Antigone Lecture. Miss Johnson

Transcription

1 Antigone Lecture Miss Johnson

2 Summary of the Royal House of Thebes Oedipus, unknowingly, kills his father, Laius, and marries his mother, Jocasta; Oedipus has children who are also his siblings Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, and Ismene O mother, your marriage-bed the coiling horrors, the coupling there you with your own son, my father doomstruck mother! Such, such were my parents, and I their wretched child (675) Oedipus stabs his eyes out and dies of old age Jocasta commits suicide Eteocles and Polyneices kill each other during war The battle was for control of Thebes: Seven captains marshaled at seven gates seven against their equals (657) Polynices traveled to Argos to ask for help in reclaiming Thebes from his brother Eteocles Creon, Jocasta s brother, becomes king Antigone is supposed to be marrying Creon s son, Haemon

3 Burials Burial is important in Greek culture; the dead cannot enter the underworld without a proper burial As king, Creon has decreed that Eteocles be buried with full honors while Polynices must never be buried or mourned our own brother s burial! Hasn t Creon graced one with all the rites, disgraced the other? Eteocles, they say, has been given full military honors, rightly so Creon has laid him on the earth and he goes with glory down among the dead. But the body of Polynices, who died miserably why, a city-wide proclamation, rumor has it, forbids anyone to bury him, even mourn him. He s to be left unwept, unburied, a lovely treasure for birds that scan the field and feast to their heart s content (653-4) Eteocles, who died fighting for Thebes, excelling all in arms: he shall be buried crowned with hero s honors, the cups we pour to soak the earth and reach the famous dead. But as for his blood brother, Polynices, who returned from exile, home to his father-city and the gods of his race a proclamation has forbidden the city to dignify him with burial mourn him at all. No, he must be left unburied, his corpse carrion for the birds and dogs to tear, an obscenity for the citizen to behold (658) Creon has essentially denied Polynices eternal rest However, Death longs for the same rights for all (667)

4 Fate Versus the Gods Versus Free Will The gods choose to interfere with mortal affairs Creon claims that the ship of state is safe even though the gods [have] rocked her (657) The Chorus wonders if the burial of Polynices could this possibly be the work of the gods because of the whirlwind! Twisting a great dust-storm from the earth, a black plague of the heavens (660-4) disasters sent by the gods (682) Zeus, yours is the power, Zeus, what man on earth can override it, who can hold it back? (669) Sooner or later foul is fair, fair is foul to the man the gods will ruin (669) Fate Polynices is said to be driven back by the bridal of fate (656) Bridals are used to guide horses; Polynices was guided, possibly with no choice Both brothers were killed on the same day: since the two sons are dead two blows of fate in the same day, cut down by each other s hands (657)

5 Fate Versus the Gods Versus Free Will that s in the lap of fortune (662) the power of fate is a wonder, dark, terrible wonder neither wealth nor armies towered walls nor ships black hulls lashed by the salt can save us from that force (678) Fortune lifts and Fortune fells the lucky and unlucky every day. NO prophet on earth can tell a man his fate (683) What next, what fate sill waits for me? (687) Free Will Creon on the razor-edge of fate (679) Antigone mentions that she is dying before her destined time (676)

6 Women Versus Men Women are not supposed to be in the same sphere as men; sometimes equated with slaves Ismene tries to remind Antione that women are not supposed to go against the orders of a man: Remember we are women, we re not born to contend with men (655) Creon calls Antigone a slave (665) from now on they ll act like women. Tie them up, no more running loose (668) Women supposed to act different than men; they have different roles Imagery of being bound or slaves continued when they are tied up Creon seems to be offended or threatened that Antigone is opposing him because she is a woman no woman is going to lord it over me (667) never let some woman triumph over us. Better to fall from power, if fall we must, at the hands of a man never be rated inferior to a woman, never (671) Calls out Haemon for siding with Antigone, calling him a woman s slave (673) Creon counsels Haemon to never lose [his] sense of judgement over a woman (670) Creon personifies Anarchy as a woman: She, she destroys cities, rips up houses, breaks the ranks of spearmen into headlong rout (671) What man alive would dare bury Polynices body Irony; it wasn t a man who would dare but a woman

