Jebać Kreona, Antygona to girlbosska

This was a reread for me.

The first time I read this play was in my sophomore year or high school and I remember liking it but I LOVED it this time around.

It's fabulous and now I want to read the rest of the Theban plays.

Thebai serisinin son kitabı. Ben Ilias seminerlerini takip ederken aklıma takılan bir şey yüzünden son kitapla başladım ama siz sırayla okuma yaparsanız daha verimli olur. Thebai okuma sırası temel olarak şöyle:

1- Kral Oidipus
2- Oidipus Kolonos'ta
3- Antigone

Bu serinin en sağlıklı çevirisi İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları'ndan çıkandır. Eser içerisindeki notlar kitabın sonunda değil de sayfa altlarında dipnot olarak verilseydi daha verimli bir okuma süreci olabilirdi. Ben sürece hakim olduğum için sıkıntı yaşamadım fakat okuyacak olanların son notları mutlaka dikkate almasını öneririm.

Yine takıldığınız şeyler için Azra Erhat 'ın Mitoloji Sözlüğü iyi bir kaynak olacaktır.

Bir karar alırken olası sonuçları düşünmek ve ona göre hareket etmek lazım derim son söz olarak. Yoksa bir Kreon pişmanlığı yaşanabilir...

Antigone is a play written in circa 441 BC by Sophocles. The story is an example of a woman refusing to obey patriarchal royal authority. It's also an example of a King causing devastation to his own household by dictating extreme orders to others.

Antigone, a young unmarried woman, defies the edicts of the king by providing burial rites for her dead brother. She justifies her actions as following the wishes of the Gods which are higher than those of the King. She is banished to be locked in a tomb to die.

An old sage convinces the King that he's made a mistake, so the King orders the tomb to be opened. Antigone is found dead by suicide. Consequently the king's son and wife also commit suicide due to their anguish caused by Antigone's death.

The play ends with the King a broken man but, according to the Greek chorus, a wiser man.

An interesting factoid to consider is the choice of the name Antigone—Anti (against) gone (procreation).

The following is a link to my review of a novel that is a modern retelling of the Antigone story in the setting of American military in Afghanistan:
n  n    The Watchn  n, by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya.

The following is a link to a Wikipedia article about another novel patterned after the story of Antigone:
n  n    Home Firesn  n, by Kamila Shamsie.

The following is a link to my review of a book about the applicability of Greek myths to modern life and that uses the name "Antigone" in its title:
n  n    Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Mythsn  n, by Helen Morales.

n  n    Book Reviewn  n
4 out of 5 stars to Antigone, the third in a trilogy of Theban plays written around 441 BC (yes, almost 2500 years ago) by Sophocles. In my junior year of high school, our Advanced Placement English teacher assigned all three Theban plays. This is a mini-review on the final one, Antigone, which was my second favorite -- Oedipus Rex was of course, my favorite. In this Greek tragedy, Antigone, Oedipus Rex's daughter, fights to have a proper burial for her brother. She is strong-willed, determined and forceful, yet respectful and fair in her arguments. What I love about these plays is that ability for the characters to call on your emotions, logic and your intelligence. The plots are incredibly complex and shocking, but the players are what help you fall in love with Sophocles as a writer. Given its 2500 years old, and a translation, there are a number of areas where might not fully understand, especially if you aren't familiar with your Greek Gods and Goddesses. The words themselves are beautiful. The images you see are intense. It's a fantastic read. But read them in order. And think of Antigone as your very own Wonder Woman.

n  n    About Men  n
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by.

