LITR 5831
World / Multicultural Literature: Tragedy & Africa
Lecture Notes
Readings:
Antigone (complete);
discussion leader:
Niki Bippen + video presentation below
Nietzsche,
Birth of Tragedy,
Chapters 9-10, pp. 45-54
notes
+ Birth of Tragedy Glossary;
Discussion: instructor
Antigone & the tradition
of civil disobedience
Bacchae Presentation Five (lines 814-1126): Hanna Mak
Video presentation: Antigone (1984 TV movie), part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5; part 6; part 7; part 8; part 9; part 10; part 11 Presenter: Nikki Bippen
Birth of Tragedy presentation (chs. 9 & 10)
Apolline / Dionysiac (or Apollonian / Dionysian)
preview that Jeanette will present on 9 & 10 i
review Caryn on ch. 8
Aeschylus = chorus
Sophocles = actors
end of course: Euripides as death of tragedy
Bacchae presentation
Bacchae Presentation Five (lines 814-1126): Josie Montez
Classical Greek Poets & Philosophers
preview BT on Euripides, Aristotle on Euripides
Presentation 1: Dionysus on stage, from Asia, just starting to move through Greece
Cadmus OK, Semele's shrine, but family troubles
drives aunts from homes
part 1 ends on transformation theme (Dionysus changes from god-status, assumes mortal, human form)
Presentation 2. Other women (chorus): followers, devotees from Asia
women insist on holiness, not debauchery
l. 147 confusion of Dio's identity
215 Tiresias as comic figure (incongruity) > 240 young and try the dancing [cf. chorus of old men in Lysistrata]
253 Tiresias advises to always respect traditions of ancestors
Pentheus enters, disrespects Bacchic women and older men incl. grandfather
l. 297 Pentheus threatens to capture Dionysus
Presentation 3. (Eric)
Tiresias advises Pentheus to relax, get with the program--even if Dionysus isn't a god, things will go better if we just act like he's one
(Euripides can be shocking with his devil-may-care attitude toward the gods)
436 PENTHEUS: Keep your hands off me! Be off with you—
441
go quickly to where this man,
Tiresias, has that seat of his, the place
where he inspects his birds. Take some levers,
knock it down. Demolish it completely
500
Our life is brief—that's why
the man who chases
greatness
fails to grasp what's
near at hand. [tragic flaw?]
Presentation 4 (Zach)
Pentheus's men capture Dionysus, who didn't resist arrest
Bacchic women from Asia escape from prison (Pentheus had them locked up)
Euripides can shock (& seem modern) with casual references to sex, gender-bending
Pentheus to Dionysus
563
Well, stranger, I see this body of yours
is not unsuitable for women's pleasure—
[!]
567 your hair . . . flows across your cheeks That's most seductive.
Confusion over whether Dionysus-figure on stage is really Dionysus or just someone play-acting as Dionysus (instability of identity also modern)
576
PENTHEUS:
Why do you bring these rituals to
DIONYSUS:
Dionysus sent me—the son of Zeus.
584
PENTHEUS:
Tell me what they're like,
those
rituals of yours.
DIONYSUS:
That information
cannot be
passed on to men like you,
those
uninitiated in the rites of Bacchus.
628 Pentheus:
He's insulting
636 Lock him up—in the adjoining stables. . . .
716
DIONYSUS: [shouting from
within the palace]
Io! Hear me, hear me as I call you.
Io! Bacchae! Io Bacchae!
741
[Enter Dionysus, bursting through the palace front doors, free of all chains,
smiling and supremely confident.]
767 After a while, Bacchus came and shook the place, [again a confusion of identity b/w speaker & god]
Bacchae Presentation Five (lines 814-1126):
messenger enters; cf. Guard in Antigone
832
your all-too-royal temper.
843 three
groups of dancing women. One of them
Autonoe led. Your mother, Agave,
[Autonoe, Agave = royal sisters of Semele, mother of Dionysus]
led the second group, and Ino led the third.
