Antigone Article 12

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Guide to Sophocles)

ANTIGONECreon's First Speech and the

Reply of the Chorus

A Student Edition with Commentary,

Grammatical Notes, & Vocabulary (161- 2 14 J

LoNDON AND AMSTERDAM

Fejfer & Simons, Inc.

CARBONDALE AND EDWARDSVILLE

iNTRODUCTION

.l\. ITER THE IRONICALLY Joyful entrance of the Cho . singing and

dancing their hymn to Dionvsos celebrating the king's victory over

the seven Argive invaders and especially over the d ea d traitor

Polymces, the king enters to give his inaugural address to the elders.

Th e audience immediately perceives that his priorities differ from

those of his niece : the./?Q1i.: and not ll!liJiE..is his guiding principle.

Sti ll , in one important respect, there seems to be a family resemblance: he, like she, radiates self-confidence or perhaps arrogance.

It IS d if fi cu lt at first to determine which of the two qualities It

IS.

e. 0(; We shall note here some of the ways C:.'s style reveals the

IJrfU'S man In this firs t speech and sha ll try to ascertain how the Athenian

~ , o.rt-, audience would : e a ~ t to his s:ated. principles.

..yhIS There is one significant stylistic linkage between uncle and ruece

and that is in their mutual penchant for the first person pronoun.

After the bond between the sisters is en t midway through the

Prologue, An. discards the duals and s eaks with a predominating

ego. The sly le is h ighly irregular for a woman, let a lone so young

f"rn 31

O'BRIEN

Sam'"- 6;b. Q.w-d0. s, -f" r Ar+ io , Ll, I 3)

It.{

Southern Illinois Uniuersity Press

JOAN V.

,4,-hc\e.. )L



Guide /0 Sophocles' ANTIGONE /•

Creon '.< First Speech and the Reply uf the Chorus

a girl, and it g-IVCS the appearance of arrogance. The Icing's initial when she advised Ism, to proceed on her course and keep her ship

sratcmcru, on the other hand, displays appropriate pietv: tlmn, Ihe ):.S"""stralght (83). Such counsel in effect consigned the girl to Cr.'s ship.

gnds, a rc the first subject I Iii2). ! lut thcy are only the grammatical Although the ship of state is Cr.'s favorite figure' and straight

subject, one s""n realizes: the real suhject is egl) (164) and remains sailing his goal (see "Vocabulary," chap.B, underorlhoJ and related

so throughollt. Sjucc the k i n ~ ' s professed purpose is to lay down words), the figure has a much more pregnant usage in the play

general norms for his rule, this emphasis on the first person requires S ...as a whole. ]n the musings of the Cha., the sea is a constant symbol

some manipulauon. Hc consistent ly manipulates the language so 0Wf'J both of man's resourcefulness ancl of the limIts of that re-

as to stress the fact that the remarks are his and to subordinate sourcefulness ('360 n.). Man's dar ing ma kes h im victorious over

thc Iact thaI they arc p rinc ip les wor thy of consideration (19 1 , the sea (334 ff.), bu t the swelling sea driven by, the Thracian winds20 7- 10 ) . T'lus ma nj pu lation verges 00 the blasphemous at one point creates chaos, churrung up t he d ar k mud from the ocean ADO!".

1184) when the gramrna ticul structure of the sentcnce subordinates engul fing Innocent and guilty alikc (586-92). Such is the destructive

Zeus 10 him. The focus thus split between the king's principle power of aii, "disaster," as the Cho. reminds us in thc foreboding

and hIS ego results In a somewhat confused presentaucn of his rhythms of the second stasirnon." In addi tion, the you th fu l Hae .

rules of conduct. Yet, th e initial confusion seems understandable \{\:l5and the aRcd seer T'iresla<: both try 10 vain to warn the king tha t

