ANTIGONEANTIGONE andand

Ancient Greek TheaterAncient Greek TheaterReview InformationReview Information

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Basic Overview

• Antigone is about a woman who disobeys the laws of her ruler Creon in favor of the unwritten laws that she feels more properly govern society.

Key facts and events to know

• In Antigone, Sophocles focuses on the possible conflicts between one’s religion and one’s politics.

Key facts and events to know

• Burial Rites:– Funerals in Greece were largely the

responsibility of women during Sophocles’ time.

– They washed and dressed the body, adorned it with flowers, and then covered it up.

– Only close relatives participated in this ritual.

Key facts and events to know

• Burial Rites:– After a death, the “prepared” corpse was

laid out for two days in the home and then taken away for burial before the dawn of the third day.

– The funeral procession—led by men and followed by lamenting women—wound slowly outside the city gates to a cemetery, where the body would be laid to rest.

Key facts and events to know

• Burial Rites:– By some accounts, traitors and people

who robbed temples were not entitled to be buried within Athenian territory, but the historical record is far from consistent on this.

– These burial rites and rituals were very serious in Greek culture.

The Athenian Theater

– Sophocles’ plays were written to be performed in public at the great Theater of Dionysus.

The Athenian Theater

– This theater was located in the heart of Athens with other important city buildings on the slope of the rocky hill of the Acropolis.

The Athenian Theater

– All the actors were men, and the choruses were well-trained boys.

– By switching masks, each actor could play several roles.

The Athenian Theater

– Plays were usually staged during the festival of Dionysus, the god of growth and wine, which took place at planting time in March.

– Crowds of 15,000 people regularly attended the performances, and even criminals were released from prison in order to see the plays.

The Athenian Theater

• The Chorus– The Greek word choros means “dance.”– The chorus, a group of singers and

actors who either commented on what was occurring in the main part of the drama or actually functioned as a character in the play, was an important part of 5th century B. C. drama.

The Athenian Theater

• The Chorus– The chorus served as a link between the

audience and the actors, often portraying a group of citizens not unlike the audience themselves.

The Athenian Theater

• The Chorus:– In Antigone, the chorus is a group of

Theban elders who keep shifting their loyalty back and forth from Creon to Antigone; their indecision further confirms the complex nature of the issues under discussion.

Sophocles, playwright of Antigone

– 496 – 406 B. C. – He came from a

wealthy family in Athens.

– He was well educated and mixed with some of the most powerful figures of his day.

Sophocles, playwright of Antigone

– He took an active role in Athens’ political life.

– He was elected a general in the Athenian military because of the popularity of his work.

– In 468 B. C. Sophocles entered the most important Athenian drama competition of the year for the first time.

• Tragedy - Tragedy dealt with the big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the fraught relationships between men and gods. Typically the main protagonist of a tragedy commits some terrible crime without realizing how foolish and arrogant he has been. Then, as he slowly realizes his error, the world crumbles around him. The three great playwrights of tragedy were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

Tragedy--- Greek Drama

• Hubris or hybris (Greek ὕβρις), according to its modern usage, is exaggerated self pride or self-confidence (overbearing pride), often resulting in fatal retribution. In Ancient Greece, "hubris" referred to actions taken in order to shame the victim, thereby making oneself seem superior.

• Hubris was a crime in classical Athens. The category of acts constituting hubris for the ancient Greeks apparently broadened from the original specific reference to a humiliation of a defeated foe, to molestation, or "outrageous treatment", in general. The meaning was further generalized in its modern English usage to apply to any outrageous act or exhibition of pride or disregard for basic moral law. Such an act may be referred to as an "act of hubris", or the person committing the act may be said to be hubristic.

Hubris

• Creon commits hubris in refusing to bury Polynices in Sophocles' Antigone.

• For hubris, think “violent transgression”

Tragedy depicts the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, producing suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience.

Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy

A true tragedy should evoke pity and fear on the part of the audience.

Pity and fear are the natural human responses to spectacles of pain and suffering – especially to the sort of pain and suffering that can strike anyone at any time. The effect is that we feel relief in the end through catharsis, and are purged of these feelings.

Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy

Aristotle’s View of Tragedy

• Catharsis: – emotional purging– a strangely pleasurable sense of

emotional release we experience after watching a great tragedy

– for some reason, we usually feel exhilarated, not depressed, after a tragedy

Aristotle’s View of Tragedy

• Tragic hero/heroine: 1. A character who is neither completely

good nor completely bad but rather somewhere in the middle. He/she does have good intentions.

2. Someone “who is highly renowned and prosperous,” which in Aristotle’s day meant a member of a royal family or someone who holds a high or elevated place in society.

Aristotle’s View of Tragedy

• Tragic hero/heroine continued:3. The character must possess a flaw (tragic

flaw) in his/her personality that is taken to an extreme and impairs his/her judgment.

4. This tragic flaw leads to the hero’s/ heroine’s own downfall (a major catastrophe).

5. By the end of the play, the tragic hero recognizes his/her own error, accepts its tragic consequences, and is humbled.

Aristotle’s View of Tragedy

• Critics question what that “error or frailty” of a tragic hero is.– Is the hero’s undoing the result of a

single error of judgment? OR– Does the hero have a tragic flaw?

