Antigone

That her sister and Creon's son are deeply in love is what Ismene argues to try to convince Creon not to kill her in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Ismene does not want to see her sister, Princess Antigone, die. She identifies the great love between Antigone and Prince Haemon, Creon's sole surviving child and heir. She mentions this in the hope that the engagement and impending marriage of the two first cousins will convince her uncle not to execute Antigone.

Othello, Oedipus, and Antigone are all tragic heroes. They do great deeds and have great power or strength. For example, Othello defeats Venice's enemies. Oedipus defeats the Sphinx and frees Thebes from heavy taxes. Antigone makes sure that a Theban right is a Theban due.

But fatal character flaws destroy the lives of all three heroes. All three suffer from pride and uncontrolled passion. Othello is so proud of his integrity and courage that he doesn't recognize his violent temper and his manipulability by Iago. Oedipus is so proud of his intelligence that he tries to escape a horrendous fate. He's so proud of his personal and professional accomplishments that he doesn't look the gift horses of throne and wife in the mouth. Antigone is so proud of her commitment to the true, the right, the proper, and the correct that she doesn't respect differing, less passionate opinions.

Additionally, all three of the heroes make duty their first priority. They do so to the exclusion of all else. Othello makes the sanctity of his marriage vows his quest. So he listens to the villainous Iago and ignores the oaths of Desdemona and the whisperings of his own conscience and his own heart. Oedipus makes the tracking down and punishing of his royal predecessor's murderer his quest. So he offends Creon, his brother-in-law and uncle; insults his friend, Teiresias the blind prophet; destroys Jocasta, his mother and his queen; and alienates not only his twin sons but also all of Thebes. And Antigone makes the proper burying of Polyneices, her traitorous brother, her quest. To that end, she sacrifices companionship, family ties, and romance.

Yes, Sophocles achieves his purpose as author of the play "Oedipus Rex."

Specifically, an author's most basic purpose is to tell a story, and Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.) tells the story of the kingship of Oedipus. The play's original title of "Oedipus Tyrannus" loses its meaning of taking power by illegal means in the Latin translation "Oedipus Rex" and in the English translation "Oedipus the King." But the original and the translations clearly support the author's intent at showing that no mortal finds lasting happiness in life. If nothing else, the gods are there to trip mortals up for not carrying out in full even the most self-destructive of divine orders.

They're the brothers of Antigone and Ismene who fought against each other in war and ended up killing each other.

They both took turns ruling a country, when it was the turn of Polynices, Eteocles wouldn't give him the throne because he thought that he was doing an excellent job at ruling, and didn't need to give it up. Polynices gets mad and puts together an army of other nations to go to war against Thebes (the country they both ruled).
They both end up killing each other in battle.

Because he is told that he is fated to kill his father and marry his mother, subsequent Theban King Oedipus runs away from Corinth in the play "Oedipus Rex."

Specifically, Oedipus hears rumors that he actually is the adopted not the real son of the royal couple whom he considers his parents. Surprisingly, Corinthian monarchs Polybus and Merope are uncooperative when Oedipus tries to discuss the rumors with them. So Oedipus goes off to Delphi to get answers from the Oracle.

But the Oracle does not answer any of Oedipus' questions. Instead, Oedipus is told of his unenviable fate to kill his father and marry his mother. Just like that, Oedipus forgets all doubts about his parentage. All he can think of is getting as far away from Corinth and Corinthians as possible.

That they are bandits in the pay of anti-royalists in Thebes is a theory that Oedipus develops about Laius' death in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus learns that his royal predecessor, Laius, appears to be the murder victim of a band of robbers. That Laius is no ordinary personage and that he travels simply but as part of an escort party makes the event all the more daring and unbelievable to Oedipus. Oedipus therefore assumes that money from Thebans who oppose their king must be behind such an audacious, desperate, disrespectful measure.

It is with a boasting, disrespectful and stubborn attitude that Antigone is brought before Creon in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone gets what she wishes for. She intends to break her uncle King Creon's law by burying her brother Polyneices and not to fight her death sentence. She makes no excuses for her civil disobedience. She responds to every question in an angry, contradictory, disdainful, insulting tone. She refuses to back down from her disrespect and therefore loses all chance for getting her uncle to rescind his law or lighten or negate her sentence.

Creon being led off to house arrest and the chorus' concluding comment on wisdom are what happens at the very end of "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Creon has to stop being king because of policies that get in the way of divine will. He needs to be placed under house arrest until the gods indicate whether he is to be executed or exiled. The chorus observes that Creon loses everyone and everything because he is foolish enough to oppose the gods.

It is the opinion of the gods that Antigone values more than the opinion of mortals in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone is faced with a choice between respecting a divine law and disrespecting a royal edict or vice versa. She decides that misery in the Underworld of the lengthy afterlife is worse than any suffering in her fleeting existence in this life. She therefore chooses to prioritize the goodwill of the gods over that of mortals, especially in the case of mortal kings such as her uncle Creon who issues edicts that defy divine will and sacred Theban traditions.

