The Theban Plays - Essay Example

The Theban Plays are rich in examples that reflect the moral values of the Ancient Greek society that Sophocles wanted to emphasize. Many of these are displayed through the characters in the play whose actions are designed to show the significance of various moral values. Among the most significant moral values that can be seen in the plays are truth, justice, respect, integrity, openness, and finally civic virtue. Truth plays an extremely important role in the plays since it is woven through the lives of the main characters. Truth is used to show that despite the fact that many of the main characters feel confident in their own power; this power is based on the lack of knowledge concerning the truth. In the play, Oedipus the King, Oedipus is seen as a man who is confident in his own power since he considers himself the savior of the city of Thebes after he killed the Sphinx, which was terrorizing it. He proudly states, “You all know me, the world knows my fame/ I am Oedipus” (Oedipus the King, 8-9). While this is the case, he does not know the truth concerning his own heritage; that he is a man who is cursed because he killed his father and married his own mother. This knowledge is revealed to him by the seer Tiresias, and this revelation destroys the confidence with which Oedipus carried himself. He comes to the realization that he had committed, albeit unknowingly, some of the worst sins known to man, namely, patricide and incest. The truth is so painful for the king that he chooses to blind himself so that he ceases to see the world that has brought him so much pain. Therefore, it can be said that truth is a powerful force in the play because it not only makes Oedipus realize the emptiness upon which his power is based, but it also creates a vivid picture of how the other characters respond to it. While truth is a good thing to have, it also ends up having a negative effect on the city of Thebes that loses a strong ruler to be replaced by chaos from civil war. Justice is one of the moral values that are displayed in the Theban Plays and it is used to reflect how the people who hold power tend to deny it to those who have none. Furthermore, in the plays, chastisement is seen to be meted out in agreement with the crime that was committed. The justice that is displayed in the plays is one that is based on crime and punishment, so that when characters commit an injustice, their punishment takes place swiftly. Justice seems to be the domain of the gods, who decide the people that are to be punished for the crimes they have committed. When one considers the play Antigone, one will find that there are many lessons on justice to be learnt from it. These lessons are mostly based on how individuals should behave ethically depending on the circumstances involved. When one considers the main character of the play, one will find that she is a remarkably strong willed woman who stops at nothing to ensure that justice is carried out, even at the risk of her own life. Throughout the story, we find that she will stand up to whatever she thinks is right as seen when she chooses to bury her brother despite Creon’s express command forbidding Polyneices burial. Antigone’s decision to bury her brother can be seen as a means through which she is seeking justice for him. This is because it was considered morally wrong to leave the body of an individual unburied, even if that person was an enemy. Furthermore, through this action, she shows immense courage, and this can be seen as a rebellion against Creon’s authoritarian and unjust behavior. One would suggest that Sophocles’ way of criticizing the authoritarianism was prevalent in many of the Greek cities of his time, which denied justice to the people. In these plays, one encounters the value of civic virtue as seen when, in Antigone, the punishment that Creon receives for his order for Polyneices not to be buried. In the end, he loses all those he cares about, namely his wife and son. In relation to this moral value, these plays also bring about the theme of the penalty of power. One would say that Creon’s greed for power makes him lose focus, and he ends up doing the wrong things to retain this power. He forgets the need for the civic virtues that are necessary for one to become a good ruler, and instead makes decisions, which not only erode his power, but also makes those close to him to lose their respect for him. The price he ends up paying, as a result, is exceedingly great, and he is left a broken man. In the end, he says, “take me away, quickly, out of sight. I do not even exist - I’m no one. Nothing” (Antigone 1445 – 1446). These plays can be said to be highly political in nature, and it is a lesson to those who seek power. If one wants supremacy, then they should be prepared to sacrifice all those people who are close to them. Moreover, they should realize that power is not everything, and their actions when they have such power will have repercussions, both on those they affect directly, and on themselves. One of the most visible moral values that are espoused in the Theban plays is that of openness. Openness is seen especially in Oedipus the King where Oedipus insists on not keeping any secrets from his subjects and demands that all reports that are given to him be said in public. The openness, which Oedipus displays, shows his trusting nature; that of a person who is confident in his own power and authority, without anything to hide. Oedipus, despite the fact that he is the king, does not act as politicians do, since the latter tend to be extremely secretive concerning matters that affect the public. Instead, he shows himself to be a leader of men, and since he does not keep any secrets from them, he seems to have the full confidence of his people. This is not the case with Creon, who displays the secretive nature of a natural politician, especially when he tries to convince Oedipus to listen to the message from the Oracle in private. While Oedipus is an open and trusting person, Creon is a secretive and scheming person, with the openness of the former proving to be his undoing. Oedipus, after his downfall says in despair “My destiny, my dark power, what a leap you made!” (Oedipus the King 1448). It can therefore be said that in the plays, openness seems to be a source of power for the leaders as well as the source of their destruction. Antigone is one of the characters who seem to have the natural need to uphold integrity, especially that of her family. When Oedipus goes into exile, she goes with him so that she can guide and take care of him. When she realizes that Creon has decided that her brother will not be buried, she defies his order and performs the burial rights that will enable Polyneice’s soul to go to the underworld. When she finds out that her actions have been undone, she again goes back to the site and reburies her brother. This is a clear show of her defiance of the authority of Creon in her attempt to uphold the integrity of her family, something that the new king of Thebes is seeking to violate. She states “And if I have to die for this pure crime/ I am content, for I shall rest beside him/ His love will answer mine” (Antigone 72 – 74). In addition, her actions seem not only uphold the integrity of the laws of men but also that of the gods, as seen when Tiresias the seer takes her side on the matter concerning whether she was right to defy the king and bury her brother. Her wish to uphold the integrity of her family, especially her unburied brother, can be said to have been an honorable thing to do despite the fact that she faced death for her actions. Respect is a recurring theme throughout the plays as it is seen in varying degrees among the characters involved. Antigone shows a lot of respect for her dead brother and this leads her to defy Creon’s decree and bury him so that his soul can find peace. In addition, Antigone, out of respect for her father, chooses to go with him into exile so that she might be there whenever he needs her. This is a sign of great respect, on the part of Antigone, because none of her siblings goes into exile with Oedipus even for the sake of filial love or respect. Creon, on the other hand, is a man who is disrespectful and only seems to show respect when it is going to profit him. This selective apportionment of respect is displayed when he chooses to have one of Oedipus’ sons buried with honor while the other is left in the field of battle, where he had fallen, unburied. It can be said that Creon does not show any respect for the dead, in this case Polyneices, despite the fact that the latter is his own nephew. Work Cited Sophocles, Woodruff, Paul and Meineck, Peter. Theban Plays. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2003. Read More