Sophocles’ Antigone 2

February 5, 2008

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Agenda

• Recap and Update– Plot and Play– Tragic Themes– Gender Dialectics

• Problem of the Chorus– “We Are Too Old”

• Gender Dialectics in Antigone– Two Views– Your Views

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Recap and Update

• Plot and Play

• Tragic Themes

• Gender Dialectics

Myth Background: House of Thebes

Labdacus

Oedipus Jocasta

Polynices Eteocles IsmeneAntigone

Menoeceus

Laius Jocasta Creon Eurydice

MegareusHaemon

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Play Analysis (nums. refer to Penguin pages)

Prologue (59 ff.)Antigone, Ismene (burial)

Parodos (choral entry ode, 65 f.)victory song

1st episodeCreon, Sentry (Polynices’ burial)

1st stasimon (choral ode, 76 f.)“Many the wonders …”

2nd episodeSentry, Creon; Creon, Antigone, Ismene (Creon-Antigone agōn)

2nd stasimon (91 f.)“Blest they who escape misfortune”

3rd episode (92 ff.)Creon, Haemon (agōn)

3rd stasimon (101)madness of erōs

4th episode (101 ff.)Choral dialogue (kommos) w/ Antigone (bride of death); Antigone, Creon

4th stasimon (108 f.)myth parallels to Antigone

5th episode (110 ff.)Tiresias, Creon (prophecy, warning)

Hyporchema (choral ode, 118 f.)Dionysus save the day!

Exodos (119 ff.)Messenger, Eurydice; Choral dialogue (kommos) w/ Creon

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Antigone – Tragic Themes

• Hubris (arrogance, transgression)– “Zeus hates with a vengeance all bravado, / the mighty boasts

of men” (Chorus, p. 65)

• Cycle of suffering– “… once / the gods have rocked a house to its foundations / the

ruin will never cease, cresting on and on” (Chorus, p. 91)

• Atē (delusion, ruin)– “Sooner or later / foul is fair, / fair is foul / to the man the gods

will ruin” (Chorus, p. 92)

• Knowledge too late– “Too late, / too late, you see what justice means” (Chorus

Leader, p. 124)

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Problem of the Chorus

“We Are Too Old”

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Choral Reflections – What Are They About?

• “Numberless wonders / terrible wonders walk the world but none the match for man. … But the city casts out that man who weds himself to inhumanity…” (1st stasimon, pp. 76-77)

• “Love (erōs)! … you have ignited this, / this kindred strife, father and son at war” (3rd stasimon, p. 101)

• “You went too far, the last limits of daring – / …. I wonder ... / do you pay for your father's terrible ordeal?” (choral dialogue with Antigone, p. 103)

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Choral Reflections, Myth Parallels: On Target? (4th stasimon, pp. 108 f.)

1. Danaë (lines 1035 ff.)

– Perseus’ mother– imprisoned pregnant

» in bronze chamber» floating casket

2. Lycurgus (1051 ff.)

– opposed Dionysus– killed son– imprisoned in cave

3. Cleopatra (1066 ff.)

– divorced by husband– imprisoned by

husband, whose …– new wife

» blinds» buries

children

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Choral Reflections, Myth Parallels Do They Fit? (pp. 108 f.)

1. Danaë (lines 1035 ff.)– both royal– locked away– reversal– inescapable fate– Danae = life, birth

» not in love with love

2. Lycurgus (1051 ff.)– Lyc = Ant

» but reversed– Gods = Creon– religion higher– plus knowledge too late

3. Cleopatra (1066 ff.)– kings queen = EGO– children = anyone

affected– Ant = Cleo– bad marriage, bad karma– walled in stone

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Gender Dialectics in Antigone

• Two Views

• Your Views

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Gender Dialectic in Antigone: 2 Readings

Hegel’s…• Antigone

– divine law– private sphere

versus• Creon

– human law– public sphere

Butler’s…• Incest as

– interrogation of gender

• Antigone as– proto-feminist

Antigone’s Claim (Butler’s book) shows “how a culture of normative heterosexuality obstructs our capacity to see what sexual freedom and political agency could be” (book blurb)

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Parallel Antinomies

ANTIGONE

female

privateinside

oikos (family, household)

lamentation

divine law

CREON

male

publicoutside

polis (politics, city)

retribution

human law

CREON:“I am not the man, not now: she is the man / if this victory goes to her

and she goes free” (p. 83)