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  • Essay / Comparing and Contrasting Themes in Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Antigone

    Sophocles used his plays to encourage the Athenians to take responsibility for their own actions. In the 5th century BC, Greece was going through an era of military exploration, political unrest, and social revolution, including the empowerment of women. Sophocles included all of these elements in his plays, notably in Oedipus the King and Antigone. Despite his bourgeois upbringing, Sophocles became a sort of “man of the people” who was very concerned about social issues. For this reason, Sophocles created heroes different from those in earlier mythology and used their flaws to emphasize the importance of personal responsibility. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Oedipus' pride is the first example of the flawed hero. He refuses to recognize the signs of the prophecy which predicted that he would kill his father and marry his mother; at the same time, he is eager to discover the truth. As more and more evidence is presented to him in favor of the prophecy, he tries to find a way around it and calls another witness. Referring to a slave he wants to question, he says to Jocasta: "There are perhaps things, my wife, which it is better not to say, which make me want to have her here" (Sophocles 43). Through this dialogue, it can be said that Oedipus suppresses the knowledge that the prophecy is slowly unfolding and proving true. His lack of pride not only prevents him from accepting the truth, but also leads him to fulfill the prophecy. He unknowingly kills Laius, his father, for having insulted him while he was passing through Thebes. Only a proud man would be willing to kill for a simple insult. Eventually, he begins to realize that the man he killed may have been his father: "'Laius was killed - I thought I understood the words - where three highways intersect?' “That’s what they said. This is how the story goes. “The place?” Where did the accident happen?' » (Sophocles 41). When he finally learns the truth, he knows he must face dark consequences. The chorus is widely used both as a voice of reason and to convey emotions to the audience. In the third choral ode, the chorus doubts Oedipus and notes his pride. “But what would happen if an impudent man exhibited in words or deeds his impiety and impetuous contempt for principalities and canons? Then pursue him and pay him the wages of pride for his haughty greed, sacrilege and folly. What shield is there for such a man against all the arrows of heaven? Can I celebrate such impudence and celebrate dancing? (Sophocles 48). This antistrophe illustrates the chorus's distrust of Oedipus toward the end of the story and foreshadows his eventual downfall. The climax and descending action are probably the best examples of Oedipus taking responsibility for his own actions. Once Oedipus learns that his wife has hanged herself, he understands what must be done. Oedipus then performs the perfect act of symbolic retribution. Blinding himself with his brooches, he cries: “'Wicked, wicked eyes, you will not see me or my crime, you will not see my present shame. Become dark forever, blind to what you should never have seen, and blind to the love that this heart cried out to see” (Sophocles 70). He thus takes ultimate responsibility for his actions and fulfills Teiresias' prophecy that he would enter the city seeing and leave it blind (Sophocles 16). The play Antigone addresses many of the same themes, but there is an exceptional difference between this play and Oedipus the King. Antigone, who we already know is.