Antigone

Could I but blindly touch them with my hands, I'd think they were still mine, as when I saw.

Antigone and Ismene are led in.

What say I? Can it be my pretty ones whose sobs I hear? Has Creon pitied me and sent me my two darlings? Can this be?

'Tis true.

Who knows if the things we have gotten a chance to read over this year or you have read on your own are going to be appropriate for the questions.

And I thought that was rather brilliant because I wrote an entire essay about the Greek tragedy Antigone having never actually read Antigone.

And so now in my mind, I'm like, did I actually read the books that I'm thinking of? Or did I just read the cliff notes? Wow.

But it's a really brilliant suggestion she had because she knew that, you know, and I got a five, pat myself on the back, a five out of five, right? Ironically, the novel or the short story that I read that I keep coming back to that keeps popping into my head is the most dangerous game.

And so I guess the equivalent to your English classes would be my German classes, right? After you're done learning about how to write an essay and this and that, you move on to then reading great works of fiction.

We did read some German classics.

I did read The Antigone.

I actually did read it.

I wanted to talk about another of the kind of formal aspects of the book or sort of the spine of it really.

We have Antigone.

and Nizmini.

For people who need a little refresher on their Sophocles, these are Oedipus's daughters, subjects of a famous play.

Their brothers have killed each other trying to control Thebes and Creon as the new ruler.

He's praised one and refused to let the other be buried on punishment of death.

And Antigone decides in a beautiful speech that she's going to do it anyway and be killed for her efforts, kind of a revolutionary suicide if we were to import an early 70s anachronism.

And these characters, these two people that you've created, this narrator and the theorist, kind of take on these roles.

I said, you know, he's very similar to an Ajax in the...

the Iliad, or an Antigone in Sophocles, or a John Ford movie, John Wayne and the Searchers, or Shane, the archetypical Westerner, the tragic figure who comes into a paralyzed society that knows it has to deal with an existential threat, but the methodologies necessary to deal with it are uncouth, so they end up in a state of paralysis.

And then somebody comes in and says, I can find Natalie Wood, in the searchers, or I can save you in Jackson Hole, but I have to do certain things.

Because the people you're dealing with are dead serious people and you're not going to like it.

Grainger, for the ones who get it done.

Antigone by Sophocles.

