The poem "Oedipus the King" and the novel "Things Fall Apart, there is some differences between these two stories. These two stories were very famous in the ancient time. "Things Fall Apart has won the following awards: Nigerian National Trophy, Commonwealth Poetry Prize, Nigerian National Merit Award. Things Fall Apart and Related Readings becomes a complete literature unit with the Teacher's Source Book which includes author information, background, chapter notes and 15 reproducible pages for student use" (Things Online). "Oedipus the King" was also prized: "Aristotle prized 'Oedipus the King' so highly that he used it to illustrate many of his principles of tragedy" (Sophocles 906). The background of "Oedipus the King" was also well-known. Many Americans have already known what is the poetry is about. "Although these details were commonly known, there was disagreement about the outcome of Oedipus's life" (Sophocles 906).

"The author of "Oedipus the King", Sophocles, "was born between 500 and 494 B.C.E. into an affluent Athenian family. He began acting and singing early, and her served as a choral leader in the celebrations for the defeat of the Persians at M

Women role in and Africa in the ancient time is also discussed in novel. They were both married when they were a young lady: "Young women were considered marriageable in their mid-teen" (Chinua Online). Women were treated as a servant; their duties are cooking for their husbands, taking care everything of the household etc.

Women were treated unfairly in ancient Greek. In "Oedipus the King", "Jacasta the Queen is a victim, but not as much as she is a catalyst for Oedipus' own victimization. She keeps her faith throughout and tried to relieve Oedipus of his" (Boyer Online). She finally committed suicide when the past of Oedipus was revealed. "Hanging from above, entangled in some twisted hanging strands" (Sophocles 938). "Because of this, readers may in turn pity her and loathe her" (Boyer Online). She However, as we referred to the article of "The Goddess Eileithyia and the Role of Women in Ancient Greece", " women played an interesting role in ancient Greek culture. While they were considered citizens of the state, they were not allowed to vote or even to compete in the Olympic games" (The Goddess Online). That means women in ancient Greek, they were also trapped by the publics; they had no equal rights as men.

she often told of the quarral between Earth and Sky long ago, and how Sky withheld rain for seven years, until crops withered and the dead could not be buried because the hoes broke on the stony Earth" (Achebe 53). The earth goddess is to the Ibo people what mother nature is to the westerners, and without balance order is lost.

not bury him and some of whom were brought to the curt where Okonkwo and the others suffered earlier. Okonkwo's tragic flaw was his constantly flared temper, which was a result of a fear of being considered weak, or womanly. It was this temper that was constantly bringing problems to Okonkwo and others around him. In the end, Okonkwo could fight no more and had to take his own life. I believe that Achebe purposefully arranged the novel in this manner in order to convey that being manly is not as important as some believe it to be. In " Oedipus the King", the story warns us against parricide and incest, and may cause its audience to feel guilty about violence against parents and incestuous behavior or desires. The message embodied in the story is a powerful one, even thought we may not at first find it striking since we have become accustomed to the incest taboo. However, I think the theory about the Oedipus the king may have the same effect as the Oedipus story itself, as expressed in the form of myth, tragedy, and comedy.

"Oedipus the King" and "Things fall apart" are both tragedy which is "form of drama, central to Western literature, in which a person of superior intelligence and character, a leader of the community. Overcome by the very obstacles he is struggling to remove" (Encyclopedia Online). Tragedy can reflect another vision of life, again rooted in religious drama-the mystery plays and morality plays of medieval France and

England" (Encyclopedia Online). There is also a tragedy when a drama or other literary work that recounts that fall of an individual who, while undergoing suffering, deals responsibly with the situations and dilemmas that her or she faces, and who thus demonstrates that value of human effort. In " Oedipus the King", there i

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2264
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)