'I do believe the creatures both are mad, one lately crazed, the other from her birth' (Sophocles 141) In this quote Creon is calling both Antigone and Iseme crazy for feeling sorrow for their brothers death.This displays hubris because he is being ignorant as he is filled with excessive pride. Creon was so insolent towards the two sisters tjay he didn't even understand that they lost a member of their own flesh and blood. Creon also portrays hubris toward the blind prophet. “Do you forget to whom you say it?” (Sophocles, 154) In this quote Creon is asking Teiresias If he forgets who he is talking to. Creon shows hubris because he asks this to Teiresias because he is king and has excessive pride.
In the novel falling from grace a main character, Ted is shown to make very poor decisions that lead to devastating consequences some of these decisions that lead to devastating consequences some of these decisions include, leaving grace, not telling kip he found her, giving kip alcohol and being untruthful with the police. Ted made a very poor decision by leaving grace and the consequences were that grace almost died, grace has hyperthermia and her family were concerned and worried about her. ‘I hear water on my skin. It’s wet. I can’t see.
The Bacchae In his play The Bacchae Euripides explores the duality of society, the roles of males and females in life, and the role of the Gods. His tragedy details the downfall of an arrogant ruler and his family as they each interact the god Dionysus. Pentheus, the king of Thebes, does not believe Dionysus is a god. His ultimate sin was denying that he was a god, and not making the proper sacrifices. By trying to maintain rigid order Pentheus scorned Dionysus, and set the stage for his own demise.
This text supports evidence of a polytheistic society. Enlil said to the council of gods “The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babble”. This quote states that the gods were annoyed with the humans because they were loud, cocky, and obnoxious. The other gods and goddesses were afraid of Enlil because he was violent and vengeful. This is shown by the fact that he caused the world to rain six days and six nights and flood.
Hubris destroys people, it can blind people to the reality of their situation and leads them to their downfalls as shown by the characters in Sophocles’ plays Antigone and Oedipus Rex. By looking at Oedipus and Creon, the careful reader can see how the excessive pride of each character leads them to their doom. In the play Oedipus Rex an example of Oedipus’ excessive pride is when he is asked to move aside by the former King of Thebes, Laios and Oedipus refuses. Oedipus’ pride overwhelms him and drives him into a murderous rage, as Sophocles illustrates, “the groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lords’ command; but as the chariot lurched over towards me I struck him in my rage …He was paid, back and more!” (Oedipus Rex 43). In his rage, Oedipus kills the old man and his fellow travelers.
Unfortunately, there are a significant number of times in The Odyssey where the god’s interference is meant to hinder Odysseus. One Greek god who severely inhibits Odysseus’ journey home is Poseidon. This sea-god, angered when Odysseus harmed the Cyclops (which was a child of Poseidon) causes him to experience awful storms and lose all of his crewmen. Poseidon is actually considered Odysseus’ main nemesis, and he continually wrecks Odysseus’ plans to return home, or intervenes in his affairs to cause the hero strife. Another god, Calypso, was strangely cruel to Odysseus; madly in love with him, she held Odysseus captive for seven years and severely delayed his return home.
To what extent do you think that the main characters in Greek tragedy deserve what happens to them? Refer to all four plays Both Sophocles and Euripides base their tragedies around the downfall of an individual at the hands of a divine actor and their own hamartia. In Hippolytus, Aphrodite resents Hippolytus for his chastity & ignorance towards her as a god & as a result uses her divine powers to devise a complex plot for his death. Sophocles’ play again follows the demise of the main characters, due to their insolence to divine authority, with both Antigone & Creon’s hubris causing their downfalls. However Medea is the anomaly out of the four plays, as it is less driven by the will and power of the gods but rather by human emotion & actions.
Created for the festival of Dionysus in 431 BC, Medea is a controversial study of impassioned love turned into furious hatred. It examines the liability of various characters for the final tragedy of the play, whence Medea butchers her two innocent children. It also disregards the concept of ‘heroes’ common to dramas in Euripides time. The clash of two contrasting characters — one, a barbarian woman with extreme emotional reactions, and her husband, a vain man of civilisation who lacks empathy — allows Euripides to explore whether it is the heart or the head that drives humans to commit inhumane acts. Medea’s extreme emotional attachments can only be expressed through extreme measures.
Juno learns that Aeneas, a Trojan, is going to destroy Carthage, her patron city. Already upset at the Trojans after Paris, a Trojan, did not deem her the fairest of the goddesses, Juno wants to distract Aeneas and steer him off course. In a scheme to marry Aeneas and Dido, the Queen of Carthage, Juno has the two stay sheltered in a cave together during a horrendous storm, leading Aeneas and Dido to have sexual relations. The gods, however, are upset at this digression of Aeneas because he has a destiny to fulfill. “He was to be the ruler of Italy, potential empire, armorer of war; to father men from Teucer’s noble blood and bring the whole world under laws dominion” (Virgil 1092).
The ancient Greeks tended to use the gods as an excuse for natural events. Many believe that because of their lack of scientific knowledge, the easiest explanation for unexplainable events was to place the blame on the gods. For example, when Agamemnon, the Achaean leader, would not give up his war prize, Chrysies, her father prayed to Apollo for her return. Apollo hears his prayers and casts his arrows down upon the Achaeans. This is depicted as a plague lasting nine days that sweeps through the troops.