• Tragic flaw: a fundamental character weakness, such as excessive pride, ambition, or jealousy

Aristotle’s View of Tragedy

• As the audience, we feel:– PITY: the hero’s punishment is too harsh

for his crime, and he is a suffering human being who is flawed like us

– FEAR: the hero is better than we think and still he failed, so what hope do we have?

Literary Terms for Antigone

• Tragedy– According to Aristotle: to arouse pity and

fear in the audience so that we may be purged, or cleansed, of these unsettling emotions

• Catharsis– Purging of emotions of pity and fear that

leaves the viewer both relieved and elated

Literary Terms for Antigone

• Tragic Hero– A character who:

1. Is neither completely good nor completely bad but has good intentions

2. Is of royal birth or holds an elevated place in society

3. Possesses a tragic flaw4. Has a downfall because of the tragic flaw5. Recognizes his/her own error, accepts its

tragic consequences, and is humbled

Literary Terms for Antigone

• Tragic Flaw– A fundamental character weakness,

such as excessive pride, ambition, or jealousy

• Hubris– Arrogance or overweening pride that

causes the hero’s transgression against the gods; usually, the tragic flaw

Literary Terms for Antigone

• Prologue– Introductory speech delivered to the

audience by one of the actors or actresses before a play begins

• Parodos– The first ode, or choral song, in a Greek

tragedy, chanted by the Chorus as it enters the Orchestra

Antigone’s Family Tree

Labdacus Menoikeus

Laios m Jocasta Creon m Eurydice

Oedipus m Jocasta

Megareus Haemon

Eteocles Polyneices Ismene Antigone

ConflictConflict

Antigone believes Antigone believes spiritual laws must spiritual laws must be obeyed, be obeyed, whatever the whatever the consequences…consequences…

Major TopicsMajor Topics

Fate vs free willFate vs free will LoyaltyLoyalty PridePride PowerPower Women and Women and

femininityfemininity Rules and order Rules and order

Content reviewContent review

The play begins with Antigone and The play begins with Antigone and Ismene speaking to each outside the Ismene speaking to each outside the palace.palace.

When the play begins Creon places When the play begins Creon places an edict over the entire city. It an edict over the entire city. It states “ no one should give proper states “ no one should give proper burial rites to Polyneices”burial rites to Polyneices”

The Chorus of the play consists of The Chorus of the play consists of elderly Theban men.elderly Theban men.

ContinuedContinued

The main conflict of the play is Antigone’s refusal The main conflict of the play is Antigone’s refusal to listen to the edict. (She will not obey Creon.)to listen to the edict. (She will not obey Creon.)

Creon is best described as ruthless, harsh, Creon is best described as ruthless, harsh, prideful, stubborn and sometimes heartlessprideful, stubborn and sometimes heartless

There is a sudden dust storm just before There is a sudden dust storm just before Antigone’s arrival at the body of Polyneices. Antigone’s arrival at the body of Polyneices. Could the gods have intervened?Could the gods have intervened?

At the end of the play both Haemon (Creon’s At the end of the play both Haemon (Creon’s son) and his wife die. He even carries Haemon’s son) and his wife die. He even carries Haemon’s body at the end of the play.body at the end of the play.

ContinuedContinued

The Chorus finally convinces Creon to The Chorus finally convinces Creon to release Antigone and bury Polyneices.release Antigone and bury Polyneices.

Ismene refuses to help Antigone bury Ismene refuses to help Antigone bury Polynices. She claims to have shared Polynices. She claims to have shared responsibility in the end when Antigone responsibility in the end when Antigone is being punished. Her family comes is being punished. Her family comes from tragedy and is shames; perhaps from tragedy and is shames; perhaps she doesn’t want to be alone.she doesn’t want to be alone.

ContinuedContinued

Antigone kills herself at the end of the Antigone kills herself at the end of the play..play..

Burial and honoring the dead, value of Burial and honoring the dead, value of good judgement, stubborness and pride, good judgement, stubborness and pride, and state and divine law are all major and state and divine law are all major themes/elements of the play.themes/elements of the play.

At the end of the play both Haemon At the end of the play both Haemon (Creon’s son) and his wife die. He even (Creon’s son) and his wife die. He even carries Haemon’s body at the end of the carries Haemon’s body at the end of the play.play.

ContinuedContinued

Creon loses family as well as the will Creon loses family as well as the will to live by the end of the plan.to live by the end of the plan.

Polyneices is punished because he Polyneices is punished because he betrayed Thebes.betrayed Thebes.

Creon rules with a tyrannical hand.Creon rules with a tyrannical hand. Haemon tries to tell his father that the Haemon tries to tell his father that the

people of Thebes agree with Antigone people of Thebes agree with Antigone and find the act noble. However he and find the act noble. However he refuses to listen.refuses to listen.

Consider the followingConsider the following

Creon states the ruler of a city “must Creon states the ruler of a city “must be obeyed in all things-small, just, be obeyed in all things-small, just, and the opposite.”and the opposite.”

Do you agree/disagree?Do you agree/disagree? Does society benefit?Does society benefit? How is it harmful?How is it harmful? Connect to selfConnect to self

Consider the followingConsider the following

The major conflicts of the playThe major conflicts of the play Who is involved?Who is involved? How it is resolved?How it is resolved? Who is a tragic hero/character in the Who is a tragic hero/character in the

text?text?

Creon and/or AntigoneCreon and/or Antigone