How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
OEDIPUS. Where are the blood brothers—the young men who are fit for labor? (335)
Oedipus doesn’t take long before he notices that even though he has his daughters with him, he’s missing his sons. And this absence is disgusting for him; the italics point out his anger with his sons, and the question is sarcastic. The young men are fit for labor, but it’s the young women who are actually doing it.
Quote #5
OEDIPUS. [. . .] But she believes that having a life in a home
Is of secondary importance, if her father has nurture. (351-52)
Antigone is like the perfect child. She, instead of staying comfortably at home where her brothers are fighting each other to the death over the throne, has decided to follow her blind father into exile. It’s like the ancient Greek version of a pillow with “home is where the heart is” embroidered onto it.
Quote #6
ISMENE. First they strove among themselves how to leave the throne
To Creon and not defile the city.
They contemplated, through reason, the ancient destruction of the family,
How it beset your miserable house. (367-70)
Ismene explains how her brothers have gone into a civil war, brother versus brother, to see who would inherit the throne. In the meantime their uncle Creon takes over while they fight it out. The brothers realize that neither of them should really be on the throne because their family is cursed, but their thirst for power overrides that realization. Yeah, we're pretty sure that won't end well.