They weren't as you described—all drunk on wine 850
857-9
a marvelous sight,
to see such an orderly arrangement,
women young and old and still unmarried girls.
863-5
they looped some snakes, who licked the women's cheeks.
Some held young gazelles or wild wolf cubs
and fed them on their own white milk, the ones
[Bacchic women may resemble satyrs as "women of nature"]
869-74
Then one of them,
taking a thyrsus, struck a rock
with it, [thyrsus:
see illustration at end of speech] 870
and water gushed out, fresh
as dew. Another,
[cf. Moses in Bible,
Numbers 20.11]
using her
thyrsus, scraped the ground. At once,
the god sent fountains of wine up from the spot.
877
Oh, if
you'd been there,
if you'd seen
this, you'd come with reverence
to that god whom you criticize so much.
896
The entire mountain and its wild animals
were, like them, in one Bacchic ecstasy.
As these women moved, they made all things dance.
903 men are hunting us.
909-10
ripping a fat, young, lowing calf apart—
others tearing cows in pieces with their hands.
910
913
bulls, proud beasts till
then,
with angry horns,
collapsed there on the ground,
dragged down by the hands of a thousand girls.
[gender / feminist
analysis might make much of girls vs. bulls]
921 Like fighting troops,
they raided Hysiae and Erythrae,
[cities in region]
below rocky
everything, snatching
children from their homes.
932
their pointed spears
did not draw blood. But when those women
threw the thyrsoi in their hands, they wounded them
940
My lord,
940
you must welcome this god
into our city,
whoever he is.
948
CHORUS LEADER:
I'm afraid to talk freely before the king,
but nonetheless I'll speak—this Dionysus
is not inferior to any god.
950
959
We'll march out against these Bacchae.
In this whole business we will lose control,
960
if we have to put up with what we've suffered
from these women.
My lord! There's still a chance to end this calmly.
980
981
Should I become a slave
to my own slaves?
993
[moving up to Pentheus]
How'd you like to gaze upon those women out there,
sitting together in the mountains?
PENTHEUS:
I'd like that.
Yes, for that I'd
pay in gold—and pay a lot.
DIONYSUS:
Why is that? Why do you desire it so much?
997
DIONYSUS:
Would you derive pleasure from looking on,
viewing something you find painful?
PENTHEUS:
Yes, I would—
if I were sitting
in the trees in silence.
1005
you must clothe your body
in a dress—one made of eastern linen.
PENTHEUS:
What! I'm not going up there as a man?
I've got to change myself into a woman?
1027 So first, we
must go up and spy on them.
DIONYSUS:
Hunt down evil by committing evil—
that sounds like a wise way to proceed.
[irony]
1030
1096
The truth is easy to acknowledge:
whatever is divine is mighty,
whatever has been long-established law
is an eternal natural truth.
1100
dressed up as a raving Bacchic female,
to spy upon your mother's company.
[Enter Pentheus dressed in women's clothing. He moves in a deliberately
over-stated female way, enjoying the role]
Order of Dramatic Action in retelling the story of Oedipus's family (House of Labdacus):
Oedipus the King (Sophocles) > Oedipus at Colonus (Sophocles) > Seven Against Thebes (Aeschylus) > Antigone (Sophocles)
Order of Composition / Performance:
467 BCE: Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes
442 BCE:
Sophocles, Antigone
420s BCE: Sophocles, Oedipus the
King
406, 401 BCE: Sophocles,
Oedipus at Colonus
Order of Reading / Discussion or presentation in LITR 4533 Tragedy:
420s BCE: Sophocles, Oedipus the
King: goes first to establish Oedipus Conflict, legendary framework
442 BCE:
Sophocles, Antigone: relief from
challenges of 1st play; characters to identify with; dramatic action; some
romance and popular appeal; reinforces knowledge of family of Oedipus
467 BCE: Aeschylus,
Seven Against Thebes
406, 401 BCE: Sophocles,
Oedipus at Colonus: The action takes place
between
that of Oedipus the King and
Antigone, so why do we read it
last? The usual jumble of reasons . . . .
