Antigone Article 09

~1"'-:O--

I\OBERT FLi\CELIERE

Sophoeies', CharaClerl(a,ion . ~'----"~----Jfter his death). Une of his sJtyr plays. The Sleu,h,. lias also survived

a very imuilutcd funn. The subjects of these plays, like those of Aeschylus, are taken from the cycle of Troy (A;a~;J Electra and Phi/oeletes), and t1J~' Theban cycle (Anligone. Oedipus rhe King, Oedipus at Colon01); tu wluch Sophocles added another, the JPornen of Tracais; from the Heracles cycle. None of Ius tragedies was inspired by contemporar v military or poliucal events, like Aeschylus' Persae, and he scarcely alludes to contemporary events, as Euripides WJS fond of doing. At the very most it might be said that when Theseus, at the end of Oc!{/ipus at Colonos, welcomes Oedipus with the pity due [Q his misfortunes. he is In a sense staking a claim, on behalf of Athens to the grauiud« of the Thuban enemy: Oedipus promises thur his body, burred III Auica, will protl~L:t the country 'from the ravages of the children of Cadmus. Now. ,II t111,~ 1I1IH,: whr-n lhe ;lj',('d canh", lllill I~ the sons Sophodes WliS wdllng 1I11~ play, Thebt:s was t.he biftt:rc:;t t:llt:!l\Y uf tile Atbenii.llls. - The innovations that Sophocles Introduced into tile an of trae;cdy were less important than those of Aeschylus. It IS said that it was he who first used a third actor, the (r:'lagonis!, and we J\JVC alr'.';ldy seen how Aeschylus hasreued to imitate him in this in die Ort'nl'ltl: he broke away definitively from the connected rerralogy; and Ia::itly, wllile climlnlshlnt; tilt' relative importance of the lyrics slln~ Ly tile Chorus, he increased die size of the latter [rom twelve to fiftel.:n III

A LITERARY HISTORY OF

GREECE

or

Tramiaud by OOtJGL.A3 GARMAN

singers,. . C " J Wh,H was l!enulllely llew in dll' plLly:. Sop)locles CI)lnp~reJ \""1111 those of Aeschylus WiiS tlH:lr gr~;;Iler ernphJsis em tlle devt'!()!)ment of

ur

indiviclui.ll c!lari.lcter. Like his great predecessor. lie believed in rhegods, bur it has been said that he was perhaps 'more devout rh.in relihlullS'. True, he makes the gods appear on the stage: Athena at the bl'gllllliJl~ of Aja.x and the deified Heracles at the end (If Phi/(!Ci~'!t!". ilut late and the ~()(Is nO\1/ leave more freedom 10 htlllli.lIl ;IC't!OIl: their 11l1lul,'11l:c tllOugh it srill m"kes irsdf felr, is more remote, tllllS Jllo\Vlllg 'sLlphLh:k'"

ALDINE PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO

19 ~1-

[(J lJY gre;uef stress on die rower of mail's will. ll iv clunurcrs arc IHi )Pll!!,l'r Silllply tll(~ IJl;lylilllll~S 01 lll(~ !~(Jds. [ikc UI(':dCS HI l!1{~ (,'1/110" I'ho{oc, whose uctiun s are determined hy Apollo. A~ prtl(essur Suc!l II;!:; said, rhey arc ' lonelier than those of Aeschylus. Oedipus, Allrl~ulle and Ajax are conceived as "acting" men; they act III accord with detinue ideas of their own-s-but in the Sophocleon context t1ll1t means

ihat they act m deliberate opposition 1HS

to

the world around rhein. 111 tl,c

.e::

'l;

~-~, -"«"<,~>..'~:

Jmrerialism and Duline

~'

f~

/

.~

/

aCIHH\

turns

'inlo

SOFA()cI~.s·

'~

;!h"

Creon, she can insist, like Socr.ucs before Iris judges: 'Fur me de.uh h a blessing', but alone Wilh the old men nr Thehes, who {(H"m till' C1Hlrus~ she lets herself go and sirq;s :1 !()l\H lIll'eno(l)' (llf lll'rsclL As she is ;11.WUt to enter the subrerr.mcan \,;1U]t, her 'brrdal chamber'

as she calls ir, her last words are:

