Journal#12- Antigone

Journal #12: Anouilh bombards his audience with conflicting ideas, phrases, images..choose a set of concepts: yes vs no, ugly vs pretty, truth vs lies, illusions vs reality, dull vs color...discuss how and why Anouilh creates the tension between the contrasting ideas.

Anouilh creates the contrasting idea of ugly vs. pretty with the use of child life elements such as imagery. There are a lot of references to children and youthful things. This creates a sense of beauty and innocence whereas the ugly contrasting part is created through Antigone repeating that she is ugly. These two contrast because although people tell her she is beautiful, she believes that she is ugly. Antigone thinks that Ismene is the one that is much more beautiful than her and I feel like she is jealous of her. I also think that it lowers her sense of power and how she feels about herself. Because she feels bad about herself she lowers herself and seems to be a weaker person than Ismene although they are both pretty. It creates tension between the contrasting ideas because both are in disagreement and lowers the power of somebody. 

Journal #11- Antigone

How has the role of the chorus changed?  What type of tone does the author use with the chorus and what words help to support your analysis?  How does the chorus comment on the tragic elements of the play?


The role of the chorus has changed because in the beginning they were the ones that set up the scene for us and gave background info as to what was happening or what will happen. They provided foreshadowing and situational irony throughout the play. Then in this reading their part was mainly talking about the tragedy of Antigone and why she represents the true identity of a tragedy. It also takes on a less casual tone and expresses the definition of a tragedy in a more serious manner. For example on page 23 the Chorus says "unbreathable silence" while talking the beginning of the play. This makes the tone become more serious and intense. Another thing that changed was the intensity of each of the parts. The tone adds to this change, because of the use of different words that changes the intensity.The chorus comments on the tragic elements of the play by referring specifically to Antigone and what makes her a good example of a tragedy.

Journal #10- Antigone

Address how Anouilh explains the previous days events?  How does Anouilh's structure affect the reader's interpretation of characters, motivations, or events?


Events in the 48 hours prior to Nurse catching Antigone sneaking in the house. 

• Antigone is seen thinking of death.
• Haemon is talking to Ismene which is the King's son.
• He and Antigone are engaged to be married.
• At the ball Haemon danced with Ismene because she was wearing a new evening frock. Antigone didn't go into much shock.
• Being King changed Creon. His wife is Eurydice and is seen knitting. 
• The Messenger later on will announce that Haemon is dead.
• Oedipus was the father of Antigone and Ismene. He has two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, that would share the throne once he died. There was a civil war when the older brother Eteocles refused to step down from the throne. The two brothers fought and killed one another in single combat just outside the city walls. Now Creon is King.
• Because Creon sided with Eteocles he buried him in honor whereas Polynices was left to rot. Any person that attempts to give him a religious burial will be put to death.

Address how Anouilh explains the previous days events?  How does Anouilh's structure affect the reader's interpretation of characters, motivations, or events?

I think that Anouilh expresses the previous day events in a casual tone and explains it rather quickly. Anouilh just states the facts as background information to show us what will happen. It is used in chronological order. Since it  begins what will happen in the end in the beginning it messes with the chronology. As we read it helps us identify the characters' motives for doing things if we know the ending in the beginning. It also introduces the characters and helps identify what the character represent and their actions. It affects the events in the play because we know now what is expected of the characters and it adds situational irony to the play. 

Topic Sentence

Bridegroom

Bridegroom is very obedient towards his mother and therefore doesn't exert an opinion at all. He fears that if he doesn't follow his fate or destiny she is the one he will have to face.

Journal #9

Create a list of themes that Lorca creates in the play.


Fate/Destiny

This theme is mostly developed through the characters of Bridegroom, Bride, and the Mother. Staying true to what is pre-destined for the characters' lives is important to follow through. The Bride doesn't follow what is to be her fate but instead she decides that marrying Leonardo is her own destiny. By the Bride running off with Leonardo it changes the fate of Bridegroom. I believe that the Mother's life is interrupted with this theme of fate/destiny. She weeps over the death of her son and husband that affects her fate.

Control

I thought the Bride and Mother portray some sort of control over someone that has a significant role in the play. They usually exert a forceful type of control too. The mother has control over Bridegroom's destiny and the Bride has control over the maid and a little bit of Leonardo. I found it interesting how Bride shows more control over Leonardo than Bridegroom with whom she is going to get married with. The Bridegroom becomes a weaker person with less opinions because of his mother's control over him.

