HOW LITERATURE MIRRORS SOCIETY
Sophocle’s book “Oedipus the king” and Homer’s “The Illiad” bring out suicide and honor themes, which affect even our modern-day society. On the other hand, Sophocle’s, through his books Oedipus the king and Antigone, show that free will is an illusion because the gods predetermined all the choices made by characters such as Oedipus and Antigone.
Honor is a theme that we still deal with within our society today. “The Illiad” by homer depicts Hector, a character concerned that Paris is destroying their honor by refusing to fight (Homer, 3: 43). Suicide is also another issue that affects the society today. In Sophocles’ book “Oedipus the King,” Jocasta commits suicide by hanging herself because she could not bear the pain and shame when she found out that she had gotten married to her son Oedipus and bore him a child.
The illusion of free will has been portrayed through Oedipus in “Oedipus the King” and Antigone in “Antigone.” In an attempt to divert the choice of the Oracle, “Apollo told me once-it is my fate that I must make love to my mother and shed my father’s blood with my own hands.” ( Sophocles 1088-1091)Oedipus flees Corinth but later kills his father, Laius, King of Thebes, on the way and marries his mother, Jocasta, unknowingly.
Antigone, on the other hand, believes that by choosing to die, she can spare her sister’s life. In her opinion, she has freely chosen to die and even goes ahead to tell her sister Ismene, “you chose to live, and I chose to die.” (Sophocles, p 626). However, the readers understand that this is not true because her fate is already sealed by a deity who, in this case, is Zeus.
References
Homer. et al. The Illiad … Pub. By J. Johnston, & Sharpe & Hailes; Print., By S. Hamilton, 1810.
Sophocles, E. A. Oedipus, the king. Classic Productions, 1994.
Sophocles. Oedipus the King and Antigone. Harlan Davidson, Incorporated, 1960.