The Odyssey And Antigone Comparison

Reading The Odyssey and Antigone are two very different experiences. Despite that, they both come from a similar culture and reading one prepares one for reading the other. Reading The Odyssey first is probably more beneficial in part because it includes short descriptions almost every time someone is mentioned. Zeus is seldom mentioned without some reference to thunder or that he is the son of Cronus, Poseidon is constantly accompanied by his title the Earth-Shaker, and Hermes is referred to as the giant-killer. This general reminder is helpful in and of itself, but what really prepares one for reading Antigone is the respect for the dead that the gods demand. When Odysseus visits the House of Death he meets his recently deceased companion,
There are three instances where Creon’s lessons in humility truly strike home for me. Teiresias gives the most direct warning of hubris to Creon himself, though he is still too blind to hear its wisdom, “Think: all men make mistakes, / But a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, / And repairs the evil. The only crime is pride” (Sophocles 232). I love this warning from Teiresias. He does not condemn Creon for the mistakes he has made, only for being too proud to see his mistakes and fix them. Creon, convinced he is right, ignores the warning even though it lines up with what he has heard from his own son. Haimon warns his father of his mistakes, but is rejected out of hand with Creon’s pride raising its head and asking if it is right that the king should be taught by a boy. The prince’s response is profound, “It is not right / If I am wrong. But if I am young, and right, / What does my age matter?” (Sophocles 220). Haimon acknowledges his father’s concern, but notes that if he is right then it does not matter how old he is, wisdom should be heard no matter the source. The theme is so pervasive that Sophocles even closes with