Oedipus at Colonus is the last of the plays to be written and performed, so it was the last one the original audience would have seen.
Oedipus at Colonus is Sophocles's final play, written just before his death, so it may be a proper farewell to the story and career.
The ending of Oedipus at Colonus resembles (somewhat) the ending of the Oresteia in that, instead of the usual bloodbath associated with tragedy, the play ends with some resolution of conflict and suffering.
Greatness of Tragedy
302
Guard: Every one of us was responsible,
but none of us was clearly in the wrong.
[couplet exemplifies tragedy’s moral complexity]
388 ode to Man choral ode
Discussion questions: 1. A generation ago, Oedipus the King was the standard "classical tragedy" read in secondary schools. Today the tragedy of choice is Antigone, which is more popular to teach as classical tragedy in schools today—why? What are its appeals compared to Oedipus the King? How does Antigone feel more popular and appear more modern? (tragedy modernizes)
feminist theme: woman standing up to patriarchy (while another woman bows); Eurydice as woman's relational identity
civil disobedience theme--can be taught with Dr. King, Thoreau, Mandela, others (Antigone & the tradition of civil disobedience)
straightforward ethical conflict that comes down for family values over government tyranny
connects to Oedipus story but avoids yuck factor of Oedipus the King (background information your students will mostly ignore except for brief recoil)
(higher law)
510 I did not think
anything which you proclaimed strong enough
to let a mortal override the gods
and their unwritten and unchanging laws.
They’re not just for today or yesterday,
but exist forever
Consider Romance
elements, such as Antigone as oppressed underdog, Creon as
patriarchal villain, suicide as transcendence. Compare Antigone
to Romeo & Juliet as "romantic
tragedy" or "tragic romance."
romance b/w Antigone & Haemon--compare double suicide of Romeo & Juliet
Antigone as romance heroine--won't back down, independent, admirable but not restricted to traditional femininity
Romance characterization as simpler: Antigone as virtuous heroine, Creon as inflexible authority figure
655
ANTIGONE:
Dearest Haemon,
[Haemon, Antigone’s
fiancé, is not present in the scene]
how your father wrongs you.
781
Haemon: Because of who you are, you can't perceive
all the things men say or do—or their complaints.
Your gaze makes citizens afraid—they can’t
say anything you would not like to hear.
But
in the darkness I can hear them
talk—
[darkness & perception
figures]
the city is upset about
the girl.
They say of all women
here she least deserves
the worst
of deaths for her most glorious act.
(Cf. Cassandra as romance of doomed youth)
998
ANTIGONE:
Oh my tomb and bridal
chamber—
my eternal hollow
dwelling place,
where I go to join
my people. Most of them
[them =
her family, "my people"] 1000
have perished—
1006 nourishing the vital hope
my father will be pleased to see me come,
and you, too, my mother
1011 Polynices,
this is my reward for covering your corpse.
However, for wise people I was right
to honor you. I’d never have done it
for children of my own
Antigone
is the first-written of Sophocles's Theban plays. How does the conclusion
seem like a young writer's? e.g.,
melodramatic or "over-the-top" end to
Antigone & Haemon? Too obvious and sweeping a change for Creon?
2. Only men wrote Greek tragedies, but women often appear as central characters. What conflicts or responsibilities do they represent that make their lives appropriate subjects for tragedy? In Antigone, for instance, how do the title character's gender-conflicts expose larger problems in Thebes and its leadership?
3. Who is the play's tragic hero? Antigone or Creon? How much does Creon's tragic flaw appear as a crisis of masculinity?
