Investigating the modifications that Anouilh made to Sophocles’ Antigone.
The alterations made to Sophocles’ Antigone once analysed, really help to explain the reason behind Anouilh writing Antigone. Antigone, written by Anouilh, is a Greek-inspired tragedy and was originally written by Greek playwright Sophocles, interestingly being the third of the three Theban plays chronologically, yet the first written.
Anouilh pays homage to Antigone by preserving most of its storyline, but also makes it is his own by adding touches of French culture and using it as an inspiration for an anti-Nazi sentiment. It is quite interesting that a play can be viewed as a revolutionary act, but that is exactly how Antigone was viewed during the ‘collaboration’ between Germany and France in the 1940’s, dubbed the Vichy France period.
If the general structure of Anouilh’s
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We can see the change in Creon’s character modified by Anouilh through his use of animal imagery. It was mostly used by Sophocles when he was disregarding the natural laws laid out by the gods and what he felt when his people were leaving out of the body. In the eyes of the Ancient Greek, the treatment of the dead needed to be done properly and respectfully because it was a moral and religious obligation, and for them there was nothing worse than its omission. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Creon doesn’t seem to care about those feelings at all when he says that “the scavenging dogs can do with him whatever they like.” [Sophocles, p. 8] Creon – The King – is at the highest point of the hierarchy and is portrayed to be allowed to disregard those who are below him, who to him are clearly as low as “the dogs”. Anouilh’s Creon differs and is unlike from this as he actually confesses to not being comfortable
Antigone, The Brave Antigone, a story written by Sophocles, is about a young woman, Antigone, choosing whether she will not bury her brother, Polyneices, to not break the law or disobey Creon’s law and bury him; however choosing to bury her brother does not derail her moral development. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development is three levels consisting of two stages in each. Kohlberg’s Theory explains how a human’s mind morally develops.
The two were alike in many aspects as described above, but had some dissimilarity as well which are summed up as:
In the beginning of the play Creon is portrayed as King and a leader unwilling to bend the rules in order to protect the city. The way Creon responds to Antigone, “While I’m alive, no woman is going to lord over me”, shows he is stubborn and also his pride. (593-594) While the play continues Creon’s pride grows, and he thinks he can never be wrong and punishes Antigone by locking her up in a cave. However, things turn a different way when the Prophet tells Creon that he must free Antigone or face the wrath of Gods. After hearing this Creon changes his mind, “I shackled her, I’ll set her free myself. I am afraid it’s best to keep the established laws…” (1236-1238) But, as Creon tries to set Antigone free, he is faced with suicides of Antigone and Haemon, and followed by the suicide of his wife, Eurydice. This moment in the play serves as the downfall of Creon. But unlike Antigone, Creon reaches anagnorisis, which is the moment in the play when the tragic character realizes his hubris has led to his downfall. “And the guilt is all mine- can never be fixed…god help me, I admit all!”(1441-1445) Ultimately, Creon is more of a proper tragic character than Antigone because of he has an epiphany, a moment when he realizes his hubris has caused conflicts and deaths in the
...se Creon was not yet the king of Thebes during the period of Oedipus’s ruling, and Antigone who was not yet a renowned figure acting independently in her own will without any dilemmas. It is until the story of Antigone when Antoine’s rights are desecrated by the might of Creon’s rule and that it led Antigone to bail and revolt against it. This is the dynamic that Sophocles sees in Antigone within the society of Thebes, and through the perception of Antigone’s heroic deeds, equal to that against the behavior of Creon, Sophocles exemplify to the audience the unbalance nature in society.
" This indicates Creon’s decision to punish Antigone was not taken kindly by the gods, but his ego wouldn't allow him to solve that as shown by Haemon, which, again, contribute to his nemesis. This proves by how Creon’s stubbornness isn't liked by the gods establishing him as a tragic
The character must decide whether or not to allow the employee’s cousin to work in their restaurant. The cousin must provide for his family through the cold winter or they will become homeless. The character also knows that the law requires him to check the citizenship of all employees and forbids him to hire anyone who is in the country illegally.
Creon's character possesses an infinite number of glitches in his personality, but his excessive pride was the root of his problems. His pride leads him to make accusations, before he considers the wise advice of others. Creon's pride also fills him not just as a king superior to the Gods, but also a man superior to women. The issue of Antigone being condemned to die becomes more than just a person who disobeys Creon; instead, the punishment is given even more eagerly, because it is a woman who disobeys a man. Creon's intelligent son warns Creon the people of Thebes sympathize with Antigone, but Creon accuses Haemon of being a "woman's slave" (line 756). Even though he is suppose to be loyal to the state and her citizens, he defensively questions if "the town [is] to tell [him] how [he] ought to rule?"(Line 734)The Theban king is too prideful to obey even the wisest of prophets, blind Teresias, insisting that "the whole crew of seers are money-mad" (line 1055). Creon finally puts his pride aside and listens to the Chorus' wise advice. It is difficult even then, and he obeys only because he fears the punishment that he might receive. "To yield [for Creon] is terrible" (line 1095) meaning to swallow his pride and admit that he is wrong is a very difficult thing for him to do. When Creon loses his wife and son, Creon's pride disappears, and he admits that he made a terrible mistake by not listening to anyone's advice.