~ The 1110st strikin 'e'om Ie of this Inlle'ible will ower is Anti 'one herse I. lety and her Jove for her brother Polyneiccs have convinced her ~ht' mus: bury his body, despite the orders of King Creon and the

Robbed of mourning tears, without friends or husband, here am I in my misery, dragged 'lIang a road that lies open before me. Alas, 110 mort! ::.1141IJ

I behold the splendour or the holy sun. None shall lament my rate, no friendly lips utter a groan (Ibid. 876-82).

certauuy or dcoUI if she is discovered. Already at ihe be"inning of the play her mind IS fmnly made up and nothing can make her change it,

~

my lows,' she makes the unforgettable reply: 'Yes,

(()f


,l!l;lll
\-\ ~13°'t£.dreum of submitting l\

,

it was 110t Zeus who decreed rhcml It WJS not Justice: seated beside

the illft'rllid gods, who imposed such laws upon men, and liule did I think your interdict so powerful that it could permit a mortal [0 break the unwritten but unswerving laws of the gods. These do not dale from today or yesterday, and no man knows when first they were decreed. Ilow cun T, d.cn, (m fl'iH (){ what may come, expose myself 10 the
~{\-'i

1)5.. .

[0

Creon to save her life. And yet Sophocles

understood that the bravest hero may tremble at the thought of death, though still confronting it courageously. Antigone arouses our pity as well as our admiration because her spirit, ~ough it cannot be broken, is still susceptible to human weakness. / lihe better to bring out her character, Sophocles cleverly contrasts her, right from the beginning of the play, with her sister Isme~ Similarly, in Electra. he introduces Chrysothemis as a foil to the heroine. Doth Chrysoihemis and Ismenc are gentle timid Rirl~ who could never rcuch the hcil:!:hts nnnincd by their sisters. 'I'hey try to dissuade them from their terrible purposes and, though admiring them

deep within their hearts, they tenderly reproach them. It is as though they said: 'It is enough that we admire you, do not ask us to imitate grief to me to sllO'cr death. But grief It would have been to allow the body o"f\ r{., you.' But neither Electra nor Antigone can conceal their scorn&' of my mother's son to lie unburied after death. For that I should have the same way, in order to reveal the character of Creon, Sophocles suffered: not for this. To you, no doubt, mine seems a madman's act. I ~.-(Q.,\'(Q~a: contrasts Yet may it prove that he's the madman who takes me for mad (Ant/gont, him, on the one hand, with his son Haimon, Antigone's betrothed who kills himself beside her dead body; and, on the other, 449 Jr.). ~~\(1'Pi\ ,):ith Teiresias, the blind s,eer, who appears in oil his spiritual n;*"'Y' For Creon: as for all ancient society, ~ in him reactions that will expose his deepest feelings; their purpose is not so much dramatic, as psychological.> hatred, I would shore' (552-3), a cry rhar anncrpares the 11I~ller This comes out very clearly in Electra. The subject of the play I B. Snell; TA~ DiJro.'lfy o/rhl Mirld, p. J09.

C

186

6

rca!i:t.c Wl13t she IS rcnollllclllP' by her ;lcccjllallce oj death. Til dl']\'

interested Sophocles, wJlil;1 he was so spl('ndidly capnhle of describing, ~WI"" :~IV(,S tI", IliI.gCd Y us t'SSCJlII
AgJltl~t Crcun, who represents civic authority, [he cswhlishcd order <.J1lr! l!lI' Wrllltn law, SIIC pils her religlolls tllld l1\otid conscience, defending the IIl;diellahlc Jiberty of tile hUBl:lll individual ill-PillS! [lie .'::lt~tc. When Creon angrily says to her: 'So, you have dared to disobey

Antigone

morality of centuries later: 'OUt I say unto you, you sl,"11 love your , , enemies. . 'yet Antigone ,is not so blinded by her purpose that she rails to