Creon as political leader: when to back down, when to bend principle
Creon as clear example of tragic flaw (far easier to approach and comprehend than Oedipus's tragic flaw)
88 Antigone: So be what you want.
I’ll still bury him. It would be fine to die
while doing that. I’ll lie there with him,
90
with a man I love, pure and innocent,
for all my crime. My honors for the dead
must last much longer than for those up here.
185
CREON:
Men, after much tossing of
our ship of state,
[ship of state metaphor]
the gods have safely set things right again.
323 could this act not be something from the gods?
CREON:
Stop now—before what you’re
about to say
enrages me
completely and reveals
that you’re
not only old but stupid, too. [Creon
like Pentheus in Bacchae disrespects elders]
No
one can tolerate what you’ve just said,
[Creon
(like Agamemnon, Oedipus) becomes unreceptive, hardened, blaming]
534
CHORUS LEADER:
It’s
clear enough
the spirit in this
girl is passionate—
her father was
the same.
597 ANTIGONE: But my nature is to love. I cannot hate.
600 No woman’s going to govern me— [masculinity crisis?] 600
624
ANTIGONE: Don’t try to share my
death or make a claim
to
actions which you did not do.
741
So spit this girl out—she’s your enemy.
Let her marry someone else in Hades.
[Creon becomes inhuman, inflexible, unable to change and adapt]
748
If I foster
any lack of full respect
in my own
family, I surely do the same
with
those who are not linked to me by blood.
760
We must obey
760
whatever man the city puts in charge,
no matter what the issue—great or small,
just or unjust.
1236
CREON: Alas—it’s difficult. But I’ll
give up.
I’ll not do what I’d set
my heart upon.
It’s not right to
fight against necessity.
1243 I’ve changed my mind. . . . Now I’m afraid.
Until one dies the best thing well may be
to follow our established laws.
4. How comical (or potentially comic) are the Guard's repeated appearances? ll. 256 ff., 366, 385, 432-450
256
GUARD:
My lord, I can’t say I’ve
come out of breath
by running
here, making my feet move fast.
Many times I stopped to think things over—
and then I’d turn around, retrace my steps.
[comic /
humorous behavior?]
My mind was saying many things to me,
260
"You fool, why go to where you know for sure
your punishment awaits?"—"And now, poor man,
[comic
/ humorous language?]
why are you hesitating yet again?
366 GUARD: Do I have your permission to speak now, [sarcasm / irony]
383ff
GUARD:
Well, I hope he’s found.
["he": the culprit who honored Polynices with burial rites]
That would be best. But whether caught or not—
and that’s something sheer chance will bring about—
you won’t see me coming here again.
[comical?]
This time, against all hope and expectation,
I’m still unhurt. I owe the gods great thanks.
[comedy; Aristotle's "suffering without
pain"]
435 chatterbox guard
Learning theme
804 For any man,
even if he’s wise, there’s nothing shameful
in learning many things, staying flexible.
820
CHORUS LEADER:
My lord, if what he’s
said is relevant,
it seems
appropriate to learn from him,
838
HAEMON:
A city which belongs to just
one man
is no true city.
[modernity: city life & democracy =
sharing space & right]
883 CREON: No—not the one whose hands are clean. You’re right. [Creon here shows some ability to listen, change]
1138
Consider this, my son.
All men make mistakes—that’s not uncommon.
But when they do, they’re no longer foolish
or subject to bad luck if they try to fix
the evil into which they’ve fallen,
1150 Learning can be pleasant when a man speaks well,
1153 even prophets are now aiming at me. [tragic flaw of being unreceptive to learning and change]
1415
CHORUS LEADER:
Alas, it seems you’ve
learned to see what’s right—
but
far too late.
CREON: Aaiiii . . . I’ve learned it in my pain.
1463 the guilt for all of this is mine
1496 great blows of punishment—
so in
old age men can discover wisdom.