Translated by Edward Hayes Plumptree, 1821-1891. part i dramatis person creon king of thebes haemon son of creon tiresias a seer guard first messenger second messenger eurydice wife of creon antigone and ismene daughters of oedipus chorus of theban elders argument after the death of oedipus antigone and ismene returned to thebes and lived in the king's house with ateocles their brother but the seven great captains from argos whom polyneikes had called to help him came against thebes to destroy it and were hardly driven back and the two brothers having died by each other's hands the people of the city made creon their king as being wise and prudent and next of kin to the dead and he issued his decree that ateocles should be buried with due honour but that no man should dare to bury polyneikes who had come purposing to lay waste a city and all the temples of the gods antigone scene thebes in front of the palace early morning hills in the distance on the left on the right the city enter antigone and ismene antigone ismene mine own sister darling one is there of ills that sprang from oedipus one left that zeus will fail to bring on us the two who yet remain naught is there sad naught full of sorrow steeped in sin or shame but i have seen it in thy woes and mine and now what new decree is this they tell our captain has enjoined on all the state know'st thou hast heard or are they hid from thee the ills that come from foes upon our friends ism no tidings of our friends antigone pleasant or painful since that hour have come when we two sisters lost our brothers twain in one day dying by a twofold blow and since in this last night the argive host has left the field i nothing further know nor brightening fortune nor increasing gloom antigone that knew i well and therefore sent for thee beyond the gates that thou mayst hear alone ism what meanest thou it is but all too clear thou broodest darkly or some tale of woe an and dost not creon treat our brothers twain one with the rights of burial one with shame ateocles so say they he interred fitly with wonted rights as one held meet to pass with honour to the dead below but for the corpse of polyneikes slain so piteously they say he has proclaimed to all the citizens that none should give his body burial or bewail his fate but leave it still unwept unsepulchred a prize full rich for birds that sent afar their sweet repast so creon bids they say creon the good commanding thee and me yes me i say and now is coming here to make it clear to those who know it not and counts the matter not a trivial thing but whoso does the things that he forbids for him there waits within the city walls the death of stoning thus then stands thy case and quickly thou wilt show if thou art born of noble nature or degenerate livest base child of honoured parents is how could i o daring in thy mood in this our plight or breaking law or keeping aught avail an will thou with me share risk and toil look to it is what risk is this what purpose fills thy mind an will thou help this my hand to lift the dead is means thou to bury him when law forbids an he is my brother yes and thine though thou wouldst feign he were not i desert him not is o daring one when creon bids thee not an he has no right to keep me from mine own ism ah me remember sister how our sire perished with hate o'erwhelmed and infamy from evils that himself did bring to light with his own hand himself of eyes bereaving and how his wife and mother both in one with twisted cordage cast away her life and thirdly how our brothers in one day in suicidal conflict wrought the doom each of the other and we twain are left and think how much more wretchedly than all we twain shall perish if against the law we brave our sovereign's edict and his power this first we need remember we were born women as such not made to strive with men and next that they who reign surpass in strength and we must bow to this and worse than this i then entreating those that dwell below to judge me leniently as forced to yield will hearken to our rulers over a zeal that still will meddle little wisdom shows an i will not ask thee nor though thou shouldst wish to do it shouldst thou join with my consent do what thou wilt i go to bury him and good it were in doing this to die loved i shall be with him whom i have loved guilty of holiest crime more time is mine in which to share the favour of the dead than that of those who live for i shall rest for ever there but thou if thus thou please count as dishonoured what the gods approve is i do them no dishonour but i find myself too weak to war against the state an make what excuse thou wilt i go to rear a grave above the brother whom i love is ah wretched me how much i fear for thee an fear not for me thine own fate raise safety ism at any rate disclose this deed to none keep it close hidden i will hide it too an speak out i bid thee silent thou wilt be more hateful to me if thou fail to tell my deed to all men is fiery is thy mood although thy deeds the very blood might chill antigone i know i please the souls i ought to please ism yes if thou canst thou seek'st the impossible antig when strength shall fail me then i'll cease to strive ism we should not hunt the impossible at all antigone if thou speak thus my hatred wilt thou gain and rightly wilt be hated of the dead leave me and my ill counsel to endure this dreadful doom i shall not suffer aught so evil as a death dishonourable is go then if so thou wilt of this be sure wild as thou art thy friends must love thee still exeunt enter chorus of theban elders strophe i chorus o light of yon bright sun fairest of all that ever shone on thebes thebes with her seven high gates thou didst appear that day eye of the golden dawn o'er dyrkies streams advancing driving with quickened curb in haste of headlong flight the warrior who in panoply of proof from argos came with shield of glittering white whom palinikes brought roused by the strife of tongues against our fatherland as eagle shrieking shrill he hovered o'er our land with snow-white wing bedecked begirt with myriad arms and flowing horsehair crests antistrophe i he stood above our towers encircling with his spears all blood bestained the portals of our gates he went before he filled his jaw with blood of men ere the pine-fed hephaestus had seized our crown of towers so loud the battle din that ares love was raised around his rear a conflict hard e'en for his dragon foe for breath of haughty speech zeus hateth evermore and seeing them advance with mighty rushing stream and clang of golden arms with brandished fire he hurls one who rushed eagerly from topmost battlement to shout out victory strophe too crashing to earth he fell down smitten with his torch who came with madman's haste drunken with frenzied soul and swept o'er us with blasts the whirlwind blasts of hate thus on one side they fare and ares great like war-horse in his strength smiting now here now there brought each his several fate for seven chief warriors at the seven gates met equals with equals matched to zeus the lord of war left tribute arms of bronze all but the hateful ones who from one father and one mother sprung stood wielding hand to hand their two victorious spears and had their doom of death as common lot

This is the story of the one.

Grainger.

For the ones who get it done.