7 her stranger s rights (676) Citizens

8 Money Creon blames many of the characters of being influenced by money the mere hope of money has ruined many men (659) He even personifies money: Money! Nothing worse in our lives, so current, rampant, so corrupting. Money you demolish cities, rot men from their homes, you train and twist good minds and set them on to the most atrocious schemes (661) He accuses the messenger of acting for filthy profits because he had an itch for rewards (661) He also accuses Tiresias of giving false prophecies for money: You and the whole breed of seers are made for money! (681) However, Creon is the king, now probably one of the wealthiest citizen in Thebes

9 Man s Law versus the God s Law Civil Disobedience: the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest Who s laws are more important? Man s or the gods? Antigone firmly believes she should uphold the gods laws I have longer to please the dead than please the living here: in the kingdom down below I ll lie forever. Do as you like, dishonor the laws the gods hold in honor (655) It wasn t Zues, not in the least, who made this proclamation not to me. Nor did that Justice, dwelling with the gods beneath the earth, ordain such laws for men. Nor did I think you edict has such force that you, a mere mortal, could override the gods These laws I was not about to break them, not our of fear of some man s wounded pride, and face the retribution of the gods (665) Protect your rights? When you trample down the honors of the gods? (672) She knows it s foolish to try and work against the gods: And if my present actions strike you as foolish, let s just say I ve been accused of folly by a fool (665)

10 Man s Law versus God s Law Ismene, however, seems to hesitate when breaking the city s laws: defy the city? (655) Creon wholly believes man s laws are more important than anything, including bonds of family and friendship And whoever places a friend above the good of his own country, he is nothing I could never stand by silent, watching destruction march against our city Never at my hands will the traitor be honored above the patriot (658) As the king, he is supposed to be upholding the law on behalf of the people: The power is yours, I suppose, to enforce it with the laws, both for the dead and all of us, the living (659) However, the Chorus, standing in for the people of Thebes, disagree with Creon (671) He also seems to see himself beyond the rule of the people: And is Thebes about to tell me how to rule (672)

11 Justice Who determines Justice? Man or the gods? The gods have ordered that all dead must be honored in order to get into the underworld Creon has ordered the Polynices should not be buried Antigone argues the gods law is higher than man s: It wasn t Zeus, not in the least, who made this proclamation not to me. Nor did that Justice, dwelling with the gods beneath the earth, ordain such laws for men. Nor did I think you edict has such force that you, a mere mortal, could override the gods These laws I was not about to break them, not our of fear of some man s wounded pride, and face the retribution of the gods (665) Justice often personified as a god

12 Justice When a king upholds the law of the gods, a city does well: When he waves in the laws of the land, and the justice of the gods that binds his oaths together he and his city rise high (663) Mankind is an imperfect judge Creon makes multiple false assumptions: it s terrible when the one who does the judging judges things all wrong (662) First, assumes that the messenger who was on guard must have been participating in Polynices burial Second, accuses Ismene along with Antigone though she had no part in the burial In the end, Creon learns that the gods determine Justice: Too late, you see what justice means (686) It is stated that Creon will be visited by the Furies, the spirits of vengeance

13 Pride Creon s Pride Too proud to have created the law in the first place To proud to admit he s wrong Thus, he is acting like a tyrant: And the whole race of tyrants lusts for filthy gain (681) The Chorus urges him to recognize his mistake: All men make mistakes, it is only human pride is a crime all men fall, it s only human, but the wisest fall obscenely when they glorify obscene advice with rhetoric all for their own gain (680) Creon doesn t want to lay [his] pride bare to the blows of ruin? (682)

14 Marriage and Death Haemon is supposed to marry Antigone but now that has been canceled Here s Haemon now Does he come in tears for his bride, his doomed bride, Antigone bitter at being cheated of their marriage? (669) She is denied [her] part in the wedding- songs, no wedding-song in the dusk has crowned my marriage (674) with no part in the bridal-song, the bridal-bed, denied all joy of marriage, raising children deserted so by loved ones, struck by fate, I descend alive to the caverns of the dead (677) Once Antigone is sentenced to death, it is said that Antigone is married to death She is to find a husband down among the dead or go to wed the lord of the dark waters (670-4) Her stone prison is often called her bridal vault (674) She even cries out, O tomb, my bridal-bed my house, my prison (676) In the end, Haemon commits suicide, thus joining Antigone in death: unhallowed wedding-chamber the bed of his marriage blighted by misfortune he has won his bride at last, poor boy, not here but in the houses of the dead (685)

15 Glory Antigone seems to view her death as glorious: Give me glory! What greater glory could I win than to give my own brother decent burial? (666) Additionally, her death reflects the death of Niobe, a god: she shares a destiny equal to the gods (675)

16 Photo Credits