Oedipus Rex and
Antigone
A formal review using
literary elements
Character Analysis: Oedipus
A)
B)
At the start of the play he is hugely
confident and proudly bears his
name– he has saved Thebes from
the sphinx and has become king
overnight
His confidence and pride continues
when he interrogates Creon,
Teiresias, the messenger, and
shepherd – after he stabs out his
eyes he demands to be exiled
C) He is constantly in motion – trying to
keep up with his fate but it is always
out of his reach
D) By the end of the play his name has
become a curse – he is ashamed of
himself and his actions (shows he is a
DYNAMIC CHARACTER) – this curse
passes on to his children as shown
when his two sons and daughters
meet their fate
Creon
A)
B)
He represents the real power of
human law and for human need
for an orderly, stable society
When he returned to Thebes
with news from the oracle he
suggested that Oedipus hear it
indoors – shows he is a
secretive politician
C) Although sounding sympathetic to
Oedipus in the final scene, he is
eager to have Oedipus separated
from his children and grants his
request for exile – shows that Creon
really does desire to be king
D) In Antigone, Creon believes he is
in a comfortable place of power.
E) Once Creon achieves
stability and power he begins
to make the same mistakes
Oedipus did (shows he is a
Dynamic Character); Creon
also realizes his mistakes and
tries to fix them but he is too
late
Antigone
A)
B)
C)
Because of her acute awareness of
her history, Anitgone is more
dangerous than Oedipus, especially
to Creon
Due to the fate her family has
experienced, Antigone feels she has
nothing to lose
She draws attention to the contrast
between divine law and human law
D) She casts doubt on Creon’s authority –
she points out his laws cannot override
the will of the gods or the traditions of men
E) She places Creon’s laws against
Polyneices burial in a way that makes the
law seem shameful and ridiculous
F) When she is sentenced to death, she is
happy she will be reunited with her family
– shows she is desperate to maintain her
family connections even in death
Major Conflict
A)
Antigone – Man vs. Man (Creon vs.
Antigone) Creon has declared that
Polyneices shall not be given a
proper burial because he led the
attack on Thebes, Antigone wants to
give her brother a proper burial
anyway (she follows her beliefs)
B) Oedipus Rex – Man vs. Man or
Man vs. Himself (Oedipus vs.
Teiresias or Oedipus vs. himself)
– When Teiresias tells Oedipus
that he is the cause of the plague,
Oedipus refuses to believe him;
hence why Oedipus investigates
deeper into the prophecy and his
fate
Rising Action
A)
B)
Oedipus Rex – occurs when Creon
returns from the oracle with the news
that the plague will end when the
murderer of Laius is discovered and
exiled
Antigone – When Antigone decides
to go against Creon’s orders and
bury her brother
Climax
A)
B)
Oedipus Rex – When Oedipus
learns, unexpectedly, that he is the
man responsible for the plague in
Thebes – he is the man that killed
his father and married his mother
Antigone – When Creon, tragically
too late, decides to pardon Antigone
for defying his orders and buries her
brother
Falling Action
A) Oedipus Rex – The consequences
of Oedipus learning the truth (he killed
his father and married his mother) –
this causes Jocasta to hang herself,
Oedipus to blind himself, and Creon
to grant Oedipus’ request of
banishment
B) Antigone – occurs when Creon
decides to free her from her
tomblike prison. Creon arrives
too late to find Antigone has
hanged her herself. Haemon,
Antigone’s fiancée, attempts to kill
Creon and fails; he then kills
himself. Creon’s wife, Eurydice,
stabs herself.
Foreshadowing
A)
B)
Oedipus Rex – Oedipus’ name literally
means “swollen foot,” this foreshadows
his discovery of his own identity
In both plays, Teiresias announces the
fate of both Oedipus and Creon and is
ignored by both men – this
foreshadows the revelation that
inspires Oedipus to blind himself (in
Oedipus Rex)
Symbols
A) Oedipus’ “Swollen Foot” – Oedipus
gets his name from the fact that he was
left on the mountainside with his ankles
pinned together; the injury leaves
Oedipus with an injury that symbolizes
the way in which fate has marked him
and set him apart. It also symbolizes
how his movements have been
restricted since birth by Apollo’s
prophecy
B) Three – Way Crossroads
1)
2)
Jocasta said that Laius was killed at a
place where three roads meet; This
place symbolizes the moment Oedipus
began to fulfill the prophecy.
