Sophocles’ plays–Oedipus Rex and Antigone–have much in common and in contrast to Breaking Bad. Oedipus Rex follows the story of Oedipus, King of Thebes, who is trying to find an end to the plague over his kingdom. The reason for the plague on Thebes is discovered by Oedipus’s brother-in-law, Creon. He reveals that it’s because the murderer of Laius, the king before Oedipus, was never discovered nor captured. In the end, it becomes clear that Oedipus was the murderer of Laius, who was in fact his father, and that he eventually married his mother. Throughout the play, Oedipus is unwilling to accept the truth about what he has done and he rejects the prophecies that control his life.
Antigone follows the life of the title character, the daughter of Oedipus, when her uncle Creon, the newly made king, makes the decision to keep his nephew from being allowed proper burial rites. Eventually, Antigone rebels against her uncle and buries her brother, making her a traitor to the king and forcing Creon to sentence her to death. Antigone ultimately commits suicide in a final rebellion against her uncle. Many similarities can be seen between the plays of Sophocles and the episodes of Breaking Bad. While the plots of Antigone and Oedipus Rex do not align with that of Breaking Bad, there are many similarities in the themes of the stories and the characters.
Take Oedipus, for instance. He refuses to accept the truth about a prophecy, ignores evidence of his guilt in Laius’ murder despite overwhelming evidence, is willing to kill, and tries to avoid his destiny. The comparisons to Walter White are overwhelming. Walt is able to ignore the signs and after-effects of his guilt, including his suspicious wife who wants nothing more than for Walt to be gone from her life. He also attempts to escape his destiny in season 3, by trying to leave the drug manufacturing business while he was already deep inside.
Walt also has characteristics in common with Creon. As the newly-crowned King of Thebes in Antigone, Creon is the kind of person who knows what he wants and is willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve it–whether killing his nephew or ordering the death of his niece. Walt, too, is willing to do whatever it takes to reach his goals, including alienating his family, committing murder, and allowing innocent people to die.
Other characters in Breaking Bad, too, bear comparison with figures in Sophocles’ plays. Antigone holds to her beliefs and values firmly, is courageous, and sometimes rash, rebellious, and naïve. In these ways, she resembles Jesse Pinkman. Jocasta, the wife of Oedipus, has many similarities with Skyler, including their initial unwillingness to accept the truth about their husbands, and the seemingly healthy relationship that they each have with their husbands which quickly turns into a damaging relationship. The role of the Greek chorus is portrayed by Walt, Jr., Marie, and Hank in Breaking Bad. While these three all have their own stories happening, which is much more than Sophocles gave to his Chorus, they are the moral gauges of what is happening in the show. They determine how viewers should react to a situation, and help to guide the viewers through the story.
Two major themes in Sophocles’ plays play a dominant role in Breaking Bad–the ease with which characters are able to ignore the truth and struggle to seize full control over your life. Oedipus ignores the truth even though similarities between the story of the murderer of Laius and his own are overwhelming. Similarly, Walt tries to ignore or explain away the reasons Skyler leaves him in in season 3. So, too, in season 2 when Walt is getting in over his head in the drug business, and knows that it is more than he can handle, but is still determined to “help his family,” as he continues with this detrimental lifestyle.
The theme of tension between free will and fate also runs through Sophocles’ plays. Characters are guided by the prophecies, not by their own will. Readers and viewers sense that Oedipus and Antigone’s downfalls are inevitable. So too Walt and Jesse in Breaking Bad face limits and restrictions to what they can control once they’re fully in the thrall of the drug business.
For all these reasons, it seems that Sophocles was one of the influences on Vince Gilligan in forming the foundational ideas in Breaking Bad.
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