In Sophocles’ play, “Antigone”, and William Shakespeare’s play, “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar”, both Sophocles and William Shakespeare respectively show Antigone and Brutus, the main characters in “Antigone and “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar”, their struggle with the consequences of their actions. In both plays, the main characters have to deal with the consequences from the act of choosing what they think is the right thing to do. Although both Antigone and Brutus can compare through the way both their attempts to do the right thing by breaking the law ends in tragedy, some differences that exists between them can be seen through each characters’ unique situations and how they respond to peer pressure. Through the situations of the two most dynamic characters in their respective plays, Antigone and Brutus, one can see that they can both compare through the way both of their attempts to do right end in tragedy. Antigone’s tragedy that results, due to burying her brother Polynecius, occurs when she, “Had made a noose of her fine linen veil/ And hanged herself” (Sophocles, V, Exodus, 66-67, 805).
Secondly, this scene presents the plays main conflict. The conflict will be a person vs. person conflict that includes Hamlet and Claudius. Hamlet is seeking revenge for his father’s murder, while Claudius does his best to hide what he has done and to get rid of
“O that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit / And not dismember Caesar! But alas, / Caesar must bleed for it! And gentle friends, / Lets kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;” (II, i, 170-172). Brutus started from being Caesar’s friend, to wanting to kill him; he listens to others’ ideas and takes them as his own, changing his perspective
Antigone was very heroic and brave at first, Creon now punishes her, and she does not fight back, but she simply badmouths her father. “O Oedipus, father and brother your marriage strikes from the grave to murder mine (7.40-41) says a coward Antigone. Creon, on the other hand who is supposed to be the strong king of the land, does not manage to control his anger, and fights his own son in an argument. This can be considered a sense of pride, since Creon did not want to change his opinion. Part of being a tragic hero is having a destruction.
His aggression leads to his own “untimely death”. In Act 3 Scene 1, “Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries/ That thou hast done me. Therefore, turn and draw.” Tybalt would not accept Romeo’s peace and decides to challenge him to a duel, only to mortally wound Mercutio. His actions spur Romeo into impetuous thinking which saw him kill Tybalt in an act of revenge. Tybalt, indeed, had a serious impact on the lives of Romeo and Juliet, by killing Mercutio.
Revenge must begin with a motive. In the play Hamlet, Fortinbras and Hamlet both seek revenge for the death of their fathers. Hamlet desires revenge because he is ordered to do so. Also he develops a hated for the new marriage of his mother and Claudius. Old Hamlet informs his son that he was murdered by his brother.
Julius Caesar and Brutus both have tragic flaws in their personality that eventually lead to their death, or demise. While both of their flaws were not good, as tragic flaws generally tend to be, Brutus’s were much more, for lack of a better word, tragic. Brutus not only practically killed himself (through his actions prior to his death, of course, not suicide), he actually killed Caesar (through his actions and murder!). Without Brutus’s flaws. Brutus and Caesar would still be alive at the end of the play.
Aeschylus was a Greek playwright during the Classical Era of Greece, whose attitude about war was affected by the Persian wars he fought in and the histories of the Trojan War. Aeschylus wanted to transform the peoples’ ideas about cycles of revenge and bloodshed to those of democracy and transcendent law. Transcendent law is a high law that applies to everyone. When people kill each other for vengeance they are taking the law into their own hands. When the law is taken into the hands of each individual the people live in a state of lawlessness.
Furthermore, Shakespeare exhibits how Hamlet chose to devise a plan of acting mad, rather than avenging his father’s death immediately, progressing to his demise. On the other hand, Hamlet questions the appearance of his father: “The spirit that I have seen may be the devil”(II.ii.610,611). Consequently, Shakespeare conveys that Hamlet’s indecisiveness about his father’s murderer necessitates him to procrastinate more, and lead further to his death. However, Hamlet accomplishes the opportunity to murder Claudius, yet believes it is not the right time: “Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent”(III.iii.91). In fact, he desires that “...his soul may be damned and black as hell”(III.iii.97).
The conflict of the play begins during a struggle for the throne, which at its end only begets a period of corruption and betrayal. The dramatic qualities of the play begin to show themselves as Titus seeks to avenge the brutal rape of his daughter and in doing so begins to rid the Roman Empire of the corruptors. While Shakespeare’s emphasis on the downfall of Rome is evident throughout the play, the audience cannot help but witness the downfall of Titus’ family as well. Shakespeare displays the breakdown of each of the characters as if to symbolize the effects of the collapse of Rome in each one of them. Beginning with Bassianus, the audience witnesses his decline as the throne is taken from him and given to his brother Saturninus due to primogeniture.