Oedipus Rex

Between 1979 and 1992, Native Americans had a suicide rate 1.5 times the national average, with young males between 15 and 24 accounting for 64% of Native American deaths by suicide.

Antigone and Ismene are the two daughters of Theban King Oedipus. Eteocles and Polyneices are the twin sons. Theban Queen Jocasta, as mother and wife to Oedipus, is mother and grandmother to Oedipus' four children.

A last visit with, and royal protection for, his daughters are the favors that Theban King Oedipus asks of his brother-in-law and uncle, Theban King Creon. Daughters Antigone and Ismene are young and therefore not as adept at handling the family scandal as are their older twin brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices. Oedipus hopes that Creon will honor the ties of blood and royalty to his princess nieces. The girls well may have problems finding husbands and leading acceptable lives as the daughters of a murderous father and of incestuous parents.

A Corinthian shepherd who is working in Thebes at the time of Oedipus' birth gives the infant to King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth. The royal couple is childless and therefore in need of an heir. The shepherd in turn receives Oedipus from a Theban native shepherd. That shepherd in turn receives the three-day-old infant from the child's mother, Theban Queen Jocasta. Jocasta wishes her own son to die, so as not to grow up and kill Theban King Laius, her husband and the child's father.

Antigone and Lady Macbeth are similar in their decisionsto challenge the authority of the reigning monarch. Antigone challenges the right of her uncle, Theban King Creon, to issue a decree that contradicts the god-given traditions that guide the Theban journey through life into death. Lady Macbeth [b. c. 1015] challenges the right of her cousin, King Duncan I [d. August 14, 1040], to occupy the throne of Scotland. They also are similar in their final decisions to commit suicide. Antigone takes her life by hanging herself with her own halter. Lady Macbeth kills herself by means unspecified in the Shakespearean play.

Oedipus did not for see a bright future for his daughters. He thought that they would be cast as social outcasts and never find true love.

Haemon goes from an apparently general support for his father's actions to undeniable opposition. Thus he starts out listing marriage as secondary to the guidance of Theban King Creon as father and sovereign. But he then qualifies the value of that guidance. He finds his father 'wise by nature' but insensitive to the input of his family and his subjects. He describes experience as the fine tuner of wisdom. For example, he characterizes his father as unmindful of the sufferings and preferences of Thebans whose dead aren't having their god given funerary rights respected. He calls Theban public opinion as admiringly supportive of Antigone, and fearfully opposed to Creon. And so he brings out in the open his opposition to the execution of his bride-to-be under the orders of her uncle, Creon.

he is antigone's soon to be husband and the son of Creon and he tries to convince his father not to kill antigone

Laius and Jocasta were the King and Queen of Thebes. Jocasta was a distant cousin of Laius, and Laius was third in descent from Cadmus. They were also the parents of Oedipus.

antigone was summoned to creon, where she readily admitted her 'crime'

Where Oedipus speak rashly, Creon thinks before he speaks.

A messenger announces Jocasta's death. Oedipus asks Creon to banish him from Thebes. Creon brings Oedipus's children to him. Oedipus asks that he be allowed to bring his children with him into exile.

Creon is Oedipus's uncle, since he is Jocasta's (Oedipus's mother) brother. I guess Creon is also is brother-in-law, since he marries Jocasta.

Oedipus's recognition of the role he played in his own downfall reflects the worldview that our actions play a role in controlling our destinies.

He later on becomes more abundant in life

Antigone is contrasted with her sister Ismene in terms of disrespect or respect for the laws of the land. Theban King Creon issues a decree that approves the burial of the loyal Theban dead from the recent armed struggle against the invaders from Argos and their Theban collaborators. At the same time, the decree demands the non-burial of the disloyal Theban dead. This decree directly contradicts the god-given justice, rites, rituals and traditions of Theban society. In such a situation, Ismene cares only to be in good standing with Creon, her uncle and her king; and in compliance with the law. She cares nothing about the disrespect to her brother, Polyneices, who is among the disloyal Theban dead. In contrast, Antigone cares about her standing with the gods, particularly the god of the underworld. She argues that she will spend much more of her time in the world of the dead than in that of the living. She wants to be treated with respect when she dies, and to be accepted by her loved ones as having carried out the proper funerary procedures at their deaths.

Theban King Oedipus thinks that Theban King Creon and Teiresias the blind prophet conspire to overthrow him. Teiresias blames him for the death of the previous sovereign, Theban King Laius. Oedipus thinks that Teiresias isn't telling the truth. Instead, he thinks that Teiresias is saying what Creon wants him to, in order to discredit Oedipus and seize the royal powers for himself.

The 'parados' is the entry of the chorus into the orchestra. The orchestra is the place where the chorus dances and sings. In fact, the chorus originally was a group of dancers. But in the play 'Antigone', the chorus' entry into the orchestra is followed by their first statements. The first words of the parados are 'Beam of the sun, fairest light that ever dawned on Thebe of the seven gates, thou hast shone forth at last, eye of golden day, arisen above Dirce's streams!' In the rest of that first paragraph, and the following seven, the chorus tells the events preceding the action of the play. And so readers and viewers understand that Thebes was the site of a victorious repulsion by those loyal to their city against invaders from Argos and their Theban collaborators. The chorus ends on the ominous note of the special counsel that's called by new installed Theban King Creon.

The play 'Antigone' still is read today, because of its timeless plot, dialogue, characters, and actions. To this day, the balance is being worked out between mercy and justice before the law. Likewise is the working out of the acceptable limits of obedience and non-obedience to inhumane, unfair and unjust laws.

Having intercourse with a family member.

King Laius and Queen Jocasta abandon their child, Oedipus, because they are told a prophecy where their son is destined to kill his own father and marry his own mother.

Walling her up in a remote cave is the way in which Theban King Creon plans to kill Antigone. She breaks one of his laws. The penalty is death through fatal injuries from the rocks and stones that her fellow Thebans throw at her. Creon decides to keep the death sentence. But he changes the form to starvation in a cave that's far away from him and his citizens.

He was a son of King Creon and Queen Eurydice of Thebes. In the Seven Against Thebes, Creon was told by Tiresias that Thebes would be victorious only if Megareus was sacrificed. Megareus willingly sacrificed himself, and Thebes won against the Seven.