Antigone Comparison Essay
Stories are often popular because so many people can relate to them. Stories of “star crossed lovers” and cursed families have been shared for centuries. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Sophocles’ Antigone are two examples of where these themes are found, along with many similarities between the two. All the lead characters express intense emotion, and their actions follow this. Juliet and Antigone share many qualities relating to passion and naivety, where Romeo and Haemon share those of dedication and confidence. Romeo and Juliet of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Haemon and Antigone of Sophocles’ Antigone share similar themes with each other, and the common bases of them are passion and impulse.
Antigone and
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Antigone shows this when she makes the decision to bury her brothers body, and Juliet when she decides to fake her death. These girls have beliefs contrary to those that they are surrounded with and taught in everyday society. Love clouds the judgement of Juliet when she considers how life could be if she stayed with her family, and she decides it would make the most sense to fake her death to live happily with him. Antigone buries the body of her brother Polynices, and her safety is compromised by this act of love and respect for the Gods and her family. Their male partners have a critical role in these stories and character’s lives as well.
Revenge is the major underlying theme of the actions of Haemon and Romeo, and these actions result in serious consequences. Haemon must choose between being loyal to his father and law, or fiancé and religion. Romeo faces a similar issue; he needs to choose between his family and social law, or wife and honesty. Both issues are brought on by fate, and couldn’t be controlled by Haemon or Romeo. Impulsiveness also influences, if not makes many of their decisions.
Passion and impulsiveness are themes that are the core of the shared messages and ideas in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and in Sophocles’ Antigone. The passion that Romeo and Juliet share guides them, but like Antigone and Haemon, also results in their death. The stories of a couple of antagonists