Antigone and Romeo and Juliet Essays -- Compare Contrast Shakespeare A

Compare/Contrast Antigone and Romeo and Juliet There are many similarities and differences between Antigone by Sophocles and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The adults in both of the books have the difficult job of controlling the actions of the younger characters. Their decisions have a crucial effect on the outcome of the books, for the younger characters that they guide are the main figures in their stories. Antigone’s King Creon and Romeo and Juliet’s Prince Escalus and Lord Capulet share but also have unique strengths, weaknesses, leadership qualities, and crisis-managing techniques. A specific strength of Creon, the major adult character in Antigone, is his ability to make his opinions known to the entire kingdom. One example of this is the major decision that is the focus of the entire story. After Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, died in battle against his own kingdom, Creon told the citizens of the land that no one was to bury the traitor. The king felt that the strict edict was necessary because Polyneices â€Å"broke his exile to come back with fire and sword against his native city. (193)† Creon knew that a traitor to the kingdom should not be honored with the same ceremony given to one who fought for his own kingdom. The Prince in Romeo and Juliet was also very opinionated. He threatened death to both the Capulets and Montagues if there was any more fighting between the two families. He described the issue by saying that the fights had â€Å"disturbed the quiet of our streets (I,i,91).† He did not favor the fighting and declared â€Å"on pain of death all men depart (I,i,103)† to the two houses at his speech’s conclusion after the third brawl. The Prince remained assertive throughout the book, including the fourth fight... ...his child and her boyfriend more reasonably. He handled the crisis of his daughter’s death by making peace with his enemy. He decided with Montague to dedicate statues to their deceased children. This showed that he somewhat understood the cause of death and that it was somewhat his fault. He felt that he should be calm and remember the children for all that they did for stopping the feud between the two families. King Creon of Antigone and Lord Capulet and Prince Escalus of Romeo and Juliet are similar and different in strengths, weaknesses, qualities of leadership, and methods of handling crisis. They are the controlling individuals in the books, governing and leading the main characters. Their traits had a definite effect on the outcome of each book. The adult characters governed the events and influenced the actions of the other lead characters in the book.