Crossroads is also a place where
choices have to be made (the choice
Oedipus made); it symbolizes fate and
the power of prophecy rather than
freedom and choice
C) Antigone’s Entombment
1)
2)
Creon sentences Antigone to be buried
alive inside a dark tomb; Her
imprisonment symbolizes that her
loyalties and feelings lie with the dead
instead of with the living.
It also symbolizes Creon’s lack of
judgment and his insult to the gods
(defying them by showing his control
over Thebes (this is the gods territory!)
Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures or events that help
inform the reader of the story’s themes
1) Violence against oneself – Almost
every character that dies in both
plays is at their own hand – Jocasta
and Antigone hang themselves,
Haemon and Eurydice both stab
themselves, Oedipus inflicts violence
on himself when he stabs out his
eyes
B) Sight and Blindness
1) Clear vision is used as a metaphor for
knowledge and insight
2) Oedipus is famous for his quick
comprehension and insight when he
defeated the sphinx
3) Oedipus is blind to the truth for many
years, but then blinds himself so he
won’t have to look upon his own
children
4) Creon experiences the same
type of blindness to truth in
Antigone.
5) Tieresias is a blind prophet;
he can see the truth and into
the future
C) Graves and Tombs
1)
2)
3)
The plot of Antigone revolves around
the idea of proper burials (Antigone
wanting to give Polyneices a proper
burial so his soul will find peace)
Polyneices’ unburied body is left
unburied for all to see and is fed upon
by dogs; this offends the gods
Antigone is entombed alive due to her
defiance
3) In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus cannot
be buried in the city of Thebes
because his presence there is the
cause of the plague and the sight
of him insults the gods (reminder:
incest was a sin against the
gods!)
Themes
A) Excessive Pride – In Antigone
Creon shows pride when he
establishes a law that goes against
religious principles (no man can
create a law that is equal to the laws
of the gods). When Tieresias tells
Creon of his fate, Creon refuses to
believe this; thus Creon must suffer
the loss of his family
B) The Position of Women
1)
2)
Antigone’s gender has major effects on the
meaning of her actions. Her gender makes
Creon more intent upon defeating her; her
rebellion upsets the view of gender roles
and hierarchy in Greece. By refusing to
submit to Creon she overturns the rules of
her culture.
Ismene is her foil because she believes the
complete opposite of Antigone – she thinks
men are stronger and, therefore, must be
obeyed
C) The Threat of Tyranny
1)
2)
3)
The people of Athens and Thebes
were very sensitive to the line between
a strong leader and a brutal tyrant.
Creon abuses his power when he
makes a law that goes against the will
of the gods
Creon does have good intentions; he
is loyal to his country but he makes
poor judgments
4) As the play continues, Creon is
shown to care more about the
value of law rather than the good
of the people
5) When Creon is given a choice to
choose his law or the law of the
gods, he chooses his own
D) The Power of Unwritten Law
1)
2)
3)
Creon demands that Polyneices’ body be
left unburied and to rot in the sun; Creon
thinks he has justified this treatment
because Polyneices is a traitor
The duty to bury the dead is part of what
it means to be human, not part of what it
means to be a citizen
Moral duties make up the body of
unwritten law and tradition – the very
laws Antigone abides by
E) The willingness to ignore the truth
1)
2)
3)
In Oedipus Rex, both Jocasta and
Oedipus believe the servant’s story as
meaningless
Neither can face the possibility of the
servant being right
This is why Jocasta tells Oedipus of the
prophecy made about her son and
Oedipus tells of his own prophecy –
neither acknowledge the similarity in
both prophecies
4) The dramatic irony emphasizes
how Jocasta and Oedipus don’t
want to speak the truth; they look
at the circumstances and pretend
not to see what’s really there
F) The impact of fate
1)
2)
It’s harsh to say Oedipus was “blind”
when it seems that he had no choice
in fulfilling the prophecy (His parents
put him on his path when they
abandoned him on the
mountainside)
Oedipus has a desire to flee his fate,
but it continually catches up with him
3) It’s possible Oedipus’ story is
meant to show that error and
tragedy can happen to anyone,
that human beings are powerless
before fate or the gods, that the
caution of disaster is the correct
attitude for life (Oedipus thought
he was free of the prophecy and
did not worry it might come true)