Notes for Antigone
388
There are many strange and
wonderful things,
but nothing more
strangely wonderful than man.
example of dialogue for Nietzsche
21
ANTIGONE: I know that. That’s why I
brought you here,
outside the
gates, so only you can hear.
45
Now you know, and you’ll quickly demonstrate
whether you are nobly born, or else
a girl unworthy of her splendid ancestors.
57
ISMENE:
What? You’re going to bury
Polynices,
when that’s been made
a crime for all in
ANTIGONE: Yes. I’ll do
my duty to my
brother—
[higher law theme]
and yours as well,
77 We must remember that by birth we’re women, . . . we shouldn’t fight with men.
82
So I’ll ask those underground for pardon—
[those
underground =
the dead]
since I’m being compelled, I will obey
those in control.
88 So be what you want.
I’ll still bury him. It would be fine to die
while doing that. I’ll lie there with him,
90
with a man I love, pure and innocent,
for all my crime. My honors for the dead
must last much longer than for those up here.
105 ANTIGONE: No, no. Announce the fact— [civil disobedience needs publicity]
185
CREON:
Men, after much tossing of
our ship of state,
[ship of state metaphor]
the gods have safely set things right again.
221 (Creon) Eteocles, who perished in the fight
to save our city, the best and bravest
of our spearmen, will have his burial,
with all those purifying rituals
which accompany the noblest corpses,
as they move below.
As for his brother—
that Polynices, who returned from exile,
302
Guard: Every one of us was responsible,
but none of us was clearly in the wrong.
[couplet exemplifies tragedy’s moral complexity]
323 could this act not be something from the gods?
CREON:
Stop now—before what you’re
about to say
enrages me
completely and reveals
that you’re
not only old but stupid, too. [Creon
like Pentheus in Bacchae disrespects elders]
No
one can tolerate what you’ve just said,
[Creon
(like Agamemnon, Oedipus) becomes unreceptive, hardened, blaming]
388
There are many strange and
wonderful things,
but nothing more
strangely wonderful than man.
He’s taught himself speech and
wind-swift thought,
trained his
feelings for communal civic life,
[Athens as democratic
republic]
429-30
Surely they’ve not brought you here
because you’ve disobeyed the royal laws,
435 chatterbox guard
488
we rushed up right
away
and grabbed her. She was not
afraid at all.
We charged her with
her previous offence
490
as well as this one. She just kept standing there,
denying nothing.
510
I did not think
anything which you proclaimed strong enough
to let a mortal override the gods
and their unwritten and unchanging laws.
They’re not just for today or yesterday,
but exist forever
518 I know all too well I’m going to die—
534
CHORUS LEADER:
It’s
clear enough
the spirit in this
girl is passionate—
her father was
the same.
548
if she gets her way and goes unpunished,
then she’s the man here, not me.
593
Hades still desires equal rites for both.
[Hades = god of the
underworld, lord of the dead]
CREON:
A good man does not wish what
we give him
to be the same an evil
man receives.
ANTIGONE: Who knows? In the world
below perhaps
such actions are no
crime.
597 ANTIGONE: But my nature is to love. I cannot hate.
600 No woman’s going to govern me— [masculinity crisis?] 600
624
ANTIGONE: Don’t try to share my
death or make a claim
to
actions which you did not do.
634 ANTIGONE: But you chose life—it was my choice to die.
649 ISMENE: How could I live alone, without her here? [intellectual > emotional; philosophy > art; narrative]
651 CREON: Why not?
There are other fields for him to plow. [crudely sexist metaphor implies Creon’s masculinity crisis.]
655
ANTIGONE:
Dearest Haemon,
[Haemon, Antigone’s
fiancé, is not present in the scene]
how your father wrongs you.
696
From now on into all future time,
as in the past, your law holds firm.
[the Chorus now refers to
higher law]
It never enters lives
of human beings
741
So spit this girl out—she’s your enemy.
Let her marry someone else in Hades.
