Antigone
What makes a good leader according to Creon?
Someone who speaks out when the country is headed for ruin and speak plainly
(speak to be understood by everyone, be direct, get to the point)
Never make friends with enemies
Put the public welfare above your personal welfare
Loyalty must be earned by the leader
Have friends except when it puts the state at risk
(the good of the many outweigh the good of the few)
Is Creon following his own description of good leadership? How/how not?
Yes – he believes not burying Polyneices benefits the public because Polyneices
betrayed the public—he started the civil war
No – Creon was not loyal to the royalty—he played Eteocles and Polyneices
against each other (this was the first step in the events leading to the civil war)
for power for himself—this put his own needs ahead of the public welfare
The Sentry tells Creon the bad news that someone has buried Polyneices; the
Sentry’s voice “distresses” Creon; the Sentry asks Creon, “Are you sure that it is
my voice and not your conscience?”
Creon’s “shooting the messenger for the message” – literal
Wondering if Creon is feeling guilt for not burying Polyneices—subtext—
Polyneices was Creon’s nephew (his sister’s child; knew Polyneices growing up),
Creon helped raise them once Oedipus was exiled; in Greek mythology—people
must be buried (even with dust) by someone in order to cross the River Styx to
enter into the underworld (otherwise, the soul wanders along the banks in a no
man’s land—an eternal torture)—someone had to show that the dead person
had been respected in life; By outlawing Polyneices’ burial, Creon condemned
Polyneices soul to eternal torture (this is making the decision of the gods—
hubris)
Scene 2
P. 210
Antigone about her action, “There is no guilt in reverence for the dead.”
Antigone is directly defying the law of her country. She doesn’t feel bad for
respecting her brother even if it means going against her country. Antigone is
independent. It reflects her sense of morality because she felt it wasn’t right for
Creon to allow her brother’s soul to wander along the banks of the Styx. She’s
brave for facing the consequences. This does not sound like how women should
behave in ancient Greece. What does this say about Antigone? What does this
say about Sophocles (the playwright)? Sophocles views women differently. This
play is part of Sophocles entry into the play competitions—the entertainment.
Would you go against what your culture believes in?
It would stand out from the other plays; social commentary (like we have
today—we have satirists Colbert, drama?)
P. 211
Creon, “…for you honor a traitor as much as him [a hero]”
Antigone, “His own brother, traitor or not, and equal in blood.”
Antigone views Polyneices the same as Eteocles; she’s putting gods and family
higher than the state—is this a good thing to do or a bad thing to do? This is a
good thing—family is worth dying for; a good thing—without your family, you’re
nothing, your family is always there to support you/back you up; a rebel with a
cause—the cause is for family; it’s her blood; family is more important in the end
than the state; being honest with herself and everyone else supporting her
family. These comments from residents of a country not in a war and not prone
to having wars on its soil. In a country used to being at war, loyalty to the state –
vs – loyalty to the family.
Creon, “An enemy is an enemy, even dead.”
Antigone, “It is my nature to join in love, not hate.”
P. 212
Antigone, “The dead man and the gods who rule the dead know whose act this
was. Words are not friends.”
Scene 3
P. 217
Creon, “Whoever is chosen to govern should be obeyed—must be obeyed, in all
things, great and small, just or unjust!”
P.218
Creon, “…good lives are made so by discipline. We keep the laws then, and the
lawmakers, and no woman shall seduce us.”
“…Is a woman stronger than we?”
P. 219
Haimon to ensure his loyalty in telling his father how the people feel about
Creon’s leadership, “Must not any son value his father’s fortune as his father
does his?”
Haimon trying to persuade his father to listen, “…the man who maintains that
only he has the power to reason correctly, the gift to speak, the soul—a man like
that, when you know him, turns out empty.”
Haimon persuading his father, “In flood time you can see how some trees bend,
and because they bend, even their twigs are safe, while stubborn trees are torn
up, roots and all…”
Haimon still reasoning with his father, “But if I am young, and right, what does
my age matter?”
Creon, “With justice, when all that I do is within my rights?”
Haimon, “You have no right to trample on God’s right.”
Creon, “Fool, adolescent fool! Taken in by a woman!”
Scene 3
“You’ll never marry her while she lives.” (Creon to Haimon) –Haimon wants to
marry Antigone, but Creon won’t allow it; Haimon said he will kill himself if
Antigone dies; you’ll have to be dead to marry her.
Scene 4
“I have not sinned before god, or if I have I shall know the truth in death.”
Antigone – she’s not afraid to die, she’ll accept the consequences because she
believes what she did was right by the laws of god.
Scene 3
“Reason is god’s crowning gift to man, and you are right to warn me against
losing mine…” Haimon to Creon – god’s gift to man is reason, they’re both
following different reasonings, one is god’s reason, one is the state’s reason
Scene 4
“Reverence is a virtue, but strength lives in established law that must prevail.”—
chorus—the laws of man are of greater importance than the laws of the gods; in
a society that worships gods, it’s egotistical to put themselves ahead of the gods;
the chorus stands for the audience, why would the audience (the common
public) think this way? Laws of man are made for the common good in the here
and now…
Scene 3
“That is the way to behave, subordinate, everything else, my son, to your
father’s will.” Creon to Haimon—this shows Creon’s belief that Haimon should
follow his laws; he doesn’t care about his son’s own beliefs.