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.