A Comparison Of Antigone And The Thousand And One Nights

Antigone and The Thousand and One Nights; From Justice to Infinity
Some of the best and mysterious literature is handed from generation to generation orally first and finally written down and preserved. Such is the case with two classics; Antigone and Alf Laylah Wa-Laylah or The Thousand and One Nights. Both of these stories center on the female character and the conflict that exists in the story. This paper will analyze the heroines in these texts; comparing and contrasting each woman’s role in their story and how their roles impact the characters and the stories. Antigone is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in 441 BC as part of a trilogy based on the Greek myth of Oedipus (Bloom). While Antigone is written first it is staged last in the trilogy that portrays the life of Oedipus as imagined by Sophocles (Bloom). During the course of this play we experience a concept that was revolutionary at the time period during which the play was written and performed. Instead of portraying Antigone’s disobedience as being a
Antigone is forceful she takes the bull by the horns so to speak and demands Creon to take notice. Once Antigone is apprehended and Creon confronts her Antigone counters Creon with filial duty to her brother and religious duty to the gods. Antigone states, “It wasn’t Zeus who issued me/ this order. And Justice – who lives below –/ was not involved. They’d never condone it!” (Sophocles 759). Antigone goes on to inform Creon that his decrees do not have the power to override those made by the gods (Sophocles 759) Antigone does not try to change Creon by defying his decree, instead she is fulfilling her role by doing her burying her brother. For Antigone this is important for she says, “…my criminal conduct blameless! –/ For I owe more to the dead, with whom/ I will spend a much longer time, / Than I will ever owe to the living” (Sophocles