Conventions of Antigone

Yusra Hashmi, Britney Laber, Shelby Nelson, Kirsten Ronning, Julie Thamby, and Jocelyn Wang Review

● Episodic: : Many episodes relatively ‘self- contained’. Requires many short scenes, not typically act based. ● Climactic: Act-based. Usually connected together in an overall arching plot. Has a more definite shape; ‘Freytag’s Pyramid.’ ○ ‘At the climax, something changes.’ Formal Structure

● Prologos: Ancient Greek, prologue or preface ● Episodes: The part of the Greek tragedy between two choric songs ● Stasima: The choric songs that divide the tragedy into various parts ● Exodos: The final concluding scene Use of Chorus Use of Chorus

● Theban Elders ● Comment on the themes and react as perhaps the citizens of Thebes would ● Prepare the audience for key elements Use of Chorus

“Wisdom is far the chief element in happiness and, secondly, no irreverence towards the gods. But great words of haughty men exact in retribution blows as great and in old age teach wisdom” ( 2105). Conventional Characters

● Possess traits that are expected and traditional ● Ismene ○ “Damsel” ● Messengers ○ Provide the audience with essential information ○ Indirectly, address news to other characters in drama Conventional Characters

Ismene: “You ought to realize we are only women, not meant in nature to fight against men, and that we are ruled, by those who are stronger” (2075). Conventional Characters

Messenger: “Haemon is dead; the hand that shed his blood was his very own” (2101). “The queen is dead. She was indeed true mother of the dead son” (2103). High Status Characters

● Aristotle’s Poetics ○ main character of tragedy must be of higher status than the audience ● Allows for distinction between audience and main character ● There are two types: relaxed and secure vs. threatened and oppressive High Status Characters

Antigone ● Princess ● Ismene to Antigone ○ “If you can do it. But you are in love with the impossible” (2076). High Status Characters

Creon ● King of Thebes ● “this man shall no one honor with a grave and none shall mourn. You shall leave him without burial”(2079). Conventions of Tragic Hero Antigone vs Creon 1. Poetics: good tragic plot= reversal of fortune(peripeteia) “I will bring her where the path is loneliest, and hide her alive...give just enough food as shall suffice” (833-35) “We saw her, hanging by her neck”(1288-89) 1. Poetics: good tragic plot= reversal of fortune(peripeteia) “Now here I am, holding all authority and the throne”(191) “Lead me away...who killed you my son, and you, too, lady”(1402-1403) 2. Flaw/error of judgement/imperfect (to relate), feelings of pity and fear “given that we can identify with the hero as being something like us”(Reading ‘Dramatic’ Literature Appendix) ● Fall to bad fortune caused by hamartia 2. Flaw/error of judgement/imperfect (to relate), feelings of pity and fear

“And did you dare disobey that law? Yes, it was not Zeus that made the proclamation” (493-95) “There is nothing shameful in honoring my brother”(559) Flaw lies in her stubborn loyalty to her family and to her convictions-Civil Disobedience 2. Flaw/error of judgement/imperfect (to

relate), feelings of pity and fear “Must I rule the land by someone else’s judgment rather than my own?” (792) “There is nothing worse than disobedience to authority. It destroys cities, demolishes homes...we must stand on the side of what is orderly”(723-26) “Never in the past have I turned from your advice” (1039) to “...will not make a merchandise of my decisions” (1120) Flaws: Pride, Stubbornness, Civil Obedience 3. Poetics: Pity and fear purged through Catharsis

“Tomb, bridal chamber, prison forever dug in rock, it is to you I am going....my hope is strong that my coming will be welcome”(2094) 3. Poetics: Pity and fear purged through Catharsis

“But great words of haughty men exact in retribution blows as great an in old age teach wisdom”(2105) 4. Anagnorisis= recognition

“I know that I will die...even if you had not doomed me by proclamation…”(504-05).

“This girl has learned her insolence before this, when she broke the established laws” (524). 4. Anagnorisis= recognition “These acts can never be made to fit another to free me from the guilt. It was I that killed her.” (1382-83) “Wisdom is far the chief element in happiness, and secondly, no irreverence towards the gods” (1409-10) Connections

● Nick Carraway (The Great Gatsby) serves as the moral conscience like the Chorus. ● Like the tragic heroes in Antigone, the leaders of today’s society are neither wholly good, nor wholly evil ● Ancient Greek women not appreciated, no rights - Antigone going against social norm Jeopardy http://www.superteachertools. us/jeopardyx/jeopardy-review-game.php? gamefile=1462565#.VehD43hvZFI