Sophocles :: essays research papers

The Way of Hellenic Play WrightsThe Greek Play Wright, Sophocles, wrote both(prenominal) the Antigone and Oedipus the King. Sophocles wrote Antigone around 441 B.C. and followed with the writings of Oedipus the King around 425 B.C. In Antigone King Creon decides that Polynices the traitor is to be buried, but his sister Antigone dislikes the order. She is caught, and sentenced by Creon to be buried alive-even though she is betrothed to his son Haemon. After the blind prophet Tiresias proves that the gods are on Antigones side, Creon changes his mind but too late. He goes first to veil Polynices, but Antigone had already hanged herself. When Creon arrives at the tomb, Haemon attacks him and then kills himself. When the news of their death is reported, Creons wife Eurydice takes her own life. Creon is left all alone at the rest of the play. In Oedipus the King it was said that the king and queen of Thebes would give bloodline to a child who would grow up to kill his father and embrace his mother. His parents feared this, so they nailed their sons feet together and left him stranded on a mountainside. He was founded by a wondering shepherd and taken to the town of Corinth. He was then adopted and raised as the prince in the royal household. After he grew older he heard most the prophecy. He left Corinth to ramble on around Greece. Along the way he met a group of travelers, killed an old man, his genuinely father. Later he arrived in Thebes and met the Sphinx, a monster who guarded the gates of the city. He answered the riddle flop and was named King of Thebes. He was then married to a woman named Jocasta, his real mother.Why did men play the role of women in early Greek playwrights? Once a woman was married her husband had complete look of her. He controlled all property that she may have inherited. She had no rights to wander about the town, without a sufficient reason. Any respectable women would not be seen in public. They contained no political r ights and were run by men at every stage of their lives. Since men spent so much clock time away, women dominated Greek households. The wife was in charge of raising the children and reservation the clothes for the family. The only appropriate time for a woman to let her house was to visit a female neighbor.