Pawns of the gods

For some reason i can't shake the feeling that Antigone didn't play a very large role in this play that is so aptly titled 'Antigone'. Huh, maybe I'm just weird? I merely felt Oedipus played a bigger role in his play...that's all.

Anyways, onto my only point I want to make about these two plays. I feel that, in a nutshell, both 'Oedipus' and 'Antigone' can be summed up in the final lines of 'Antigone' made by Choragos, "There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; no wisdom but in submission to the gods." Basically, obey the gods, you can't change fate. Has anyone ever seen 'Jason and the Argonauts'? Well, anways, it's about Greek mythology and junk. It's awesome. But the one scene I love in it involves how the gods are toying with Jason and his men as they try to find the Golden Fleece for some reason...I haven't seen it in awhile. Regardless, my interest is in one scene only. In it, the gods are playing some sort of game with a map of the world and pieces that are represntative of people.

Here is the scene:


This is pretty much the basis of these plays. We are all pawns of the gods in this cosmic game called fate. Who are we, mere mortals, to stand before the might and power of the gods? According to these plays, we can't. Oedipus was fated by the gods to slay his father and sleep with his mother. Nothing could change that. Teiresias reveals to Creon that he should ahve burried the body of Polyneices. Disobeying led to his downfall. Basically, I feel that these plays stand to show the Greek ideals of obeying the gods and of always listening to reason (which just so happens to be what the gods say). So in the end, there is 'no wisdom but in submission to the gods.'