LRJ #2

Roberto Sande Carmona
10 IB Hour 5 Ms. Peifer
24th of November, 2008 LRJ #2

Repeated Image

One repeated image that is crucial to the structure and basis of the work is that of the idea of proper burial rights, or to be more explicit, that of Polyneices's burial rights. This is, of course, portrayed throughout the entirety of the writing, but that could be a reason of why it would be challenging to find exactly what it stands for.
The direct meaning is the identity it has as the problem, the disagreement everything meditates around. However, it can also be seen as a sign for love, agony, and morality. With these aspects converging and diffusing into one another the reader finds loved ones of the deceased like Antigone expressing outright her actions and love for her brother whilst the other sibling Ismene conflicting over what is the correct thing to do. Pondering the morality, and the age-old question of whom or what to choose in the battle of kin or law.

[Antigone to Ismene] I shall rest, a loved with him whom I have loved, sinless in my crime; fro I owe a longer alliance to the dead than to the living: in that world I sahll abide for ever. But if thou wilt, be guilty of dishonouring laws which the gods have established in honour." ( Sophocles par. 17)

This summarizes the three points well; one can see the will and love of Antigone evident in the way she carries herself, the inner conflict of Ismene is shown, and the morality aspect is also acknowledged.

Fatal Flaw

Although a reader could discover flaws for various of the main characters, it is most portruding in that of Creon, the (revered) antagonist. Through a legion of instances, one can find his flaw. He has a sort of arrogance, which would not be dificult for someone of his power to attain, and an ignorant outlook. For somebody to be prosperous him or her must be a good listener, especially to those whom he or she disagrees with, and the failure to do so on Creon's part is the spark of his collapse. It is apperant that any idea he asides with is immediately seen as blasphemy, shown in the following exerpt:

[Leader]O king, my thoughts have long been whispering, can this deed, perchance, be e'en the work of gods?//[Creon]Cease, ere thy words fill me utterly with wrath, lest thou be found at once an old man and foolish. For thou sayest what is not to be borne, in saying that the gods have care for this corpse. (par. 61-62)

Creon's dismissal of this and numerous other ideas in the story are result of his fatal flaw; and this is tragic story's tying notion. His clashes with the other persona are the locomotive of this writing, and they provide a gritty, real-world view even if for us today the setting of life is so unimaginably altered.

Anagnorisis, Peripeteia, and Catharsis

While the writing is titled Antigone, the tragic essence of it is actually Creon. Antigone did lose her life, but it was always what she had expected, stripping it of its grim characteristic. It instead made her a martyr, whereas Creon really took the place of the tragic hero.
Anagnorisis takes place after Creon finishes his conversation with Teiresias, and takes the advice from the Choragus to bury Polyneices and free Antigone, in his realization of his faults, in paragraphs 307 to 313.
Peripeteia happens at the exact moment the king goes to free Antigone and she had already committed suicide. It was at this point, where the "beginning of the end" is shown that Anagnorisis and Peripeteia come together that Creon's fortune reverses.
In the very last scenes the reader finds Catharsis; when Creon's demised future comes from his own mouth, and the reader feels pity for him, although up to that point of frailty, he is the antagonist.

Portrayal Of Women
Very early one finds that the status of women is stated to be one of stereotypical proportions, specific to the time of the play. In Ismene's dialogue the woman herself states "we were born women, as who should not strive with men" ( par. 16).
But through the actions of Antigone the work shows the exact opposite, that a woman can defy authority when not even a man would venture to. The audience can sense the powerful will and set mind of Antigone, which is much more powerful than anything a character could simply state.