The two main
characters of the same titles, Oedipus the King and Antigone, are both victims
of circumstances beyond their control. Both are ignorant what could be the
outcome, and suffer for their actions where in the end of both plays they meet
their doom.
The
two masterpieces the modern world is enjoying have two characters whose
personalities are compared and differed.Both stories are gripping and intense.
The reader can feel the grief of the two heroes. Oedipus became a blind outcast
after saving his city from the plague. Antigone chooses to meet death for the
sake of the ideal. The question is: which play is more tragic, Oedipus the King
or Antigone?
In Oedipus the
King, the hero as well as the secondary characters, Jocasta and Laius,
unwittingly made actions regardless of the revelations that are naturally
growing as the story goes on. Scholars evaluate the play Oedipus the King in
the aspect between fate and freewill. The story opens with the city of Thebes
in plague. The Theban priests call for Oedipus to find a way to end the crisis.
Oedipus displayed himself as a hero of his own will and a victim of fate.
Oedipus is a daring, conceited and mistrustful man. Oedipus had saved them
before from the Sphinx by solving the riddle, and they are confident that the
king will save them from another calamity. What he did not know, however, that
the plague which is happening result from his own deed. The riddle they are
trying to answer now is, “who killed king Laius?” His hasty spirit is eager to
find out the cause, but his quick temper prevented him from knowing Teiresias’
revelation. Only from the herdsman he
finds out the truth, again he is successful in saving his city but the outcome
brings out a bitter price (Hadas) (Sophocles).
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Sophocles
explored the political grounds by telling story about statesmanship and
individual rights. In Antigone we read about a daring heroine who disobeys the
state by burying her own brother Polyneices, and suffered martyrdom as a
result. In the story shows how the potential of Antigone to stand up for the
defenseless, she is concerned about the god-given rights in attending proper
funeral rights. Creon is another tragic hero in the play, who represents as a
meticulous ruler who cares about unity and the state. Both two suffered
consequences for what they have done, but the tragedy is for Antigone and not
for Creon, whose actions served as cause for the deaths of Haemon and
Eurydices. (Hadas)
While
both plays arouse pity from the readers, Oedipus and Antigone’s tragic ends are
due to contradicting causes. Antigone is aware of the situation she is in and
uses it to gain sympathy from others. Oedipus is unable to see the real
situation but he does not want pity from those around him. Antigone’s major
flaw is burying Polyneices against Creon’s will, and her sanity is in question
when she shows a desire death for herself. Oedipus’ ultimate failure comes from
his pride and desire to rise himself above others.
Oedipus
the King is more tragic than Antigone for the dramatic irony throughout the
play. He is doomed before tragedy befalls him. His suffering continues as he is
forced to live in punishment worse than death. He punished himself by putting
his own eyes and had been cast out from Thebes. But his blindness served as his
catharsis, he chooses to live for the truth.
Oedipus is the perfect tragic hero, thus his story induces greater
connection to the audience.
Works Cited
Hadas, Moses, ed. Greek Drama. New Edition.
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, September 1983.
Sophocles. Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra. Ed.
Edith Hall. USA: Oxford University Press, 1998.
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