In a ncw long anxious to establish hIS authority. ' the sustained ~ o f ~ - r . hIS narrow conception of naVigation will be lata: only the flexible

pontifical tone, however , is inclined to remind the thoughtful lis-

't\,'pilot will survive (710-18; cl. 994). In the unifying Image at the

tencr of An.'s earlier IIlsinuation about the king's autocratic bent cnd of the play, the king f inal ly cnes out: "Oh, inexorable harbor

fill· sc. Hades, why, oh why, have you destroyed me now?" !I 284-85 . rOil'In other respects, Cr.'s style differs sharply from that of his A and n.). In the l ight o f t ha t f inal goal, the terrible of Cr. 's) •

niece. Th e "Ionl( rolling sentences, thc weighty rhythms, the gran- aphorism in thIS speech IS fully revealed: "One cannot fully know

diloquern usc of plurals show power conscious of itself." j But there \ the nature, spIrit, and Judgment of a ma n until he proves hImself

are other revealing aspecls of his s tyle: his addiction to sententious C) ,in the administ ra tion of the laws" (175-77). I t is only In the l ight

statements of principle, valid enough in themselves, bu t rigidly, ! ( t l ~ of that final goal that one .,ercelves just how superficial the similari-

even ruthlesslv applied to the ca se of hIS nephew; and his pompous I ties between unele and nicce were: her ap.,arent arrogance In the

generalities ( 17 B, 1 82 ) 209) that put him on a level with the platitu- \ I Prologue masks a deep conviction that her cause is just; his self

di nous R u a r ~ , 10 the n e ~ t scene." Such a.presentatlon may init ial ly x): c , confidence rests onl1' on th e tenuous strength of his (see

dazzle the eho. and I In ., r" s the audIence, but thet h o u g h t f u l _ l I l n ~ \

348 n.).IlStencr gradllally perceIves that t he long IS attempting to cover r l\leS So much for the style of the man. What about the substance

up the baSIC IJ1sccuntics of "a weak man, used In taking second. t..c-vfJ of his argument? Ho w would the Athenian audience react to Cr.ts

plac".n Thebes."" (rICp\a.ce. .Cl ".wit-\" ( . ' ;+ ' b 0 o t i l ' > ~ ) I\'IS i nomos, his law and guiding principle, that the s tr aigh t sai ling of

!-lIS main means 01 concealing thiS l ~ l s e c u r ~ t y IS the in:age _he . \1f\lJ the polis transcends all personal ~ o n s i d e : ~ t 1 o n (T78 ff.)? It w ~ s : of

proJects of Illmsclf as the helmsman stralghtcllIng aocl redIrecting 50.1 !/or course, a commonplace of Athenian political thought that friend-

the shIp of state. He has personally steadicd the storm-tossed ship fIIe;l-o.P. ship and family love can only exi st in a healthy polis. Indeed, Cr.'s

and can con ta in any fu tu rc tempests by hIS straight sailing. His words here find an echo in Thucydides' account of Pericles' famous

use of the nautIcal metaphor IS the first sustained figure 111 thc Funeral Orat ion (Thucvdides 2. 60); an d t he king in Euripides'

play and it is.clear that his goal is straight and upright navigation \ . e Medea (written a decade later ) almost agrees with Cr.-but with

of the-._state (163-90), a goal that .he intends to achieve at any As D.OII1C. one Important reservation: his children mean more to him than

~ ( b h h - 6 7 ) · An. , we bcgln to realize, knew her unc le qui te well -tv j..>"", the state (Medea 329). We know, too, that Dernosrhenes, a century

3233



Cuuie to Salihue/cs' ANTtGONE / Creon's First Speech and the RclJiy q! the Chm ,

clean corpus: HOO no t let your violent hatred blind you to trample

justice under fool. He was my most bit ter enemy .. yet you

would be unjust if you dishonor him. For you would not wrong

him bu t the laws of the gods (taus thriin lIomaus)."

Th e concern of Odysseus here (Ajax 1332 H.) and the concern

that the poet makes the audience feci throughout the An. i \ the corpse'::; legal rights so much as out rage a t the degrading,

i'f'r,e,fI'(!,' inhumane tre atm ent of th e dead (see 29-30, 199 206, 410 t z,

: 697-98, 1016-22, 1039 44, 1080-83, 1198). So, although Cr., t he

king. had responsibilities different from those of Cr., the nearest

male relative to the deceased, thiS first speech reveals Cr. t he king

RimpervtOu::; to the dutie!'i of Cr. t ~ kinsman. 1he king's conscious

\rtJ'c\,JS

repetition of , the idea of « c Q m ~ . 6 _ ? blood," t w i c ~ in a f e lines

( ) ~ o " (198- 201) points to a fundamental Irony 10 hiS pOSItIOn: he IS both

\.:. ,...," aware of Polynlces' neglect of hIS kin and IS blindly repeatlOg

e.,.f'" Polynice:->l pattern. This insensitivity to human concerns, especially

to blood concerns, culminates in the episode with his son whose

very name denotes "Blood" (see 658 n.). But in thi s first speechth e rejection of blood-rights is only implied. Th e audience would

see a rigidity ou t of step with the concern for burial that impelled

the Athenians at Marathon to bury the Pers ian enemy (Pausamas

t • :J2.5); and they would not , to ou r knowledge, recall any Athenian

precedent for such defamation of the t rai tor 's corpse (the closest

parallel in Hellenic records is denial of burial Within Aurea, in

Xenophon Hellauca i . 7. 22).