procrean prate about thinking but unless ye shout to me the doers ye shall say ere long that scoundrel gains still work their punishment guard god's send we find him should we find him not as well may be for this must chance decide ye will not see me coming here again for now being safe beyond all hope of mine beyond all thought i owe the gods much thanks strophe i chorus many the forms of life wondrous and strange to see but nought than man appears more wondrous and more strange he with the wintry gales o'er the white foaming sea mid wild waves surging round wendeth his way across earth of all gods from ancient days the first unworn and undecayed he with his ploughs that travel o'er and o'er furrowing with horse and mule wears ever year by year anti strophe i the thoughtless tribe of birds the beasts that roam the fields the brood in sea-depths born he takes them all in nets knotted in snaring mesh man wonderful in skill and by his subtle arts he holds in sway the beasts that roam the fields or tread the mountain's height and brings the binding yoke upon the neck of horse with shaggy mane or bull on mountain crest untameable in strength strophe too and speech and thought as swift as wind and tempered mood for higher life of states these he has learnt and how to flee o'er the clear cold of frost unkind or darts of storm and shower man all providing unprovided he meeteth no chance the coming days may bring only from hades still he fails to find escape though skill of art may teach him how to flee from depths of failed disease incurable antistrophe too so gifted with a wondrous might above all fancies dreams with skill to plan now unto evil now to good he turns while holding fast the laws his country's sacred rites that rest upon the oath of gods on high high in the state and outlaw from the state when loving in his pride the thing that is not good ne'er may he share my hearth nor yet my thoughts who worketh deeds of evil like to this enter guards bringing in antigone as to this portent which the gods have sent i stand in doubt can i who know her say that this is not the maid antigone o wretched one of wretched father born thou child of oedipus what means this surely tis not that they bring thee as a rebel gainst the king's decree and taken in the folly of thine act guard yes she it was by whom the deed was done we found her burying where is creon pray chorus back from his palace comes he just in time enter creon creon what chance is this with which my coming fits guard men o my king should pledge themselves to naught for cool reflection makes their purpose void i surely thought i should be slow to come here cowed by thy threats which then fell thick on me but now persuaded by the sweet delight which comes unlooked for and beyond our hopes i come although i swore the contrary bringing this maiden whom in act we found decking the grave no need for lots was now the prize was mine and not another man's and now o king take her and as thou wilt judge and convict her i can claim a right to wash my hands of all this troublous coil creon how and where was it that ye seized and brought her guard she was an act of burying thou knowest all creon dost know and rightly speak the tale thou tellest guard i saw her burying that selfsame corpse thou badest us not to bury speak i clear creon how was she seen and taken in the act guard the matter passed as follows when we came with all those dreadful threats of thine upon us sweeping away the dust which lightly spread covered the corpse and laying stripped and bare the tainted carcase on the hill we sat to windward shunning the infected air each stirring up his fellow with strong words if any shirked his duty this went on some time until the glowing orb of day stood in mid-heaven and the scorching heat fell on us then a sudden whirlwind rose a scourge from heaven raising squalls on earth and filled the plain the leafage stripping bare of all the forest and the air's vast space was thick and troubled and we closed our eyes until the plague the gods had sent was past and when it's ceased a weary time being gone the girl is seen and with a bitter cry shrill as a bird's when it beholds its nest all emptied of its infant brood she wails thus she when she beholds the corpse all stripped groaned loud with many moanings and she called fierce curses down on those who did the deed and in her hand she brings some fine dry dust and from a vase of bronze well wrought upraised she pours the three libations o'er the dead and we beholding give her chase forthwith and run her down not terrified at us and then we charged her with a former deed as well as this and nothing she denied but this to me both bitter is and sweet for to escape one's self from ill is sweet but to bring friends to trouble this is hard and painful yet my nature bids me count above all these things safety for myself Creon to Antigone.

Thou, then? Yes, thou, who bent'st thy face to earth? Confess'st thou, or dost deny the deed? Antigone.

at 6 p.m. on WVIK Classical.

Music of the Mexican composer Carlos Chavez now, Symphony No. 1, Sinfonia de Antigona, which was reworked from some incidental music he wrote for an adaptation of Sophocles' play Antigona.

Here is the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Eduardo Mata. . . . . .

Thank you.

Thank you.

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Sinfonia No. 1, Sinfonia de Antigona by Carlos Chavez.

Eduardo Mata led the London Symphony Orchestra.

There's this, um, the first is like this, what do you call zitlish kite? This idea of like this, someone's just translated ethical substance, but it's like this idea that the Greeks saw values as something kind of immediate in the world.

It's a really great analysis of Antigone in there by Sophocles, the, the, the Greek tragedy.

Um, There's this brief discussion of the Roman Empire, kind of a flyover stage.

And then we get to this culture of the Enlightenment in this section called culture.

It's sitting on my bedside.

But Antigone, it's Antigone.

Oh, okay.

So they're not written.

You know, spoilers, I guess, for this 2,500-year-old play.

That's just about to get around to it.

So Antigone is the first that Socrates wrote in his career, but it takes place chronologically at the end of them.

So it's about Antigone, and she wants to bury her brother to give him honors.