Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Sophocles Euripides Antigone - 1310 Words

In Sophocles’ Antigone, and in Euripides’ Medea, the Greek authors take on the topic of justice. Each playwright addresses the issue of injustices suffered by women and the concept of natural law. In both tragedies, the female leads seek justice after natural laws had been broken, but they ultimately break the natural law themselves, resulting in more injustice. During Medea s first long speech (lines 212 - 271), she declares that women are stricken with the most wretched existence on earth. Within this speech, Euripides draws attention to many of the injustices women underwent in ancient Athens. He refers particularly to their dependence on marriage and their absence of a public life. â€Å"A man, when he gets fed up with the people at home, can go elsewhere to ease his heart – he has friends, companions his own age. We must rely on just one single soul,† (lines 247 - 250). Here Medea point out how all women must rely on their husbands, while their husbands are allowed to go out and a public life with friends. A way that it is shown that women are viewed as wicked is through the portrayal of Medea being a â€Å"wild† woman from a non-Greek, â€Å"land of the barbarian† (line 261). Rather than being a Greek citizen, Medea is compared to the other characters in the play, as being more impulsive and primed to do something immoral. In the play, Medea isn t just pursuing justice in response to Jason and Creon s crimes, but is also seeking to correct the injustice of the unequalShow MoreRelatedHow Modern Versions Of Medea ( Euripides ) And Antigone ( Sophocles )1246 Words   |  5 Pageswomen to be seen as psychotics, liars, and traitors. Even so many female playwrights recreate these plays today in a modern light to establish a prevailing production. Throughout this essay I will discuss how modern versions of Medea (Euripides) and Antigone (Sophocles) challenge ancient Greek gender stereotypes in order to make a powerful feminist statement about contemporary society. Ancient Athenian society was objectively male dominated. Men associated themselves with other men and women had noRead More Comparing Female Characters in Euripides Medea and Sophocles Oedipus the King and Antigone1555 Words   |  7 PagesComparing Female Characters in Euripides Medea and Sophocles Oedipus the King and Antigone      Ã‚  Ã‚   In the times of the ancient Greeks, women had an unpretentious role. They were expected to do take on the accepted role of a woman.   In most cases, a womans role is restricted to bearing young, raising children, and housework. In Sophocles Oedipus   the King, Antigone, and Medea, the dominant female characters impacted upon men with authority and political power.   It is Read MoreTragedy In Oedipus Rex And Antigone By Euripides784 Words   |  4 Pagesfamously known Greek tragedies; Oedipus Rex and Antigone by Sophocles and Medea by Euripides that not only have the common genre of tragedy, but share the same motifs; homicide, suicide, and suffering. What is intriguing about these commonalities is that these playwrights, Sophocles and Euripides, use them. Homicide is an act when a human permanently harms another leading in death and these plays like to use it quite a bit. In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, the main character Oedipus (king of Thebes) realizesRead More Comparing Hubris in Antigone and Oedipus Essay1052 Words   |  5 PagesHubris in Antigone and Oedipus      Ã‚  Ã‚   The idea of hubris is monumental in a plethora of Greek mythological works. In many ways the excessive pride of certain characters fuels their own destruction. This is certainly true with respect to the characters of Pentheus, Antigone, and Oedipus. All three of these characters demonstrate, through their actions, various degrees of arrogance that seem to undercut the traditional role of the Gods, and thus largely contribute to their downfall. However, itRead More The Relationship between Gods and Mortals in Mythology Essay1359 Words   |  6 Pagesimportant ruling power for both gods and mortals. For instance, in Sophocles tragedy, Antigone, justice prevails over king Creons actions. He sentences his own niece to death for giving her deceased brother, a pronounced enemy of Thebes, a proper burial. In return for his rigid ruling he loses his wife and son to tragic deaths. Creon puts his own city?s justice before the determined justice of the gods, and pays dearly fo r it. Antigone also receives justice for her actions even though she dies. SheRead MoreThe Nobility And Power Of Women1165 Words   |  5 PagesPower of Women In most of the plays written by Sophocles and Euripides, women are often seen as the main character or heroin in the play and therefore shows them as having a very vital and prominent role. The nobility and the power of women portrayed in the play also show how important they are. Women in tragedy often had values and principles that they tried to exemplify. They had a high self-esteem (Lysistrata), they were brave and courageous (Antigone), they were noble, loyal and selfless (Alcestis)Read MoreThe Tragic Women Of Tragedy985 Words   |  4 PagesThe Tragic Women of Tragedy Euripides and Sophocles wrote powerful tragedies that remain influential to this day. The vast majority of work recovered from this time is by male authorship. What remains about women of this time is written through the lens of male authors’ perspective and beliefs about the role of women in Greek culture. The works of these two playwrights frequently characterize women as unstable and dangerous. Agave, Antigone, and Medea are all undoubtedly the driving force behindRead MoreCharacteristics Of Classical Mythology729 Words   |  3 Pagesnational level. British anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski claims that culture functions to meet the needs of individuals rather than society as a whole (MLS). Through the analysis of Morford’s publications in addition to ancient myths Heracles, Antigone, Metamorphoses, and the Iliad, Malinowski’s theory of functionalism exploits the idea that human behavior, actions, and social beliefs in myth, establish a connection between Greece and Rome. Depending on the region, religious aspects and valuesRead MoreThe Ancient Greek Of Ancient Greece1690 Words   |  7 Pagesthe verbal settings to present their different themes. The ancient Greek had a rich culture. Their political, religious, and social institutions were very strong. There are several elements of these cultural aspects that can be seen in both the Antigone and the Bacchae. Various stagecraft materials and elements also showed the richness in cultural aspects. One of the most important cultural aspects was religion and the Greeks believed in the existence of gods and supernatural powers that could punishRead MoreProtagonist And Antagonist In Antigone By Sophocles1262 Words   |  6 Pages Protagonist and Antagonist Antigone is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. ONE OF THE three surviving tragedians of classical Athens, along with Aeschylus and Euripides, and one of the great dramatists of world literature, Sophocles spanned in his long life (497-406 B.C.) the cultural flowering of Athens in the fifth century(Segal 1). Antigone is named after the daughter of King Oedipus of Thebes, a young woman who stood against the king’s decision and believed in the gods’

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