- " ,' St il l, the only sign of disapproval th e Cho. registers IS contained

thor" s ~ . the t iny partIcles PO" ge, "1 su prose . " Wi th these monosyllables,

-c 6 \ > ~ ~ r t h e y heSitantly suggest their reluctance, while acknowledging thevJ'IP- king's power (kratas) to carry ou t hiS ruthless decree: "I t IS withm

your /Jower, I suppose (fIOU gel, to legislate for us all, both hying

and dead" (213-14). The t imid Cho. lacks the courage to say more.

Th e untranslatable gc by t hr ow ing t he empha si s on the word

"power" is thei r pathettc suggestion that power does not make

it right.

Thus An.ts passion and rigid adherence to he r beliefs in the

Prologue is fol lowed by the authoritative address of the new king

With its own principles rigidly and sententiously presented. Soon

the two antagon is ts will meet in heated confrontation (441 ff.).

.4

la ter, found this whole speech cxcmpl arv of pruper official conduct

since he quoted it as a corrective against Acschincs."

Thus the kll lg's prindplc S('Cn1:i theoretically sound. It is in

his rigid application of t he theory to the s tink ing corpse of his

nephcw that thc playwright Icads the audience to quest ion the

regal position. Th e Athenians admired the flexibility of Pericles!

p<llitical performance. Cr.'s rigidity and bruta li ty foreshadow the

tactics of Pericles' Sll(TCSSOr Clean who "had a vulgar mind, acute

in a second-rate manner, wn hout Intelligence or humanity.

It was not Ills [Joli('), that wa s dangerous it wa s his character.

In s uch hands any policy would ~ wrong." 7 A few facts

from Athenian political hl!llor , its burial customs and th e oet's

ear ler p <IV, tlC 1./f1X. will shed light on the judgment SORh. was

Icading the audicncc to make . : S",phoC-'e.s' tJ,. J2..vn e.\ \. First of all, Soph. and his audience were breathing the clear

\ ~ ~ L ( } . - ) a i r of tree Athens at the pinnacle of her civilization after their

~ 1 \(,[).,ov older brothcrs had died at Marathon to defend the freedom of

po..v·J the i ndivtdua l ag a mst th e tyranny of the Invading forces of the

Pcrsian despot. At this ln-n-f moment 111 Athenian history, there

was a dialectical tC'O!'iiOI1 between mclividu al and cornmuu nv , wu h

the scale tlppl11g toward the' i ndivrdual. Although Pericles was to

urge the Athenians to have a love nffair with the ir city (Thucydidcs

2. 4:l. f) and although tlus love demanded g-reat sacrifice, the very

base of the love affair was the respect for the r i , ~ h t s of the mdividual.

Such was no! the case in coutem porar)"Sparta where CI".'::; pr i nci ples

~ ( ) ~ a n d netruns would have parallels in political pracucc." Pcrhap::;

'i:o\. only at Athcn::; a nd onl y dunng tht" Periclean age CQuid the Au

().. ' ~ I t . - \YI have bcen writ ten. Th e legend that Soph. d ied rehea rs ing the All."

-1",6 ' 0 \ ~

may, if true, reflect his tragic real izat ion that the creative tension'r\,s I between IJflhf and person had already gone slack In the forty Inter-

verung years.

Soph.ts own concern for the individual's religious anel human Q...

nght of burial was not nrw In 4-42 or 441 when he wrote this , - \ ' \ ~ ~play. In the las: scene or his earlier Ajax, Odysseus, bitter enemy "::,S ~ \YI

01 the dead AJaX, eloquently rejects the decision of the sceptered ~ Atrcidac to expose Ajax' s body as "rood fur the sea-birds ." His ~ ' c Y ! : " - /rebuttal to their decision has long been recognized as the best . ~ t .commentary on the central act of the All. anywhere in the Sopho-\pv'1 . \

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Antigone Article 12