Journal #12- Antigone

I think the most thought-provoking conflict Anouilh presents is the internal conflict of Creon, that being loyalty to family and loyalty to power. In a sense, Creon is caught in a situation in which by hurting his family, his power will be undermined and by helping his family his power will be undermined. This situation comes about because by killing Antigone, he ends up looking bad as a leader, but by allowing her to live (which is the option he prefers), he undermines his power because he is not standing up to opposition against his authority. This is why he formulates the plan to have Antigone be quiet and have her marry his son. Whereas, when Antigone chooses to die, she ends up having more power over Creon because he will end up looking like the dictator-type leader he is. However, there can be some level of sympathy for Creon. It is understandable that he wants to keep his power and stand up against any opposition, because he says that it is necessary for the people of Thebes's protection and security of self. In any case, both characters loose a lot of power, because either Antigone loses her life or her dignity and in any situation Creon loses his dignity. Anouilh seems to be doing this for a few reasons. The main reason is to show the power struggle in the truest sense of a tragedy. In order for a play to be categorized as such, there needs to be not only a downfall for the main character, but also an unavoidable downfall paired with both sides losing out on gaining the greatest possible outcome. The other main reason why I see Anouilh doing this is because of the political ties the play has. I think that he has a critical viewpoint of WWII and sees the reasoning for why the Axis Powers didn't want to end their occupation in France and that losing for them would also mean great sacrifices. And this would be especially hard for the Vichy government, because they have to kill people of their own kind (the French) in order to maintain power in the government.