Beowulf Vs Antigone

Beowulf vs Antigone

According to Marcus Aurelius "Life is neither good nor evil, only a place for good and evil." In Antigone and Beowulf we see evil and good take place. Both stories are full of great heroes and courageous acts, however, these two novels wouldn’t be quite the same without a source of evil and disorder propelling the story forward. In Sophocles' Antigone, Creon is portrayed as an epic hero, however, it is his sinful nature and pride that makes Antigone such a tragic novel. Furthermore, in the anonymous Beowulf, there is a common theme of disorder and sin, that keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. The difference between these two stories is the main evil and disorder that causes the fall in Antigone happens within

Instead of an outside evil force that attempts to destroy the well-being of the Kingdom of Thebes, the evil happens within the walls and people of Thebes. Firstly, the audience meets Antigone and her rebellious nature. Although, Antigone attempts to justify her actions on page 192 "I say that this crime is holy" and claiming she is just following "the law of the gods," she still is sinning by going against the commands of authority. This automatically reveals to the persona Antigone's fatal sin of being arrogant by completely ignoring her authority and trying to drag Ismene into it as well. On the flip side we see King Creon and his major sin is his hubris nature. Creon ignores what the people of Thebes think, the laws of the gods, and most importantly the pleading of his own son Haimon. Haimon respectfully starts by confronting his father reminding him that he "obeys him" and that "no marriage means more to me than your continuing wisdom." Haimon then calls his father out on his sinful temper "your temper terrifies them--- everyone will tell you only what you like to hear" he finally then goes on to tell Creon the truth about how the people of Thebes really feel about his new law "They say no woman has ever, so unreasonably, died so shameful a death for a generous act." Instead of listening to the public opinion of Thebes and self- reflecting, Creon

On page nine, the audience met the outside source of evil which was driven by jealousy, the Grendel. As predicted just one page later, on page ten, the Grendel attacks Heorot "inflicting constant cruelties on the people" and "haunted the glittering hall after dark." Although the attack by Grendel hurts the King Hrothgars people, it did not bring about an utter downfall. We then meet the hero Beowulf whose mission was to "come in good faith to find your lord and nation's shield." Beowulf then defeats Grendel. Just as the audience begins to think the problem is resolved we see a reoccurring theme, of a stronger monster that Beowulf must take on. The reader also watches Beowulf take on the stronger demon Grendel's Mom, destroying her almost at the cost of his life. Finally, after Beowulf had sailed to his homeland, the persona meets the beast who will finally bring the downfall of Beowulf and his people. On page 181, line 2690-2693 we see the utter downfall of Beowulf because of the final outside evil source, "in a rush of flame and clamped sharp fangs into his neck. Beowulf's body ran with his life-blood: it came willing out." This passage proves it wasn't a source of disorder and division within Beowulf's people that finally brought him and his kingdom down. Instead a foreign villain, the third and final sinful beast, attacks