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.

Journal #11- Antigone

In the first part of the play, the chorus was there to give background to the story so that the audience could understand what Anouilh was going to do plot-wise. Now, this has shifted to the chorus being used for Anouilh's expression of his philosophy on plays. This can be shown in the style of the author's writing. In the intro, the chorus has more action-oriented sentences whereas on page 23, Anouilh highlights, "That is what is so convenient in tragedy. The least little turn of the wrist will do the job".  Anouilh's ideal of tragedy is shown in the second part because he talks not only about tragedy, but he speaks of it in this poetic, flowery way. The chorus helps highlight the more tragic aspects of the play because it tells of what tragedy is. The author pens that "he who kills is as innocent as he who gets killed: it's all a matter of what part you are playing" (24), which to me means that the most tragic thing about a tragedy isn't just that it's sad, but that those who kill still have merit and reason to do so. This I think foreshadows how we eventually will feel about Creon. Yes, he is cruel towards his nephew when he doesn't give Polynices a proper burial, but then again we must remember that he must try to main the power that he has fought for and can't be seen as being weak towards Polynices and his bringing in foreign armies to defeat Eteocles. Overall, the chorus is used for Anouilh's advantage to show his philosophical viewpoint in this scene.

Journal #10- Antigone

In the days before Antigone is caught sneaking out, the following occurs: Polynices and Eteocles have died at the hands of each other because the brothers fought over rule of Thebes. Since Eteocles did not live up to his word that he'd give the rule over to Polynices after one year, Polynices brought in foreign armies in order to get his power back. Now, Creon is king and he won't let Polynices have a proper burial because of his betrayal. Also, Antigone has been proposed to by Creon's son Haemon. Also, the very night before the scene with the nurse, Antigone has gone out an buried her brother. I think that this array Anouilh presents for the audience an interesting viewpoint of the play. First off, this is all told by the Chorus. I feel that Anouilh decides to do this because he wants to stay true to the Greek play writing tradition, but this also allows him to not have to retell the story in terms of having the players act out the previous events (which would take an enormous amount of time). Also, with complex stories such as this one, it is easier to just come out and tell what's happening to get to the meat of the story rather than dispersing it out.   One of the reasons why great authors of tragedy come out from the beginning about a character's death or downfall is that the audience isn't anticipating what is going to happen to a character and misread the plot line, but instead look at the details of the play to be able to understand its intricacies. In novels, it is usually ok to disperse back story throughout the book, but it is harder to do that in terms of plays.  It was only after reading the play a few times that I realized the chronology of events in a somewhat uniform matter. I think that Anouilh may also be showing how story telling is often hard to do in terms of sequences and actions because usually more than one event is going on. Finally, I believe that the play is trying to show confusion when showing the truth of the matter, because all too often how the truth comes out of a faulty human memory shows how the truth is blurred a bit from one perspective.

Topic Sentence

After discussing the deaths of her son and husband, Mother talks about females and objects associated with females in order to comfort herself with the peaceful conception she has of them.

Journal #9- Blood Wedding

The 3 major themes that I see in Blood Wedding are as follows:

1. Control/ Power
The number one character that I see portraying this theme is the mother. She lost control over her ability to keep her husband and son alive and henceforth she wants control over her son the groom. She also treats his marriage as a business transaction in order to gain what she wants. Also, the father seems to want control over his daughter and realizes that he does not have this power when she runs off with Leonardo and he believes that his daughter could not do so.

2.Where one's true allegiance lies
The bride admits at the end of the play that she felt the groom was the best man for her, however she  runs off with Leonardo because she is so entranced by him. Also, the mother is constantly questioning if the daughter is a good, loyal woman even from the first scene. Leonardo's wife also seems to show that she questions her husband's true faithfulness to her because of her awkward transitions in Act 1 Scene 2 where she seems to know that Leonardo is up to something but isn't questioning it.

3. Gender roles
It seems that Lorca is heavily criticizing stereotypical gender roles because of how these roles end up hurting the characters in the play. The mother tries to tell her son that he needs to be a true man with his wife and tries to encourage strict female conduct with the bride, however this constraint ultimately leads to the bride's escape with Leonardo. Also, the wife is trapped by her domestic domain and eventually loses her husband. The mother may be considered a good wife because she has this reverence for her husband and about how he was an amazing man, but this doesn't allow her to break free and move on with her life.

Journal #8- Blood Wedding

The set changes from a supposedly happy wedding scene with some drama, to that of an eerie and intense scene in the woods. I think that Lorca could be using this for two reasons. First off, in terms of plot this happens because it shows the contrast between the ideal wedding and the increasing intensity between that will lead up to the final scene where you find out the lovers have killed each other. But I also see the woods as a place for Lorca to show how natural elements- such as innate attraction and death- come to play in a real world unfettered by societal standards. This gives the atmospheric shift from the facade of happiness to a place where the Bride and Leonardo can show how they both truly feel naturally, while still building up the intensity of the play. Also, I see that what comes along with the woods (aka the woodcutters, moon and beggar woman) are better represented in the woods than at the scene of the wedding. Henceforth, these more dramatic characters give better light to what happens to people when put in their natural element. Overall, this atmosphere (especially at the end) gives way for the reader to understand how the author highlights the immensity of the killings at the end of the act.

Journal #7 Blood Wedding

The first character that I see being very miserable is the mother. She is miserable not only because of her husband and son's deaths, but because her new daughter in law has ran off with Leonardo, of the Felix family who killed her loved ones. Expresses this anger by violent break outs where she talks about how knives and men are bad, and instead look towards the future of having female grandchild has her coping mechanism for dealing with this stress. I think one of the biggest reasons why she is miserable is because she has no control over her life and the way she wants to live it because so many people have interfered with her pursuit of happiness. The father is also miserable because he wants grandsons to take care of his land and is very excited when his daughter gets married because he wants her to have many kids. However, he becomes miserable when she runs away with Leonardo because his dream will never come true now that this has occurred. He expresses this in a state of denial, because at first he cannot believe that his daughter could do such a thing as run away from her husband. The bride is also miserable because she is forced into a marriage she does not want to be in. She expresses this with her dislike of the wedding and her emotion-less feel towards her husband. The only way that she can escape this is through follow Leonardo's charm and being with him instead of her husband. Finally, the wife is also miserable because her husband has run off. It's obvious that she's frustrated because the bride is another woman, but I also think that there is a deeper context. Leonardo runs off with a rich woman who is the wife's cousin- I think that can hit her hard because she probably feels worthless because of her husband's infidelity because she is not this young, rich woman. And to add more fuel to the fire, she is also the mother of his child and is pregnant with another baby. All of this added up? I'd probably be frustrated as well! It is clear as to why all of these above characters are definitely miserable.