Oedipus' father try to have his son killed?
Oedipus's father tries to kill his son to prevent the prophesy, that Oedipus will kill the father and marry the mother, from happening. The gods prophesied as such and they didn't want it to happen.
Where did the characters from Theseus and the Minotaur come from?
Greek mythology, Theseus is a hero king of Athens.
How is prophecy significant in 'Oedipus Rex'?
The significance of prophecy in 'Oedipus Rex' is its being carried out despite the opposition and strategies of mortals. It's prophesied that Theban King Laius will be murdered by his own son, who then will marry his own mother. Both the parents and their son, subsequent Theban King Oedipus, try to avoid such a horrific fate. But the more they hide and the further they run, the closer they get to their god ordained fates.
What is taboo of the play Oedipus Rex?
the killed his father and married his mother and has children with her.
Does Oedipus cause his own downfall?
Yes, Theban King Oedipus causes his own downfall by his pride and his tragically flawed decision making. He hears a rumor that he isn't the biological son of Corinthian King Polybus and Corinthian Queen Merope. He doesn't get a straight answer from his parents.
So Oedipus decides to see what the Delphic Oracle has to say. The Oracle doesn't answer Oedipus' question either. Instead, the Oracle says that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother.
In response, Oedipus takes the first step to his downfall through his pride in thinking that he can escape such a horrific fate. He does so through his tragically flawed decision making. He needs to find out who his biological parents are instead of assuming them to be people whose parental identity already is questioned by rumor and by their lack of forthrightness.
Instead, Oedipus decides to flee Delphi and Corinth. The road from Delphi takes him to a crossroads where three roads meet. One of those roads leads to Thebes. Along that road comes a churlish, surly stranger who is none other than Laius, King of Thebes and father of Oedipus. Laius presents an insulting, violent challenge to Oedipus' right of way. Oedipus decides to respond in kind, with the result that he kills a man whom he resembles and who is old enough to be his father.
Oedipus then goes on to Thebes. There, he saves the city from the beastly, bullying Sphinx. He solves the unsolvable riddle of what life form [man] moves on all fours in the morning, on twos in the afternoon, and on threes in the evening. As a reward, he's offered the vacant Theban throne as a job and the grieving widow as a wife. By accepting his rewards, Oedipus decides to marry a woman who is old enough to be his mother.
Much later, a pestilence ravages Thebes of its harvests, its livestock, and its people. From Apollo's shrine it's learned that the killer[s] of Laius must be identified and punished. Oedipus decides upon an automatic punishment of execution or exile. He decides not to look into any mitigating factors. He therefore foredooms his own tragedy of subsequent discovery that he's the killer of his own father and sovereign, and the wedder and bedder of his own mother.
Finally, Oedipus decides to blind himself. His life therefore ends up exactly as it's fated to go as a blind beggar in exile. Fate may be inescapable. But the supreme irony are the albeit unknowing choices and decisions that Oedipus makes every step of the way that take him ever closer to his horrific fate. The harder he tries to flee, the more closely he embraces his nightmarish destiny through the choices and decisions that he freely makes out of his ignorance of the true nature of his identity and the true consequences of his actions.
What is Oedipus' punishment for killing King Laius?
Exile is the punishment of Theban King Oedipus for killing Theban King Laius. The oracle at Apollo's shrine tells Theban King Creon that the murderer or murderers of Laius must be identified and punished with execution or exile. The choice of the punishment is up to Creon, Oedipus' brother-in-law and uncle. Oedipus asks for exile, and Creon decides to honor that request, and Oedipus' request for protection to his two daughters, Antigone and Ismene.
he says that it is illegal for anyone to bury polynieces because he is a traitor towards thebes. at the end of the play we find out that he really says this because one of his sons is killed by polynieces army in the war between eteocles and polyniceces
Why does antigone kill herself at the end of the story?
She knew that she was going to die in that tomb and just sped up the process. She wanted to die anyways.
What is creon's motive for arresting Ismene as well?
Creon believes that Ismene was apart of the unrightful burial as well because Polyneices was just as much Ismene's brother than Antigone.
What is the role of the messenger in Antigone?
The messenger tells Creon that the buriels were dugged, but does not tell Creon who did though.
What was the prophecy that Oedipus fulfilled?
An oracle had a prophecy that Oedipus would kill his father, king of Thebes, and marry his mother.
Why doesn't Antigone fear death?
Because she stayed loyal to her family and to the Gods so she doesn't mind taking death .Also she is so full of pride that she thinks that dying is an honor because she got to bury her brother.
Whom does Teiresias accuse of killing Laius?
It's Theban King Oedipus that Teiresias the blind prophet accuses of killing Theban King Laius. He also suggests that there's an equally dark truth behind the married life that Oedipus appears to lead so happily with Laius' widow, Theban Queen Jocasta. Teiresias says that before day's end Oedipus will know the truth of the accusations. Indeed, before not too long, Oedipus is confronted with his own true identity as the killer of his own father and sovereign, and the wedder and bedder of his own mother.
Why does jocasta beg Oedipus to relinquish his search?
cz Jocasta understood that Oedipus is her child n the prophecy came true. And if Oedipus gets to know this, he will suffer, mentally.
