The Attitudes of Euripides and Sophocles towards the power of the gods over men and their lives.

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The Attitudes of Euripides and Sophocles towards the power of the gods over men and their lives.

Medea and Antigone are among the great classical literary pieces of all time, they are masterpieces of language and drama. They have lasted as marvels of the stage for over a millennia, and this gives us cause to ask: What is it that sets these plays apart from the multitudes of Greek tragedies produced during the time? What is it that makes these particular plays “classics”?

The only distinguishing feature in literature that one can judge an authors creation by is the effect that it has on the reader. And these two plays leave an irremovable mark on those that witness their performance, this in itself is remarkable, but more significant still is that these plays deal with issues so universal to humanity that they still have an effect on present day readers. Central to the purpose of both authors was the goal of changing how men of the day thought about the deities that ruled them. The two playwrights were of differing eras and so took diametrically opposite stances when it came to their views of the gods and their place. Both playwrights wrote in a time when the people were changing. The gods were considered no longer what they once were, people were starting to reimagine their place in the world, it was at this point that Sophocles attempted to push the traditional value system on his audience. To do this, he shows the perils of disobeying the immutable laws of the gods, in the case of Antigone it is the honouring of the dead.

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Sophocles was born into a rich and opulent family, he was happy with his place in the world and with the initial forays into democracy that the Athenian republic was making. This was a way of life and liberty that he wished to preserve, so when he saw that men were questioning their beliefs he sought to reinforce what was a more conservative stance on theocracy.

Sophocles’ play Antigone is set in the days immediately after the battle for Corinth, attacked by one brother and defended by another. Creon, the King of Corinth orders that the corpse of Polynicies be ...

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