Dispair

What is the meaning of "Despair" and how does this theme manifest itself in both plays?

Definition of Despair: to give up or to lose hope. a time of despair in Oedipus would be the time when the townspeople come to Oedipus when the plague had come to their town and started killing everyone. They couldn't find a cure, or a way to escape and simply did not know what to do so they went for Oedipus for him to find a cure. Jocasta explains to Oedipus that the oracle was given to her when they had their first child, they gave the child to a Shepard to have the baby killed but the Shepard felt bad and didn't kill him so he let the baby go without Laius or Jocasta knowing. After Oedipus hears all of this he is simply astonished and makes himself blind because he cannot bear that he had killed his real father and slept with his mother.
In Antigone she believes she should die for what is right. It was a harsh battle between her brothers, one trying to control it, and the other simply defending it. The two brothers die from their hands and King Creon sets up a proper burial for the brother Etecoles who was trying to defend it and tells everyone whoever trys to bury Polynices would be punished. Antigone is later caught berrying her brother Polynices and is brought to the king, she explains to the king that she loved both of her brothers and that everyone deserves a proper burial. Haemon, the kings son, falls in love with Antigone telling her father her duties are honorable. This infuriates Creon and tells Haemon that she would be put in a cave and the entrance blocked for her death penalty. Later on a messenger tells Creon that Antigone hung herself and Haemon stabbed himself to death, this puts Creon in despair and guilt.