(f

VJ J,Q; ~

oe

self-destruction'. ~ This dcvcloptucnt was to CMrlcd (0 its 1()I~ical conclusion by Eunpiul'5. ~ All S" ,I,oc·!es' "0"' 's 10' 0 clear-si 'hted, firm and uns lJkeable will power, and it is this that constituted the real action or the plays, an action In which external events arc few. III Ajax the only Illlng rJl;l( acrually happens is the nero's suicide: !Jilt \~hat end

9

g.

ofAd",,",

18 7

[mpenolisrn lJnJ Dec/inc: of Adw:~

1~ the

Sophocles: Character of Oedipus

or

as tllJt Aeschylus' Chot!phoro
,the tWI)

[0

novel, in which a ruthless detective is ultimately forced to the terrible conclusion rha: he himself is the murderer he has been looking lor. Here Zlgain, the peripeteic of various kinds serve to release the reactions of Orestes, providing him with an opportunity to give expression to

pile!:>

his changes of feeling. In Oedipus at Colonos, the protagonist once again recovers the majestic gravity of the opening scenes of Oedipw the King, but it IS no longer that of the king clothed in his purple robes; it is the majesty

the forefrom, as Ius title indicates. Aeschylus had made It impossible

tor Electra and Clytemnestra to confront one another (see P: I4 2 ) ; for Sophocles, the long scene between mother and daugluer afforded an opportunity for a closer study of their characters. Iris in rhis pitiless scene II1:1t Iilecu-a most completely"'reve,J!s JH.:rself:

~ of a man who has endured misfortune, exile anel grlef, nobly and wnh _~ dignity. ~\..!

You killed my far her to become the slave of the coward you now live with . You sleep with the murderer...• In you I see his mistress, not my mother . o that Orestes might come to consummate our revenge upon you, since I, though willinp;, am not strong enough. Go then. proclaim before the world

\j

that I am ~othing but a wicked, scolding, shameless daughter. And if I am

expert in the role, it is my blood that speaks (Electra, 560 fT.). When the traveller, who is in fact Orestes, pretends to be 0 messenger ~ome to announce Orestes' ?eath, it gives Electra the opportunity first to utter her grief and tenderness in broken, heart-rending phrases, and then. when at last she learns the truth, to express her delirious iov:

10 beloved voice, so you have come to me.... I clasp you in my arms'

ou«,

1214 fT.). At the end of Electra, Sophocles does not, like Aeschylus, show us Orestes, seeing, or believing he sees, the terrible avenging spirits,

the Ennycs; and, similarly, in Ant/gone, it is the calm and noble

Teiresias w)1Q foretells the future, not the half-crazed Cassandra. Such god-sent madness aroused in him a sense of estrangement and mistrust,

Georges Meautis professes to see in Oedipus, and all the other

~ Sophoclean heroes, men predestined by fate who. , havmg passed

through the 'dark night' of suffering, attain supreme wisriorn, become, indeed, saints.' This, clearly, is an exaggeration. When, in Cedipus at Cotonos. Oedipus utters the terrible curse that is to result in his two sons fighting one another to the death (as happens in Aeschylus' Seym Against Thebes), it is Impossible to maintain that he has achieved ultimate serenity, has overcome all feelings of anger and hatred. Nevertheless, the Ancients did understand the purifying power of grief: and, as he nears hIS end, Oedipus takes on something of the prestige of holiness, which is accentuated by his mysterious d.sap-

pearance. Yet there remains a profound difference between the pagan hero or sage and the Christian saint, for, as Pascal says, the latter

~

~

Q...

