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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
How does Haimon feel about Antigone?
Haemon is Antigone's betrothed, and loves her. In spite of his father Creon's contempt and opposition of Antigone, he supports her decision to bury her brother Polyneices and is aware of the situation in Thebes: the citizens also support Antigone's decision, although they are too terrified to betray their emotions to King Creon. He even attempts to defend Antigone to Creon, but is ignored. In the end, Haemon's love for Antigone is what causes him to commit suicide after finding her dead body.
love
How is Creon in antigone a dynamic character?
Creon's character in Sophocles play has various personalities and traits that made him a very dynamic character in the said play. Three of these personality traits are stubbornness, power and strength.
Why did the citizens of Thebes make Oedipus their king in Oedipus king?
The Sphinx was holding Thebes captive until someone answered it's riddle. Desperate for relief, Creon offers whoever can answer the riddle the hand of his sister Jocasta, recently widowed. Oedipus comes along and solves the riddle, earning himself the throne.
What is the name of the blind prophet in sophocles' Oedipus?
The name of the blind prophet in sophocles' oedipus rex is teiresias.
What might be the significance of nonfuctional or defective chordae tendinae?
Failure of valve closure
Why did Ismene object to the burial of their brother Polynices?
She knew that King Creon had issued a decree that noone should bury him. She wanted him to be buried but was fearful for her life
Why was burying Polyneices a tragic flaw for Antigone?
Burying her brother Polyneices was a tragic flaw for Antigone. The burial was a flaw, because it disobeyed the recent decree by Theban King Creon about the non-burial of the disloyal Theban dead. The flaw was tragic, because it resulted in Antigone's death. Violation of the law was punishable by a capital sentence. Antigone was walled up in a dark, remote cave. Soon afterwards, she committed suicide by hanging herself with her halter.
How does Brutus from 'Julius Caesar' compare and contrast to Oedipus from 'Oedipus Rex'?
Marcus Junius Brutus [June 85 B.C.E.* - October 42 B.C.E.] is manipulated into killing his friend, Gaius Julius Caesar [July 13, 100 B.C.E.* - March 15, 44 B.C.E.]. Oedipus likewise can be said to be manipulated, by the gods, into killing his own father and sovereign. Brutus ultimately is tracked down by Marcus Antonius [c. January 14, 83 B.C.E.* - August 1, 30 B.C.E.], Oedipus by fate.
Both characters end up disgraced because of their acts. Brutus commits suicide after his defeat at the second battle of Philippi. He's given an honorable burial. But history doesn't forget that he betrayed his friend. And yet it indeed is the noble cause that draws Brutus astray. The assassins are motivated by the increasingly dictatorial and self serving hold of Caesar over Roman society.
In contrast, Oedipus doesn't commit suicide. Instead, he's allowed an honorable death in which his body is there one minute, gone the next. But like Brutus, his memorial is honorable. In fact, he's buried on sacred ground, and his presence is foretold and upheld as lucky to the area.
Unlike in the case of Brutus, history therefore is kinder to Oedipus. The disgraced Theban King is reinstated posthumously. And yet, ironically, Oedipus doesn't kill nobly. Instead, his murderous act results from a street brawl over a right-of-way.
*Before the Christian Era
Why does Antigone suffer in Antigone?
She is a tragic hero. More literally, in the beginning she suffers for having lost her brothers (her parents) and one not being given a funeral. she suffers because she buries her brother out of the respect she, as anyone, should pay to the dead. She suffers when she believes that no one will remember her when she is dead. King Creon is to kill her but instead only locks her up. Later he goes back to release her but she had already killed herself.
Are there supernatural events in 'Antigone'?
No, there are no supernatural events in 'Antigone'. The action in the play is straightforward, and the dialogue is clear. Everything is explainable in terms of the deeds and misdeeds of the main characters. For example, the chorus speaks of the staying nature and power of curses, and of the mischief of the gods. But the misfortune of the house of the Labadacidae may be explained through their own good and bad choices, be they consensual or unknowing.
Does Ismene help Antigone bury their brother?