That the audience becomes caught up in her capture and treatment is the contribution that Antigone's two crucial decisions make to the furthering plot of "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone decides that she will break royal law, comply with divine law and give her brother Polyneices a proper burial. She also makes the decision not to be deceptive or secretive about her civil disobedience. The audience realizes that it is a question of time when and how Antigone will be caught and how harsh or kind will be the interaction between her and her uncle, King Creon.

No one is Antigone's husband in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone is engaged to Prince Haemon, only surviving child and heir apparent of King Creon. But the engagement is broken with Creon sentencing her to death and having her buried alive. On her way to her grave. Antigone describes herself as an "unwed wife," which does reflect the view that engagement is one step in an essentially two-step process marriage process in ancient Greece.

No, Aeschylus did not write a play called "Oedipus Rex."

Specifically, Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.) was an ancient Greek playwright and the play's author. Aeschylus (525/524 B.C.E. - 455/456 B.C.E.) also wrote about Thebes, but in terms of Theban King Oedipus' contentious children. His play, "Seven Against Thebes," covers what happens between the death of Oedipus in "Oedipus at Colonus" and the referenced deaths of his sons Eteocles and Polyneices in "Antigone."

That she decides to commit suicide is the reason why Antigone dies in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone is sentenced to death by live burial and starvation. She leaves no suicide note. But she takes her life by hanging herself with the halter from her own dress.

Her prideful, uncompromising, unyielding passion is Antigone's flaw in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the consequences of Antigone's passionate outbursts are hasty speech and actions. In fact, Antigone's personality is described as verbally foolish and emotionally frenzied. Even to the end, she does not budge from her proud, stubborn emotional recklessness. The chorus aptly describes Her as the passionate daughter of a passionate father, neither of whom capable of flexibility or change.

Issuing his edict is Creon's hamartia in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term hamartia describes an error or mistake in judgment. Theban King Creon's hamartia is issuing his edict. He knows that the edict contradicts divine will and Theban traditions of below ground burials for all Thebans. But he persists in issuing, enforcing and defending the edict, which puts him on a collision course with the gods.

Suicide is what happens to Theban Queen Jocasta in the play "Oedipus Rex."

Specifically, Jocasta realizes that she unknowingly took as her second husband subsequent Theban King Oedipus, her own son from her first marriage. The couple has had two girls and a set of twin boys. The massive though unintended incest is more than she can handle.

That he contradicts divine will and insults a divine representative is the way in which Creon's responses to Teiresias show disrespect for the gods in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Teiresias the blind prophet advises that Theban King Creon's edict of non-burial of the disloyal Theban dead offends the gods. He cautions that divine will guarantees to all Thebans below ground burials of the dead. Creon observes that he will persist in the enforcement of his edict no matter what the gods will. At the same time, he pulls out name calling even though Teiresias is favored by the gods in his astute predictions and skilled interpretation of ritual sacrifices.

That he believes in her innocence is the reason why Creon does not have Ismene killed in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon reluctantly has his niece, Princess Ismene, arrested for helping her sister, Princess Antigone, bury their brother Polyneices. Creon hesitates since he considers Ismene as never being any other than wise. But he misinterprets a time when he sees out of control. Under the influence of the chorus leader, he reverses his decision regarding her, but not her sister.

The interpreter of ritual sacrifices, the hermitresident of the hills outside Thebes, the blind prophet of Thebes and the advisor to Theban kings is who Teiresias is in "Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the gods take away Teiresias' sight either for revealing divine secrets to humans or for seeing Athena, goddess of wisdom, in her bath. Either way, in return and in compensation, Teiresias is a storehouse of knowledge regarding all things Theban, a seer of the future of Thebans and their city, and an advisor on present events.

That it gives biased information about the first civil war over the Theban royal succession is the purpose that the parados serves in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the chorus discusses the defense of the Theban throne by the usurpers Creon and Eteocles against the legitimate claim of Polyneices. But the members do not mention any wrongdoing by Creon and Eteocles or any righteousness by Polyneices. They seek to justify the differential treatment of the bodies of the two brothers. They validate for Eteocles the recognition of the god-given rights of all Thebans to below ground burials. They withhold that recognition from Polyneices, whom they characterize as a proud traitor instead of a valiant fighter for Thebes' best interests.

That they offend the gods and mortals through their opposition to their fates, their neglect of cleansing rituals regarding Laius' death and their incestuous marriage are reasons why Oedipus and Jocasta are punished in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus and Jocasta each receive prophecies of unenviable fates when they are young. Each one is arrogant and blasphemous in thinking that the gods can be outwitted, the Furies outrun, and fates changed. Also, even the mistaken killingof fathers and kings is an offense against both gods and mortals. It is so serious that cleansing rituals must be carried out and the guilty must be identified and punished. Neither is done following the mysterious murder of Theban King Laius, Jocasta's first husband.

Additionally, it is possible for gods to have incestuous relations, which is how Gaia starts up life on planet Earth. But it is blasphemous for mortals to engage in these relationships. The blasphemy holds even in the case of the albeit unknowingly mother-son involvement at the base of Oedipus' and Jocasta's marriage.