Tuesday, 13 June: private & public woman: Sophocles, Antigone

Discussion-starter: Topher Gregory

A painting of Antigone by Frederic Leighton

Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Antigoneleigh.jpg

Theme: The issue of gender. First, Antigone’s defiance of Kreon, the king, by honoring her traitor brother, Polyneices, with a burial. Later, dialogue surrounding gender will be discussed.

Spectacle:

· the off-stage deaths of Megareus, Eteocles, Polyneices, Antigone, Haimon, and Queen Eurydice.

· the tales the Messenger tells to Queen Eurydice.

Evaluating the theme:

·a. Sophocles presents a play that confronts gender issues, beginning with Antigone’s powerful speech style. 

page 114:

“Kreon: ‘Her mine mind’s a traitor: crimes kept in the dark

Cry for light, and the guardian brain shudders;

But how much worse than this

Is brazen boasting or barefaced anarchy!’

Antigone: ‘Kreon, what more do you want than my death?’ “

·b. Also, the dialogue amongst the play’s characters reflects the perception of gender and each gender’s position in society. 

page 112:

“Sentry: ‘The dead man –

Poyneices –

Out there –

Someone, –

New dust on the slimy flesh!

Someone has given it burial that way, and gone…’

Kreon: ‘And the man who dared do this?’ “

(And later Kreon’s shocked when he finds out from the Sentry during Scene 2 it is not a man, but Antigone, a woman.)

  Characteristic of Tragedy:

·the death of Antigone even after Teiresias convinces Kreon to hatch up a surprisingly simple plan to undo what he has done during the play. Kreon in a romance or comedy would have saved Antigone and given Polyneices a proper burial.

Tragic Ending:

·Antigone ends with the deaths of Antigone, Haimon, and Queen Eurydice.

·Justice is restored in the end in Antigone because of Kreon’s development as a character, however unsuccessful his attempts were at saving Antigone.

·the death of the tragic heroine comes into play at the conclusion when Antigone dies

  Questions:

1. In what way is the character Antigone similar to her father Oedipus, as proposed by the Choragos (Scene II, line 74)?
   
2. What if the play was about the crime committed by Antigone – but instead, the crime were committed by a new, unrelated, male person? What differences, aside from gender issues would there now be?