Have you ever done something bad which caused a huge problem for your family? In the tragedies, Antigone, and Oedipus the King by Sophocles, both Oedipus and Creon are the causes for deaths in their families. Oedipus was one of the reasons for death in his family. The prophet Tiresias said that one day Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother one day. And because of this his parents sent him to die. But he still lived and fulfilled the prophecy without anyone even himself knowing at the time. Once the shepherd came, he was able to create the picture for Oedipus and he knew he was the one who killed his father. He was blinded to the truth all this time by the amount of pride he had within him. Jocasta his wife killed herself because she found out that she had married his son and even had kids with him. And because of this Oedipus kills himself. Sophocles once said, “…He digs them down the sockets of his eyes, crying “you’ll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused!”(237) this reveals that Oedipus realizes what he has done and wants to end all the suffering going on. Oedipus once said, “It’s mine alone, my destiny-I am Oedipus!” This shows who he really is now and what he was destined to become. Creon also caused death in his family when he became king. Creon became king once Oedipus was exiled. Before, there was a struggle for becoming king. When Polyneices and Eteocles were fighting for who becomes king, they decide to have a war on who should be king. Eteocles stayed in Thebes and had built an army for himself, while Polyneices left Thebes and built his own army. The two ended up killing each other and Creon decided to bury Eteocles body, while leaving Polyneices to rot and get eaten by birds. Creon supported Eteocles and thought Polyneices was a traitor. Because of this, Antigone wants to bury his body instead of leaving it to rot. It was against Greek customs to not bury a body also. Creon had made a law that whoever tried to bury Polyneices body will be punished. Creon once said,”… Whoever disobeys in the least will die, his doom is sealed…” This shows that he was a cruel man and that anyone would be punished for trying to bury the body. Antigone tries to bury his brother’s body and when she does she gets caught and gets sent to Creon. Creon then sends her to a prison. Antigone later hangs herself in a cave. This makes Haemon son of Creon have to choose between his father Creon or Antigone who he was engaged with. He does choose Antigone and decides to kill himself because he could not live another second without her. And Because of this Eurydice the wife of Creon commits suicide because of the actions which led to the death of Antigone and Haemon. She decided not to stay with her husband any longer and blames the death of the children on Creon. Creon is what really caused the chain reaction between Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice. Both Creon and Oedipus caused the deaths in their own family. They both were to blame for these problems in their family
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