Themes Throughout Literature

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A theme has many meanings among literary scholars. The definition of a theme is a recurring message the author is trying to convey. Throughout reading literature, literary critics can identify seven or more themes in a piece. In the two pieces of literature that the class read and analyzed was Antigone by Sophocles and The Divine Comedy: Inferno by Dante. I found one theme that was distinct to me from each of the readings. In Antigone, the theme of State Law vs. Divine Law in particular stood out to me. As for Dante’s The Divine Comedy: Inferno, the theme that stood out to me was God’s Justice on Hell’s Punishments.
State Law vs. Divine law or God’s law is definite in Sophocles’ Antigone. In the play, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and his mother, Jocasta. They are both dead, and her uncle, Creon, rules the city of Thebes. There was a war between Antigone's two brothers, Polynice and Eteocles, about who was going to be the next king of Thebes. In the end, both of them ended up dying. Creon, uncle of Antigone, is now the new ruler of Thebes. Creon decided to leave Polynice unburied because he attacked Thebes. Antigone went against the law and buried him anyway. When Creon found out who buried Polynice, he sentenced her to death. He completely ignores his son, Haemon, when he tried to talk him out of it. Heamon was to wed Antigone. Creon decides to lock up Antigone in a cell and let her starve to death, so the gods do not blame him for it. Tiresias, a blind prophet and priest of Apollo, arrives to tell Creon that what he is doing is wrong. Creon decides to free Antigone, but he is too late. Antigone hanged herself, Haimon killed himself because he loved her, and Eurydice, Haimon's mother and Creon’s wife killed herself becaus...

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...ample of God’s justice against sinners.
Also, when Dante and Virgil were in the sixth circle of hell they found the tomb of heretics. He saw Farinata, an enemy of Dante and war chief. Heretics are people who believes or teaches something that goes against accepted or official beliefs or religion. They were burned in a small tomb because they did not believe in god or the Christian religion. The fire represented the sinners hell. They could never leave the tomb because heretics believe the soul does not leave the body.

All in all, a theme has many meanings among scholars. If someone is reading any type of literature they can pick out multiple themes. Antigone by Sophocles and The Divine Comedy: Inferno by Dante both had themes that stuck out. Reading both of these literary pieces, and analyzing these pieces I learned to understand and ultimately enjoy the readings.

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