In Sophocles’s Greek playwright of Antigone, the wise Teiresias talks about the sins and mistakes that men take a part of. He describes of the generalization that “all men make mistakes” but then the fact that what differentiates a good man from a bad man is that the good man knows what to do when he does something that is incorrect and evil while a bad man takes pride in what he did. This is seen throughout various examples of history, literature, and instances of pop culture.
When Teiresias mentions that a good man yields when he knows that what he did was wrong, he also mentioned that he would repair the evil. This is seen in examples of history when some presidents of the United States make actions that created bad effects and then the president makes up for the mistake that is created. For example, when President Eisenhower made a mistake of spying on the Russian spies with the U-2 incident, he admitted what he did to the public and spoke out about the mistake that he made. This is an example of a man repairing what evil he has committed.
An example in literature when it is seen when a bad man did not redeem what he did was wrong is seen in the bible. The serpent in the story of Adam and Eve did not feel bad for what he had done to mankind when Eve fell for his trick. The serpent in the story of Adam and Eve told Eve that if Eve took a fruit from the tree of knowledge and evil that she would become like God. Eve was forbidden to take part of this tree by God but did so anyway because she trusted the snake. She also told her husband, Adam, to take part as well because he trusted her. The serpent was punished by God to live his life slithering and Adam and Eve were punished by forcing to leave the Garden of Eden. Because the serpent took pride in his evil, this is what became the result of his action.
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“All men make mistakes” is a clear generalization of what challenges everyone in the past and even in the present today. For example, in pop culture, Kris Jenner is known for her dishonesty and cheating scandals. Although she knows of this evil and wrongdoing, she doesn’t do anything to make up for the evil and instead takes great pride in it. This is the crime that Teiresias is talking about in Antigone because no one can control committing wrongdoings but they can control how they choose to look at what they did.
There are various literary and real life examples of how “criminals” who take pride in the wrongdoings that they have done as well as “heros” who repair the evil and wrongdoings. Through the actions of these devices, it is seen how these people play out what they do and how they choose to treat a certain action.