_.~

.;r: '\)

belongs to 'a different order'. When the poet confronts Oedipus first with Creon arid then with Polyneices, it is in order to probe lus character to ItS depths, to reveal the violence and bitterness tl.at remain despite all the blows of fate he has endured. Deianetra, in the Women of Trachis, is of all Sophocles' protagonists the one who least understands what it is she wants, though eventually she does make up her mind to send Heracles t~e fatal tunic, But the poet cannot be said to have explored the nature ot her [ealousy

and such trrnnonal end excessive bchuviou r was beyond the compass of his art. Yet, when it comes to physical suffering of a purely hu-nan

vcry dtl'ply; J[ \l,.'JS Euripides who was to make a truly onginal study of this passion in Medea. Possibly, however, the IPomen of Tractvis

kind, which Aeschylus scarcely attempts to show on the stace he ~. b ' describes it with profound insrghr: the dying Heracles at the end of the If/omen of Trachis, or Oedipus tearing our his eyes at the end of Oedipus the King.

dramatist.

Of all Sophocles' plays, Oedipus the King is the one with the most minutely contrived and the most moving plot. Severe critics have pointed out certain improbabrlities of detail, though none that cannot be jusriJied by theatrical convention. Its theme is like that of a detective 188

was written before Sophocles had attamed his full stature as a The psychology of his secondary characters is never neglected by Sophocles. Neoptoiemos, in Philoctetes, is an attractive young man, Joyal and upright, a worthy son of the Achilles of the Iliad, hating lies 'more than the gates of hell'. Doubtless, when drawing tlus character, Sophocles had in mind the idealized figure of a young J

Georges Meauns; Sopbocle, euai sur i, hiros rragique (Albin Michel, 1957),

18 9

Jmperialism and Decline of AtholS

SopllOc/": Ai, Women Characters

"thcniun, 'handsome and good' (kalil, k''I1aIA6'), 0111 of" sense of obcdic",'c, Ncoprolcmos at first agrees to play the odious role forced upon him by Odysseus with regard to the sick and wounded hero, Philocrcres: the latter, having made 01T with the bow and arrow of J Icrnck-s, without which an Achaean victory is impossible, hils to DC

mixed ;IS rhcy are ill "allif,', where human IJ('ilil~' arc seldom wholly good or wholly Lad, Unlike Euripides, Sophocles never pOrlruys men or women in whom cowardice, meanness or egoism excludes ;JJl decent feeling, and this was why he was able [Q express the opinion (subject or so milllY examination qucsrionsl) attrihuted 10 him hy I\rI'-iIlHIc: 'I "Ill'\\! men H" 111l"V lln,~ll1 111 111"\ l~lit'iJlldn (llll\,:I" ilu-v ,It'l','

Fvcl1111all.'r', however, disl~\JS1Cd Ily all n.uun-, WJll'dll'l' ]1\ )lill\~iL'J{ ill ru olllt'l'.'i) Ids feeling of coinpasslon fur Phi]uctelcs makes him revolt and he reveals the truth to him. jH'rSllilr!j'd

rlJt'

dl'j

10

"I'!"'!'

rellJrI1

In

Troy.

(IVllil II {}dYfiWIH; ,.q~dl'd~ II'J 1i('L;JJIIIJ

-----"""'~:\~''T'I'l,h-::c;:rc;-'::'co=o;;io scarcely be a more insignificant part than that of the

or

~C"""'~ <-.0

gllard in AI/tlgo!lt!: who surprises the heroine in the act c isobcying the king', orders, und takes her before him, Neither his fear of Creon's rhrcar«, nor his deliglu when he escapes punishment, prevents him [rom feeling pity for Antigone: 511(' neve-r denied ir. Yet somehow I can't hcl p fceling both r,lad ancl ;Ir rill' ~;:l!lll' llllil': III Ill'

rid of Ihe

whole lJjJ!dnr~'l

woulrl Ill'

1,111 101 J1I1Il)', IIJi'.(IIJllltlr OIl your own folk t'J II plC'lly dilly things considered, the way! see it is, it's your own life thJt

~nrry

a !',II()d rlling l

uich .

xuu, ;.!J]

matters more

VI'I, ill Il'll11l)1,

it 1'1

SllpIIUl'I(,'i " ...]Icl

o( lllllll;m ll;lI11I'C, I)CC:IWiC

1i!IIIW~

he rcruses

l(l

1111'

purrr"y


uno

simply 'IS.l.

monster.