انتیگونه منو خیلی یاد آثار شکسپیر می‌اندازد! با این تفاوت که در این نمایش‌نامه عشق در یک لایه پنهان پشت عدالت و منطق قرارگرفته است، داستان پر از تضادهای شخصیتی و باورها است و تفسیر هر یک از آنها از عدالت و قانون، و پادشاهی که خود را پشتیبان قانون می‌داند اما غرور و لجبازی‌اش باعث می‌شود حتی در طول یک روز هم نتواند پادشاهی کند، انتیگونه خود بنا به عشق و عقیده سعی در انجام کاری خلاف قانون (به باور او غیرمنطقی) پادشاه می‌کند بااینکه می‌داند عاقبتان مرگ است، و هایمن که سعی در دفاع از عشقش (بنا بر منطق و نه عشق) می‌کند. شخصیت‌های داستان هرکدام ترکیبی از باورها و کشمکش‌های درونی‌ای است که این تراژدی را به‌یادماندنی کرده

I read this in preparation for reading Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie from this year's Man Booker longlist.

And I read in a different translation to the edition shown here, one sticking more literally to the original Greek, including not translating terms where it felt there was no satisfactory equivalent. This was important in clarifying some of the key themes, but rather puts the onus of interpretation back on the reader (and this reader is no expert in ancient Greek philosophy).

A number of things struck me in the differing views of Antigone and Creon which have modern day relevance, and which I suspect will also feature in Home Fire.

- the ambiguous use of the word nomos - which to Antigone denotes customs and values, and to Creon the laws of the land (and, in this context, his laws) [https://www.britannica.com/topic/nomo...]

- similarly Antigone's appeal to the rules of the gods, rather than those of the state/ruler

- Antigone's prioritisation of philia (obligations to friends, family: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philia) over obligations to the state, and Creon's explicit rejection of that stance:

Whoever deems a philos more important than a fatherland, this man I say is nowhere.

or in Seamus Heaney's rewrite of the play, which forms the epigraph for Home Fire:

The ones we love . . . are enemies of the state.

- and most strikingly in a 2016-7 context Antigone's lament that she is a metic, not among the living nor among the dead (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metic). In modern day parlance, she is essentially proclaiming herself a citizen of nowhere, in the accusatory phrase used in the most offensive and inflammatory speech given by a British prime minister in my lifetime.

This has left me eagerly awaiting my copy of Home Fire.

I didn’t know I had a translation by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, I found this in a book of anthology sitting on my bookshelf. Later, a Google search told me this was first published in 1939.

Before reading this, I read a translation by Francis Storr, written a quarter of a century earlier and in the public domain.

Francis Storr’s translation was plainer compared to the sharp imagery in Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald’s translation. Both translations are easy to follow, and left me with a clear sense of the conflict.

Reading this back in 2019 my sympathies were with Antigone. This time round, this hasn’t changed but I no longer see Creon being a callous tyrant, instead I see him trying to get some order back into Thebes after a war. The first thing he says is:

“Elders, the gods have righted one again
Our storm-tossed ship of state, now safe in port.”*

‘storm-tossed ship’ is the war caused by Oedipus’s sons who fell out over ruling Thebes. In trying to manage the after effects of this war, I think, Creon lost some of his good sense. When he regains this it’s with a harsh lesson: “[t]here is no happiness where there is no wisdom”. **

Reading Antigone by Sophocles again, I now see there are many layers in this story.


* from Francis Storr translation
** from Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald translation

the things men will do to avoid admitting they made a mistake and taking responsibility for their actions…

Wszyscy zgineli 10/10

I really enjoyed this. It’s easy to read (minus a few of the long chorus paragraphs), and Antigone is the heroine of Greek tragedies I never knew I needed. She’s got a backbone, a level of principles high above those around her, and she’s not afraid of anyone. Least of all King Creon. Honestly, she’s so ahead of her time, I did not expect the high levels of sass I got while reading this, and it’s surprisingly funny in places too. The overall short length stopped this getting too ‘bogged down’ too.

I’m really glad I picked this up. I might even delve into more Greek tragedies in the future if they’re like this. It’s not as dry as it seems.

