If You Liked "Oedipus the King" You'll Just Love "Antigone"!

Soon after the last time I read "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles, I changed my Facebook status to read:

"And the blood spattered his beard, bursting from his ruined sockets like red hail." - Dear Sophocles, was that really necessary? Really?

To which one of my Facebook friends replied:

doesn't understand why ancient Greeks were such snuff fetishists and suggests you avoid reading the Iliad if you've not already; it's much more ...um... descriptive. So many detailed battle wounds and people killing eachother in various ways...

In all fairness, Sophocles writes beautifully. I'm re-reading "Antigone" now. I never could get into Homer though...

The more I thought on my previous statements, the more I started touching upon the surface of understanding just how different many of these ancient author's wrting styles were. I just could NOT get into Homer, and I haven't really delved into Aeschylus, although I probably will very soon. Personally, I think very highly of Sophocles. He writes these really vivid similes and metaphors. It wasn't enough to say "Oh yeah Oedipus gouged out his eyeballs with a brooch or something..." No, the blood "burst[ing] from his ruined sockets like red hail." "Red hail", wow, that is so incredibly graphic.

Then again, maybe I just have a thing for tragedy, but I don't see any real shame in it.- I can't be the only one, seeing as this story has withstood the test of time. Human beings love their drama.(Shakespeare's most famous works were his most depressing.) For example, I am a huge opera fan - I prefer Puccini over Mozart because Puccini is generally more moody, brooding, and ultimately tragic. Human fascination with the drama of others plays out in daytime soaps, reality television, and even the 6 o'clock news.

How many times have you, or someone else said "Wow, wouldn't it be nice if they showed something happy and positive on the news for once? It's all doom and gloom." -You know why, and that this question is completely and utterly rhetorical. -It's okay. You don't need to feel ashamed. There is no shame to be had for your love for bad television and rubbernecking on the highway. Yes, it's annoying, but we've all taken part in one or more of these activities from time to time.

I love drama!

Take for example the story of "Antigone". (By the way, the rest of this post is going to be a big honking advertisement encouraging people to read "Antigone", which is awesome by the way.) Poor Antigone has suffered so much loss - her mother was Jacosta, her father Oedipus, and now her brothers have killed one another over the kingdom, leaving it to her uncle Creon. Creon has apparently become a major jerk over the years, or maybe it's the crown going to his head... Anyway, he decrees that one of her brother's will get a proper burial, and the one Creon doesn't like will be left out in the open to be eaten by birds and torn apart by dogs.

Now, the thing about doing this to a body, is that it angers the gods, and can bring misfortune upon the land. Essentially, Creon is potentially dooming his kingdom because he can't control his temper.

Antigone, our brave heroine does her best to help her brother's soul make it to the underworld by pouring sand and dirt on his body as best she can to cover it. Eventually she is caught, and Creon sentences her to be entombed alive.

Now, the real tragedy that falls in line with the definition of it occurs to Creon who ends up losing everything (yes, just about everyone dies at the end). Antigone does the right thing, and meets a sad end, but through no pride or bad personality traits. Hubris abounds in both stories, but I found it to be interesting as Antigone while a story with tragedy in it, is primarily about a tragic heroine; the hubris being her high ideals, whereas Oedipus' and Creon's hubris deals more with unwillingness to see and pride.

There are several really amazing quotes in Antigone, and here are just a few:

Choragos: Only a crazy man is in love with death!
Creon: And death it is, yet money talks, and the wisest have sometimes been known to count a few coins too many. (Scene I, lines 48-50)

Sentry: Nobody likes the man who brings bad news. (Scene I, line 94)

Sentry: We ran and took her at once. She was not afraid, not even when we charged her with what she had done. She denied nothing. And this was comfort to me, and some uneasiness: for it is a good thing to escape from death, but it is no great pleasure to bring death to a friend. Yet I always say there is nothing so comfortable as your own safe skin! (Scene II, lines 47-50)

Antigone: Words are not friends...(Scene II line 136)

Ismene: Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver...(Scene II, line 151)

Haimon: They say no woman has ever, so unreasonably died so shameful a death for such a generous act. (Scene III, line 64)

There is also a fantastic conversation between Creon and Teiresias, and now that I've seen the "Antigone" video below, I can not think of Teiresias as anyone other than Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi from the original "Karate Kid."). So, ultimately if you don't think that reading "Antigone" is your cup o'tea, or even if it is, you can watch these short, really funny, oft weird, cartoons below.

Enjoy!

Oedipus Rex: The Short Short Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA1_QZxvRyo&NR=1

The Story of Oedipus and Antigone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVtM3BDvJ0w&feature=related

Antigone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKM4t8EzKoc

Submitted by Katherine McGondel-Wininger