<;1n the rn.un, Sophocles' women characters arc much more aiive<\ and attractive thall those of Aeschylus. 1Ie could ncver lli1Yc crc;llecl. . ti,e cliaracler of Anlfj\One unleSB he had !lcen convinced thai ti,er<' ure women cnpablc tl( ~Jc;]tness iJod nqbditYi and he seems also to have felt compassion for woman's position In society, which he concci v·ed to have been the same in the heroic ~g~ JS it was in his ow;;;'\Vhen I Creon S.1Y5 to Aotigone: 'While I stllllivc , no WOOWIl shall Iav dnwn \ ~ 10 IlIC', lll~ i'i d('(j'IHl1tll~ no! uuly Ili'i kingly Ill:ljl"H~'. 1\111 :r1'.ll

~'I

) Ills hdil·j III Illalc

SllPt.'rlUrl!y.

A'nil,

Otl

lIds hSUt', I! 1-; l.:Jc~lr d\;u dlt.'

( poet is on the side of the young girl.

than anything else (Antigone, 434-40). Dcianeira bewails her unhappiness <"IS a wife: our youth ripens in ;I placr :IP;\rt~ wlurc IH'lthl'r the Ill'll! of rhc HUll, nor rain, nor winds can rnrnc I() vex us; Car from all suffering, our lives unfold in innocent clclightj until the day comes when the maiden takes the name of wife, And then she, too, must share the cares of nlglu, ~IWilYS 'In fear for her husband or her children (!POlllNI o( Tmchr'.r! 1.1-1-S0).

For Anli~l)J1C, 01) the contr;lry, it was precisely this \mything else' th~\t \\';l~ of more concern than her own life, In Sophocles' Elccrra, Clytemnestra is more complex, and therefore truer to life, tlian 'In Aeschylus' version, where she IS all cf' n piece, a rclc rulcss criminal, without scruple or remorse, III hOlh plays, howe-ver, Sill! ru.rkcs usc 01 exactly the sumc 'lr~lJln(~IlIS to jusrify lrc r crhue: r11t.:'-iacri{ieL" of I]lIJigeni;l~ and AgamcnulCJn's lnfiJtdity to herself

--

And ;lg:tlll, in dll~ lwn Il'ag(~dYI

Yet, when Sophocles shows her arrernpnng to convince Electra of the justness of her cause by appealing to her sense of feminine solidarity, lshc is clearly ill
~ This father you still weep for, orall.the

r~

V

your SISler [0

the

gods, yet

In

or

What the poet Implies is that Clytemnestra, however deplorable as a wife, may yet, as a mother, have felt a genuine affecrion [or her children, In the souls of all his characters, even of those whose behaviour it would be hard to defend, good and evil are inextricably 19°

a wonuut s;'ys:

Often, when Tthink of what our woman's nature is, I feel how small a thing we arc. . , . As soon ::IS we reach our youth and our minds begin to awake, weare sent away from home to be sold, far from the gods of our fathers, (;u [rom those who brought us into the world, to live among strangers (TAeseuJ! eel. Nauck, 151 iL).

Greeks he alone dared to sacrifice begetting her he suffered none the pain r

did who brought her fonh (Electra, 530-)).

'Jllt'SC'lIS,

sot)

~f


tile catastrophes [hat overwhelm lns heroes are of their own rnaking ,

not ordained by the gods. And their suffering is ali tlte greater in thar they arc almost always struck down at the very momenr when they believe themselves to [iave escaped the menace of fare: It is so with Oedipus Jll Oedipm the Xing, wuh Ciyremnesrra in Electra, with Creon r 9'

lrnperialisrn a.nJ Dah'lt oj Arhau

Philosophy: rlnaxagoros

~~ln Afl!i~Pnt. Tht;' sudden and co.nplere reversal of fortune. the in.>c~~

?
t,o..