“Being sister and brother means being there for each other” (thefreshquotes.com). Siblings are one’s most important relative because they’re basically an irreplaceable friend that will love and care for one another forever. People’s relationship with their siblings is emotionally powerful and critically important for their everyday life. Antigone believes that her siblings are her most significant relatives because they can’t be replaced, unlike a husband or children, because her parents are deceased; she will do anything for them, even go against the rules and put her own life in danger. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the character Antigone can be seen as immoral because of her defying Creon’s laws, however, she receives sympathy for the injustices that were done to her brother, Polyneices, of him not being provided with a proper burial.
One of Creon’s many failures as a statesman is his prideful attitude. For example, Creon believes that gods chose him to lead the kingdom: “But see, the king comes here, /Creon, the son of Menoeceus, /Whom the gods have appointed for us/In our recent change of fortune.” (Par. 122—125).This quote explains how authoritative Creon was when he first became king. Also, Sophocles explains how Creon’s divine rights made him feel superior to everyone else, which made him more insolent. In addition, Creon believes that he is the sole leader of the kingdom: “We’ll have no woman’s law here, while I live.” (Sc 2.444). Sophocles illustrates the dangers of pride in kingship. He emphasizes more on how kings should be reasonable to the citiz...
...e is another corpse before me. Alas for the poor mother, alas for the child” (Sophocles 1302-1307). This shows how mean Creon was; however, he does understand how his mistake was as a result of his own actions.
It is very essential to comprehend the settings of when the play was written and when it went to performance. As the Nazi forces invaded France in July 1940, “It took only six weeks for France to capitulate to the German invaders,” (According to Shirer, William L.) and the Nazi rule continued until August 1944. Under such conditions Germans had set up a puppet government in Southern France at Vichy under the direction of a Nazi collaborator, Marshal Petain. During this time period there were many individuals that opposed this regime, including Jean Anouilh, who encouraged the resistance. Through his play, Antigone, he was able to disguise a message for the French. As Ted Freeman said, “At first, certain of Anouilh’s compatriots hostile to collaboration with the Germans, French people interpreted Antigone as a play with meaning for a country suffering under alien rule” (xlvi). According to Anouilh’s play, Creon figures as the Nazi collaborationist ruler, resembling Marshal Petain and the French audience of the play perceived Antigone as the French Resistance. The tone of the author in Antigone criticizes Creon, which makes a parallel to Anouilh opposing the Vichy Government. When Marshal Petain came to power under a puppet government he tried doing “what is best for the country” by capitulating to Germany and compromising with Germans to keep the Nation from war, which is very alike to Creon who values compromises and tries doing what was best for the greater good for the city of Thebes. During the conversation with Antigone, Creon tries persuading her to go home but she refuses (33).Through the creation of the play Antigone, Jean Anouilh attempted to spark French Resistance against the Nazis and their collaborators. Anouilh was successful in this project since by 1944 there were 100,000
Antigone was a selfless person with pride as a strong characteristic of her personality. She possibly had feelings of loneliness and anger from the way society has looked upon her family from their past. It took a strong willed person who has no fear of the repercussions to stand up to a king as she did. To make everything all the worst she stood up to a king who was her Uncle and she being a female back in those time, standing up and speaking out for herself was not heard of.
The distinctions between young and old, naïve and wise are very clear. There is a fiery passion for life often embedded in the young, and a sense of bittersweet reflection set in the aged. The age gap between the two is often a cause for conflict. The young want to hurry up and live only to eventually die; the old want to slow down their rate of living and postpone death. With such divergent circumstances, conflicts are almost impossible to avoid. The question of how one can grow old while keeping youthful idealism and integrity seems to be the source of most conflicts. Jean Anouilh, in his version of the Greek classic play Antigone, firmly captures and reflects the disparity between old and young through the use of the characters of Antigone and Creon.
... as a framework to convey his points. Furthermore, Anouilh changes an extremely well known play. When this happens, humanity tends to see only the differences between the works. And the differences (such as the changes in Antigone?s and Creon?s characters, the gray area between right and wrong, and politics and duty as motivating forces) convey his real political message: criticism of the Vichy regime.