Comparing Themes (Journal 16)

Theme 1: There is a theme of family through out most of these plays. They all support a strong unity among family members and all plays show how if a family is tightly knit they can over come most problems. In both Antigone's there is a sense of family loyalty. Antigone wants to bury Polynices even though he was not the best family member. In the same play Ismene wants to help Antigone later on in the book because she is afraid of being alone when Antigone dies. In Oedipus the whole play revolves around his family life and how it has affected him negatively. In Medea, Medea is angry with Jason because of his lack of compassion towards her; this leads to Medea killing her two sons. All these plays exhibit a large role of characters who are closely related together.

Theme 2: Gender roles were seen through out most of these plays. They were very different because of the conflicts presented and who they involved. In Oedipus, Jocasta was the only female who played a some-what major role in the story. She was there to aid Oedipus and she seemed to have a lot of power at her hands. In Medea the gender roles switch a little bit. Since she is the person most people hate women are looked down upon. Jason tells Medea how he dislikes women and how they are no good besides giving birth to children. In both Antigone's the gender roles are a mix between Oedipus and Medea almost. Antigone and Ismene commanded some power but they were still expected to do very little in the story because they are women, it is a surprise to Creon how Antigone acted because he never expected it from a women.