“Antígona” (-442) é a parte final de uma trilogia que se inicia com “Rei Édipo” (-427) a que se segue “Édipo em Colono” (-406), ou seja, a última parte, mas a primeira a ser escrita por Sófocles (-497 — -405). Assim, se a primeira parte ganhou repercussão no nosso imaginário contemporâneo deve-o não só à hábil estrutura narrativa, capaz de prender o leitor e agitar as suas emoções do início ao final, mas principalmente a Freud por ter inventado um complexo incestuoso, que nunca existiu, já que Édipo só descobre que tem uma relação com a própria mãe depois de com ela ter casado. “Édipo em Colono” funciona como episódio intermédio, contribuindo para aumentar o universo dramático, nomeadamente do seu espaço, como das personagens fundamentais, pondo em cena o fim de Édipo, estando Sófocles perto da sua própria morte, e dando corpo às duas percentagens centrais de “Antígona”, Antígona e Polinices.

[Imagem]
Recorte de "Antigone donnant la sépulture à Polynice"(1825) de Sébastien Norblin [ver Galeria]

Se o “Rei Édipo” nos choca pelo conflito com a natureza, pelo incesto, Antígona agarra-nos pelo conflito entre o indivíduo e o coletivo. Não admira que Antígona tenha sido a primeira peça, e uma das primeiras peças de Sófocles, é muito mais liberal, centrada nos valores sonhadores da auto-determinação, enquanto Rei Édipo é quase uma aceitação tácita do determinismo que sepulta o livre-arbítrio.

Temos uma Antígona que questiona a lei, desafia o governador, o rei Creonte, aceitando a morte em troca da defesa dos seus princípios, o direito de enterrar o irmão. Podemos ler na vontade de Antígona apenas o cumprimento dos desejos dos deuses, e do seu irmão expresso em “Édipo em Colono”, de que se sepultem os mortos sob terra, mas isso é apenas um pretexto dramático. O que temos, é Antígona, uma mulher respeitada por toda a sociedade a questionar uma ordem do governador, da autoridade, provocando um conflito na sociedade, que por ter em tanta consideração Antígona, e por aquilo que pede não lhes parecer indigno, a coloca face a um dilema, aceitar ou não aceitar a vontade de Antígona. Este conflito é ainda mais ampliado com a entrada em cena de Hémon, filho de Creonte e noivo de Antígona. Habilmente, Sófocles não dá espaço à emocionalidade básica da historieta do amor cego, antes aproveita para captar do confronto pai-filho, a mesma problemática da auto-determinação do indivíduo, entrando aqui no território sagrado do “Honrarás Pai e Mãe”.

A peça questiona assim, sem rodeios, a autoridade daqueles que se dispõem a dispor das vidas dos outros, seu povo ou seus filhos. Deve um cidadão deixar de se afirmar, de se edificar, enquanto ser humano individual e livre, apenas para cumprir os desígnios de um líder, que o é temporariamente. E um filho? Deve ele submeter-se a todas as vontades de um pai, apenas porque dele nasceu? Com que direito podemos pôr e dispor das vidas dos nossos filhos (cf. “Uma Educação”, 2018)?

Refletindo agora, esta questão vai ao coração do Rei Édipo, dando a parecer que Sófocles quis aprofundar o dilema daquilo que somos e do poder que detemos para determinar o que somos. Poderemos, mesmo pelas supostas leis da natureza, anti-incesto, condenar Édipo? Quanto daquilo que somos depende de nós? dos outros? da natureza? Temos mesmo acesso a um livre-arbítrio?

Tendo-o ou não, devemos, não, acredito que temos a obrigação de nos edificar, de trabalhar para o que é justo, que não podendo ser escrito como lei, por nenhum rei ou governante, por nenhuma sociedade, nem por nenhum pai ou mãe, já que o que é justo é emanado da moral que se escreve momento a momento pela própria evolução da civilização, podendo apenas basear-se no princípio basilar que suporta todos os ditames filosóficos e religiosos desde sempre, sendo hoje reconhecida como Regra Dourada: “Não faças aos outros o que não queres que te façam a ti.”


Publicado no VI:
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