The plays Medea by Europides and Antigone by Sophocles explore many topics including betrayal, interest, satisfaction, tragedy and love. Love takes on a motivating role which can determine the activities of the key individuals in both plays; it drives both Medea and Antigone to violate the guidelines of social behavior when the ex - commits a murder ruthlessly and the latter defies man's legislations despite understanding that it could cost her own life. Love is important in terms of the central individuals because it is the primary factor which establishes the decisions created by Medea and Antigone.
Medea's undying love for Jason in the play Medea leads her to commit several morally doubtful acts that are abhorred in the Athenian society. As a female of passionate nature, the love she believed for Jason overpowers her own moral common sense which then causes her to carry out the despicable take action of murdering her own children. If Medea had not fallen in love with Jason, the Nurse expresses, "then neither would Medea, My mistress, ever before have place sail for the walled town of Iolcus, mad with love for Jason" Jason's improbable work of going out of Medea for Glauce triggers Medea to be "scorned and shamed", "she'll not eat; she lays collapsed in agony, / Dissolving the extended hours in tears". It incites Medea to murder her own children and this demonstrates the power of the love that she's for Jason. The power of Medea's love is highly significant in terms of the central premise as the tragedy which befalls after her sons is induced by her love for Jason.
Throughout the span of the play, it could be seen that the desire to get revenge against Jason is driven by her love for him, with her keen characteristics. The appalling arena of murdering her children exemplifies the power of Jason's betrayal of Medea, which therefore shows Medea's keen character, when powered by love, triggers her to perform the murder. Her murder was viewed as an aberration to the Athenian contemporary society as it was exorbitant; even although vitality of Jason's betrayal is paramount, it isn't an excuse to wipe out the innocent. The actual fact that they are her own sons further magnifies Medea's selfish and rapacious character, whose only motive is to ruin Jason because of his betrayal. Yet this event have been prognosticated by the audience when Creon asserts: "Your words are soothing; but my bloodstream runs frigid to think/ What plots you might be nursing deep within your heart". The murder of her sons signifies the power of the hatred that she believed against Jason as without his sons, there exists nobody else to transport Jason's family brand after he is gone. This relates to the worth of the Athenian population where sons are thought to be more important than daughters because they'll bring the family range in future era. Throughout the action of eliminating her sons, it is evident that her love for Jason is immense and thus implies that love is a key factor which can determine the activities of the primary personality in Medea.
Medea's love for herself is also another most important factor which leads to committing the murder. Her satisfaction causes her to act immorally; the tremendous love she's for Jason drives Medea to contemplate on ways to eliminate him after his betrayal. Inside the talk that Medea has with Creon, she suggests: "Oh, what evil power love is wearing people's lives!" Euripides uses the type of Medea as a literary device to demonstrate the energy of love and the consequences which follow. The love she feels for Jason and Jason's actions triggers her to be filled with vengeance, a vengeance, when motivated by love, is strong enough to get rid of her two sons. The amount of love that she's for herself, the pride within her, triggers her to story violently against her victims: "I have in mind so many pathways of death for the kids, " "Should I set flames to the home, / And melt away the bridal chamber? Or creep up with their bed/ And drive a well-defined blade through their guts?" (site 28) Through the entire play, it is apparent that love is one of the primary motivation which contributes to the ultimate tragedy of the play.
In the play Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone's love on her behalf brother is proven strong enough to operate a vehicle her to commit an function which eventually causes her own death. Antigone broke man's law "the order/ Says he is not to be buried, not to be mourned;/ To be left unburied, unwept, a feast of flesh/ For keen-eyed carrion birds" to ensure that her sibling has a proper burial. The take action of burying Polyneices portrays Antigone's passionate nature, where she is determined to issue man's legislations and instead follow God's legislations. Antigone asserts "that order did not come from God. Justice, / That dwells with the god's below, knows no such law. " This further shows her strong-willed personality and consequently implies that the love on her behalf brother has caused her to attempt to bury him at the expense of her own life, "And easily die for this, what contentment!/ Convicted of reverence - I shall be content/ To rest beside a sibling whom I love. " In terms of character, both Medea and Antigone are strong-minded; they can be determined to get what they need, no matter what the price is. The love both character types have drives them to sacrifice lives. Rather than sacrificing anyone else, Antigone got sacrificed her own life to restore her brother's honour.
Antigone believes that it is her "duty to the lifeless" even if it means restricting her own life to value her brother and bury him in order to keep her brother's honour, "I've given my buddy burial. / What higher honour may i wish?" When she was called in by Creon, she argues that he has no to defy God's legislation and in response to her debate, Creon says: "We'll have no woman's legislation here. " He stresses on the fact that woman have no place in proclaiming the regulations and discriminates Antigone because she actually is a woman which relates to the theme of gender jobs, how female is viewed down after in the Athenian society where men are believed more superior than women. In the play, the description of the burial defined by the Sentry is significant because as a woman, she defies Creon's rules as referred to by the Sentry: "Then she accumulates the dry earth in her hands, / And pouring out of a fine bronze urn she's helped bring/ She makes her offering three times to the useless. " Throughout the play, Antigone contains to the idea that divine legislations is greater than man's law which is resolved right from the start to follow divine legislation. The play accurately depicts the energy of love and its effect on the main figure, Antigone, as it acts as female motivating factor to commit serves which causes her own tragic loss of life.
The suicide of Haemon, Antigone's fianc, illustrates that the love that he experienced for Antigone is immense, strong enough for him to eliminate himself. Haemon experienced rather wipe out himself than live without Antigone. This event is delineated in a way that love causes people carry out preposterous and usually negative acts which have a tremendous effect on their own lives, and other's lives. Once the Messenger brought information to the Chorus, he alleged that "Haemon is inactive, / Slain by his own- His own hands. / His father's work it was that drove him to it. " It magnifies the power of love that Antigone possessed for her brother, the same manner Haemon had loved Antigone. The loss of life of Antigone had been unbearable for Haemon; he was found "with his hands around her, there stood he/ Lamenting his lost bride-to-be, his luckless love, / His father's cruelty. " Haemon "Leaned on his sword and thrust it deeply home/ In his own side". The explanation of his death, "his spurting blood vessels staining [Antigone's] pale cheeks red" and the imagery employed by Sophocles is important in talking about the tragedy that befall after Creon, because of his own take great pride in and actions.
Creon's love for his own self causes him to lose both his boy and wife, as his partner, too, killed herself after experiencing the news of her son's death as the Messenger relates to Creon: "She is dead - your lady, the mother of him that is deceased - /The death-wound fresh in her heart and soul. " Creon then curses his 'persistent will' and appreciates that his severe punishment on Antigone got triggered his family's death. This pertains to the theme of satisfaction, where Creon is ruled by his own satisfaction of being a King, and cruelly punishes Antigone. This is significant as his self-love added to his own downfall and the tragic deaths of both his kid and wife.
In both plays Medea and Antigone, love operates as a motivating factor to commit works which inevitably led to several tragic deaths of its character types. The only contrast is the type of love that the principal characters had for his or her loved ones. Antigone's decisions were caused by the strong family relationship distributed between herself and Polyneices while Medea's undying love was from the devotion that she experienced for Jason, the person whom she acquired abandoned her family for. Both of the principal character's love for the other got triggered lives to be sacrificed- Glauce, Creon and Medea's sons in the play Medea and Antigone, Haemon, and Creon's wife in the play Antigone.