No, Ismene doesn't help Antigone bury their brother Polyneices. According to god-given justice and traditions, a proper burial is the due of Thebans. But Antigone's uncle, Theban King Creon, issues a decree that contradicts the will of the gods. For he allows burial to loyal Theban dead alone, and demands exposure to the elements and scavengers for disloyal Theban dead. The King's niece Antigone considers the enmities and hatreds of a lifetiime as ending with death. Likewise, she considers the ties of blood, friendship, and love as carrying over from life into death. Additionally, she recognizes that no mortal can tamper with god-given rights. And so she decides to bury Polyneices. Antigone's sister, Ismene, defines her life by obedience to the sovereign and by submission to men. But she isn't respectful to a man who is disloyal to the state. Whether the disloyal Theban be any male in general or her brother in particular, she accepts the denial of god-given rights if the sovereign so decides.
What is Oedipus' curse in 'Oedipus at Colonus'?
Oedipus loses his job as King of Thebes, because of having killed his father and his king and for having married his own mother. He blinds himself, and goes into a miserable, beggarly exile. During that exile, he curses his brother-in-law, Theban King Creon. Specifically, he calls for all of the members of Creon's house to be miserable in their old age.
What does Haemon threaten to do if Antigone dies?
He vaguely mentions that the death of Antigone will lead to the death of another. [Meaning his father.] This threat is followed through with, but not in the intended manner. When Creon goes to release Antigone from her living grave, Haemon is inside grieving Antigone's suicide. When he tries to kill his father (as he intended), his sword misses his father & he turns on it himself. [Still seeing that the threat is completed.]
How does Antigone use reason in the opening scene with Ismene?
Antigone uses the reasons of loyalty to family, obedience to the gods, and respect for the dead in her opening scene with her sister Ismene. She believes that it's crystal clear how one leads one's life. For example, she owes her life to her parents, whom she will join in death. In fact, her earthly time with her parents is nothing in comparison to the lengthy existence that she will share with them in the underworld realm of the afterlife. Therefore, it's important for her to respect her family and her gods as much above ground and below. That means seeing to it that god given and guaranteed traditions are respected no matter what mortals say or do to the contrary.
Sophocles was married to a wife named Nicostrata, by whom he became the father of Iophon. Somewhat late in life he formed a connection with a certain Theoris, a woman of Sicyon, by whom he had a son called Ariston.
Why does Creon bury Polyneices before he goes to the cave?
That he fears for the well being of himself and his family is the reason why Theban King Creon buries his nephew Polyneices and then goes to the cave. Specifically, Teiresias the blind Prophet tells Creon that failure to bury the disloyal Theban dead is behind a plague that assails Thebes. Creon remains stubborn in his refusal to respect the god given right of all Theban dead, be they disloyal or loyal, to proper burial. He only changes his stance when Teiresias explains that the King's doom is being worked upon, to manifest itself in full, humiliating, miserable expression shortly.
The psychological truths embodied by a tragedy
How did Oedipus' encounter with the sphinx save thebes?
Oedipus answered the sphinx's riddle and sphinx killed herself. Once the sphinx was gone the people of Thebes were safe.
What did Creon issue for Antigone's brothers?
Theban King Creon issued a decree for Eteocles and Polyneices, who were his nephews and Antigone's brothers. The decree allowed Eteocles to receive proper funerary procedures since he was loyal to Thebes in the battle against Argos. At the same time, the decree denied those same god-given rights to Polyneices, who was disloyal to Thebes in the conflict.
Where did Sophocles get the inspiration for his plays?
His childhood and his education may have been the inspiration for the plays that Sophocles [c. 496 B.C.E. - c. 406 B.C.E.] wrote. Specifically, Sophocles' family were residents of Colonus. The city was famous as the reputed place of death of Theban King Oedipus, whose story became the subject of three famous plays by Sophocles.
Additionally, Sophocles had the best of educations available in his hometown, and then in the sophisticated capital of Athens. He would have been well versed in ancient history, literature and religion. So it was easy for him to draw on any one of the disciplines in peopling his plays with figures from the cultural heritage of ancient Greece.