Children


Children are present through the whole play.This could represent rebirth and the symbol of blood. The parents are the ones that are always forcing to bear children. This could lead to how the parents kind of want to live their life through them and therefore make their destiny.

Journal #8

How does the set change between acts and what effect does the set have on the atmosphere? 

The set changes to the outside world and forests in this act. They are looking for Bride and Leonardo in the forests while many random characters start appearing for example the wood cutters, beggar woman, and the moon. This makes the scene more intense and creates a different dark tone that hasn't been seen before in the play. It suddenly goes from a happy setting to a depressing rather quickly. This also plays with the time motif and how things seem to be moving quickly. It also shows the earth and landscape motif that has been mentioned before but now at the end it is relevant to the plot. This helps us make conclusions as to what Lorca is trying to say. This motif is developed with the blood motif as well. 

Tragedy #7

There are a variety of youth in the second act. Why? How does Lorca use the youth to affect the themes of the play?


I believe why there are so many youth in the second act is because of the wedding. During the wedding, Bride and Bridegroom are going into this marriage blindly and are forced to see things in a different way because of their parents. When the youth are brought up it shows a different view on things and how innocent they are of everything. It shows how they once were and how ignorant they are from everything. Bride tells the young girls what they will face once they are getting married. This shows a kind of warning for the younger ones to watch out for when they are older. When Bride said this to the younger girls she said it with a sense of hope to show how she desires not to be stuck in her mess which is getting married. Lorca shows this especially when the kids are singing because it brings a youthful feeling to the play. 

Tragedy #6

Which characters appear to be miserable int he play and why?  When and how do the characters express their misery? What do the characters desire and what stops them from going after what each desires? 

What I noticed from the reading this night was that Bride is very miserable. Throughout the play I think mother and Bridegroom are also miserable. During the 2.1 Bride didn't want to get married and was very confused on what she wanted to do. I think her conflict with who she truly loves was getting in her way. "There are dark clouds- an ill wind inside me. Who hasn't felt that?". I think that through this quote it shows how miserable bride is to be getting married even though she is happy. I think that bride expresses most of her misery when she is around her maid, because she doesn't express her  anger around Bridegroom nor father. Lorca does this through the syntax. He changes the syntax and also the word choice in order to show her two different feelings. I think bride desires to be with Leonardo because in the end she ends up escaping with him, and this could possibly be why she doesn't really want to marry Bridegroom because she is still in love with Leonardo. I think what keeps bride from escaping with Leonardo is that they are both married and that they don't want to make themselves look bad.

Tragedy #5

Journal #5 Examine how Lorca characterize the archetypes of the play.  Does Lorca embrace or reject the archetype?  What is the effect of the characterization? 

Lorca uses the idea of old-fashioned marriage among the upper class that parents of both of the bride and groom should be in agreement if they should marry as an archetype. In Blood Wedding during these scenes the father and mother meet to come to an agreement and plan the wedding. This is an old-fashioned type of ideal that Lorca shows throughout this scene. I think Lorca rejects this archetype because in the end the couple ends up never getting married. Bride escapes with another man and they never showed that they truly loved each other. Also he would reject this idea because he was embarrassed of being part of the upper class and this is seen as an upper class tradition. The effect of this characterization is that it shows a distant relationship between all of the characters(which is also shown through the motif of distance). 

Journal #4- Blood Wedding

Choose any two symbols that emerged in this scene and discuss their significance.  While you are certainly welcome to connect that significance to the entire text, I want you to focus on the details of how they are used in these first 12 pages.  Look at the stylistic choices surrounding their use and build up to a discussion on the role they play or will play in developing theme/character/setting/tension...

Knife- I think that the knife is mainly used by the mother and when she does talk about it, she feels passionate about what she is saying. There is tension built because of what the knife brought upon their family. Also it is not just the knife but other dangerous weapons as well such as a pistol and a shotgun. The mother is very exaggerated when she talks about the knife. She also says that the wound cannot be taken back and how a small item killed a big man. It creates the theme that 

Blood- Even though blood is only mentioned once I see that it is starting to develop a theme that is bigger throughout the rest of the book. When ever his mother mentions it, she usually uses it in a family context referring to family related problems. She talks about blood in a way that can be carried and is mobile even though your blood is predetermined and you have no control over it. I believe that this symbol creates the theme of fate/destiny and how your blood is predetermined like your fate.