o/\t.. ;5' \

~1..LntJJll'lllb ~'()IIJp::,t;', ~Ignilies

lht;' end of all their erfurls and ;;,11 tlieir hopes. Thuugh the sense of terror he evokes is perhaps nor so po\vertul <.1$ In Aeschylus, the feeling of pIty is more Intense. -< SOpIHl(Jt-'S' sryle is Jess majesuc than Aeschylus', but It is better adaptcd III 'lj~CU~510n. to the passionate interchanges that tuke place between his cbaracrers ; he does not disdam rhetoric. out his use of

discreet and confident, and he does not, as Eunpldes too often dues, abuse It. While IllS lyrics lack the abounding vigour of Aeschylus', tlH:~Y are more concentrated, and also more restrained 10 tone, ApolIonian ruther than Dionysian, Two characteristic choruses be round In the AnugufU.', In UIC {lr.:;t, which celebrates the grcatness of manktru] , o\,i!iz,Jtlun is seen, not as a gift from the gods as in Promsrh"liJ, hut .IS rill: InV('rH10Ii or m;ll1, !he CfC'HOr. ir lIot or his own dc:'liny, ill !c;!'>l iii lhe cOlllJitiUIIS fjovenlillf! his lift: Oil e.u'tlt. II IS

may

Many an: the marvels in tlus world, but none greater than that of man lumself What ether creature can cross the louring sea when the w.nds Jlld till' ~Iunm bl{JW from the south, lll:.Jkint; his WJy through tht: hollows

,l till' as the

1I11~lllY WJVl'S~ O\:!\I.:Jdl tllt: ojJl.:ll abyss. , . , Words. tlll1ll h l l t S swift wIlIJ, dreams from which crucs an: born, all these he has taught

JUI11::>cI(.. , . (t'lnugtHu, JJl IT.).

TIll.'

:>\,(\i11d IS

;l

hYlllll to the puwer or love, wluvh

Elllped\lcl~s (sec pp. 109-70) W~ one of dle two grl';l[

dL'(IJrding to ({)SIIlIC forces.

from whIch :.Ill living things ure ccnstuutcd. Luvc, () invincible Love, you who swoop down upon our flecks. and you v, IIU k",!) WJIl'l11 alert III the fn:sh checks of ~ll Is. .. , \\,I!l(.'tlll.:r J:1lunljst die: /!,llll) ur shun-lived men, then: IS none who call escape you, and your luudl I::. ellough to drive us mad... , Here, truly, it IS desire tliat rnumphs, des.ire

tll:ll IS

dt",ifl:

tll,ll IS ,WH'Jll h

AllllnldIIL'.

burn of the maiden's glance. hastening to her husband's bed, the mighnl.:'j{ laws, illI10ng the masters or the world, III\,.' ruvuu-iblc 0111.:, who mukcs spur( of l'v(!rytlllflg (lbiJ., 7~' If.).

Iliglll .II tll1~ t'lld ill' Ids long !ife. III Or!,II/IIU at CII/Of/OJ, Suphl)l'Iv~ ::'lllg$ tIll' pral:>cs of the little Attic town where he was Lorn: This

IS

whne-walled Colones, where more than anywhere else the tuneful

nl~llIln~,le dcliglllS to sing, in the depth of the green embowered volleys,

lie live> ill the dark-leaved ivy, inviolable arbour of the God, whose dense

t9

'

screen protects 111m from sun and wind alike.. ,

Here, as each morning

lm':JhS,' w.nvrcd by the heavenly dew, greilt bunches or narcissus bloom.

the :.Jnllljul' crown of tWO great goddesses, and s•.Ilron's gulden gleam. And in these p:Jrb,;is nowhere else, t1H.:' grey-gret.'ll olive grows, our children's nurse, the tree thut neither young nor old dare harm or rob (O,'JlpUS vr Cu/unus! G70rT,),

Sophocles, the friend 01' Pericles the 'Olympian', truly belonged to the generotlo""n that, developing the heritage handed down by the Mar;u!lollomac!lol. made of Athens 'the school of Greece', Like the sculprun- of Pheidias, his trJgedies have the serenely noblt: stamp of classicism, ofnn