[Creon becomes inhuman, inflexible, unable to change and adapt]
748
If I foster
any lack of full respect
in my own
family, I surely do the same
with
those who are not linked to me by blood.
760
We must obey
760
whatever man the city puts in charge,
no matter what the issue—great or small,
just or unjust.
781
Haemon: Because of who you are, you can't perceive
all the things men say or do—or their complaints.
Your gaze makes citizens afraid—they can’t
say anything you would not like to hear.
But
in the darkness I can hear them
talk—
[darkness & perception
figures]
the city is upset about
the girl.
They say of all women
here she least deserves
the worst
of deaths for her most glorious act.
799
don’t let your mind dwell on just one
thought,
[a democratic argument]
that what you say is right and nothing else.
804
For any man,
even if he’s wise, there’s nothing shameful
in learning many things, staying flexible.
820
CHORUS LEADER:
My lord, if what he’s
said is relevant,
it seems
appropriate to learn from him,
838
HAEMON:
A city which belongs to just
one man
is no true city.
[modernity: city life & democracy =
sharing space & right]
883 CREON: No—not the one whose hands are clean. You’re right. [Creon here shows some ability to listen, change]
912
Antigone going to her bridal room
where all are laid to rest in death.
998
ANTIGONE:
Oh my tomb and bridal
chamber—
my eternal hollow
dwelling place,
where I go to join
my people. Most of them
[them =
her family, "my people"] 1000
have perished—
1006 nourishing the vital hope
my father will be pleased to see me come,
and you, too, my mother
1011 Polynices,
this is my reward for covering your corpse.
However, for wise people I was right
to honor you. I’d never have done it
for children of my own
1041
may they endure no greater punishment
than the injustices they’re doing to me.
[civil
disobedience does not seek revenge]
1113
among those birds an unknown cry—
[indicated
fate or the gods’ will]
evil, unintelligible, angry screaming.
1128
Our state is sick—
your policies have done this.
1138
Consider this, my son.
All men make mistakes—that’s not uncommon.
But when they do, they’re no longer foolish
or subject to bad luck if they try to fix
the evil into which they’ve fallen,
1150 Learning can be pleasant when a man speaks well,
1153 even prophets are now aiming at me. [tragic flaw of being unreceptive to learning and change]
1173 how good advice
is valuable—worth
more than all possessions.
1191 you won’t change my mind to make yourself more rich.
Notes for Antigone, 2nd class
1227 you need to listen to some good advice.
1236
CREON: Alas—it’s difficult. But I’ll
give up.
I’ll not do what I’d set
my heart upon.
It’s not right to
fight against necessity.
1243 I’ve changed my mind. . . . Now I’m afraid.
Until one dies the best thing well may be
to follow our established laws.
1288 Messenger: The lucky and unlucky rise or fall
by chance day after day—and how these things
are fixed for men no one can prophesy.
1320 I heard someone speaking of bad news
1320
about my family. I was terrified.
I collapsed, fainting back into the arms
[not acted or depicted; only reported in words; spectacle
repressed]
1331 Polynices’s corpse, still unlamented,
was lying there, the greatest distance off,
torn apart by dogs.
[not shown on stage; only reported by messenger; spectacle
repressed]
1336 We gave the corpse a ritual wash, and burned
what was left of it
1346 an unintelligible scream of sorrow. [not actually heard by audience; only recounted by messenger; spectacle repressed]
1381 corpse on corpse, his marriage
has been fulfilled in
chambers of the dead.
1415
CHORUS LEADER:
Alas, it seems you’ve
learned to see what’s right—
but
far too late.
CREON: Aaiiii . . . I’ve learned it in my pain.
1426 Is there something still more evil than all this?
1429 a gathering place for death
1451 she called out evil things against you,
the killer of your sons.
1463 the guilt for all of this is mine
1496 great blows of punishment—
so in
old age men can discover wisdom.
