Sử Tiến
30-07-2007, 08:57
Một chút hoài niệm khi ngón tay lật lại từng trang sách của vở kịch nàng Antigone. Một chút bồi hồi đánh dấu một thời tôi đã từng mê say thần thoại Hy Lạp.
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1. Just merely my personal opinion on the concept of authority in Antigone
Creon is the main character standing for the concept authority in "Antigone".
When Oedipus was no longer ruling the country, it was Creon who held the power.
He proved to have a firm characteristic when it came to defending the nation against its enemy. He was right to order the exposure of the corpse of the man who fought against him.
However, this firm characteristic turned rude when his decree not to bury Polynice's corpse was particularly aimed at the person who had blood relationship with his "enemy" despite this one would become his son's bride, and then sentenced the woman who violated his decree to death. He displayed a more cruel personality when refusing his son's appeal for the mercy of the future bride. He then confused full authority to a king's law, turned himself as a tyrant and retained his power as force. His pride led him too far beyond the limit of his authority. Further than that was the accusation that Tiresias the prophet had been bribed.
Creon was typical when he went blind with the power in his hand.
2. When I first finished reading this play, my question was: "Should we call this play Creon, not Antigone?" Now I know the answer.
Antigone was the last member of a doomed family. She acted as a hero when defending her blood relationship in spite that she knew very clearly the outcome of her defiance to the king. However, if you consider the sorrow she suffered, you won't be surprised by her act. For a woman who had buried almost all the members in her family, life was hardly worth living. Her motive was then purely personal and her role in the play was very monotonous.
But Creon was another character, very different due to conflict between the protagonists as a real dilemma: his power at first, then his cruelty, and finally his tyranny, in addition his sorrow in front of the corpses of his wife and his son. A lot of different sentiments condensed in this character throughout the play.
However, looking from the perspective of bringing out in relief the historic site of the play, "Antigone" is the tittle of better choice.
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(*) From The 'Antigone'
Overcome -- O' bitter sweetness,
Inhabitant of the soft cheek of a girl --
The rich man and his affairs,
The fat flocks and the fields' fatness,
Mariners, rough harvesters;
Overcome Gods upon Parnassus;
Overcome the Empyrean; hurl
Heaven and Earth out of their places,
That in the Same calamity
Brother and brother, friend and friend,
Family and family,
City and city may contend,
By that great glory driven wild.
Pray I will and sing I must,
And yet I weep -- Oedipus' child
Descends into the loveless dust.
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
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1. Just merely my personal opinion on the concept of authority in Antigone
Creon is the main character standing for the concept authority in "Antigone".
When Oedipus was no longer ruling the country, it was Creon who held the power.
He proved to have a firm characteristic when it came to defending the nation against its enemy. He was right to order the exposure of the corpse of the man who fought against him.
However, this firm characteristic turned rude when his decree not to bury Polynice's corpse was particularly aimed at the person who had blood relationship with his "enemy" despite this one would become his son's bride, and then sentenced the woman who violated his decree to death. He displayed a more cruel personality when refusing his son's appeal for the mercy of the future bride. He then confused full authority to a king's law, turned himself as a tyrant and retained his power as force. His pride led him too far beyond the limit of his authority. Further than that was the accusation that Tiresias the prophet had been bribed.
Creon was typical when he went blind with the power in his hand.
2. When I first finished reading this play, my question was: "Should we call this play Creon, not Antigone?" Now I know the answer.
Antigone was the last member of a doomed family. She acted as a hero when defending her blood relationship in spite that she knew very clearly the outcome of her defiance to the king. However, if you consider the sorrow she suffered, you won't be surprised by her act. For a woman who had buried almost all the members in her family, life was hardly worth living. Her motive was then purely personal and her role in the play was very monotonous.
But Creon was another character, very different due to conflict between the protagonists as a real dilemma: his power at first, then his cruelty, and finally his tyranny, in addition his sorrow in front of the corpses of his wife and his son. A lot of different sentiments condensed in this character throughout the play.
However, looking from the perspective of bringing out in relief the historic site of the play, "Antigone" is the tittle of better choice.
-------------------------
(*) From The 'Antigone'
Overcome -- O' bitter sweetness,
Inhabitant of the soft cheek of a girl --
The rich man and his affairs,
The fat flocks and the fields' fatness,
Mariners, rough harvesters;
Overcome Gods upon Parnassus;
Overcome the Empyrean; hurl
Heaven and Earth out of their places,
That in the Same calamity
Brother and brother, friend and friend,
Family and family,
City and city may contend,
By that great glory driven wild.
Pray I will and sing I must,
And yet I weep -- Oedipus' child
Descends into the loveless dust.
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)