Oedipus the King and AntigoneThere is no curse on the house of Oedipus. Due to the many terrible things that happen to Oedipus' family members, the reader might be led to believe that such a curse exists. However, if this person takes a closer look at the stories of Oedipus the King and Antigone, they will discover that the reason so many tragedies befell Oedipus's family is not due to any curse, but rather to a common thread. Each person in Oedipus' lineage attempts to challenge authority in one way or another. Both Oedipus and Jocasta defy the authority of the gods by trying to flee one of their prophecies, which results in Jocasta's death and Oedipus's dethroning and downfall. Antigone challenges the king's authority by violating his edict, resulting in his death. In Ismene's case, the authority challenged is that of the moral law, and for this she must live out her days in guilt and regret. The authority that Oedipus and Jocasta challenge is the same. The king and his mother defy the authority of the gods by trying to escape their edict. The edict states that a son would be born to Jocasta who would marry his mother and kill his father, as Oedipus says: "How by mating with my mother I should beget offspring... having been the murderer of my father . » (OEDIPE, Oedipus, 44). When Jocasta hears this, she attempts to kill baby Oedipus, thus attempting to escape the prophecy. Similarly, when Oedipus, a single adult, learns that he is going to kill his father, he flees his hometown, Corinth, never to return. Both Oedipus and Jocasta challenge the authority of the gods, which here takes the form of an escape from a threatening prophecy. But in the end, Jocasta dies and Oedipus is overthrown and ruined. Like her parents, Antigone challenges a powerful authority. Unlike her parents, this authority does not belong to the gods, but rather to someone who thinks she is a god: Creon, Antigone's uncle, great-uncle, and king. He proclaimed that the body of Polyneices, Antigone's brother who fought against Thebes during the war, would be left to rot without burial on the field, "It must be left without tears, without burial, a vulture's price..." (ANTIGONE, Antigone, 192). Antigone, furious at the injustice done to her family, defies Creon's direct order and buries her brother..