Antigone

Greek Drama--Antigone--Ode 4 Scenes 4, 5, Paean, and Exodus

Mount Olympus, Greece, elevation 9570 feet http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/greece/images/mt-olympus-01-500.jpg

Read Scene 4, Ode 4, Scene 5, Paean, and Exodus As imprisionment and death draw near, Antigone feels deserving of pity. The Chorus is moved but points out that Antigone made a conscious choice to bury Polineices. Later, Antigone says she is ready to die; in death she will see her brothers and family again, and perhaps be vindicated by the gods; she prays for Kreon's equal punishment. Kreon continues to be cold and impatient, still claiming that his "hands are clean" as Antigone is taken away. Later the blind seer Teiresias tells Kreon of disturbing prophecies and begs Kreon to amend his errors; Kreon accuses Teiresias of inventing prophecies for gold. Teiresias warns that Kreon will suffer for imprisioning Antigone and leaving Polyneices unburied. The Choragos urges Kreon to undo both acts, and the contrite king rushes to appease the gods. Kreon's wife, Eurydice, is most gravely affected by the news of Antigone and Haimon. The play's climax and resolution come in the Exodus. Antigone Film: To view Scene 4 through the end, click on the following link: Antigone Part 3.

After reading, go to Blackboard Assessments and take the Antigone_scenes4_5_paean_exodos Quiz . Good luck! Submit results on the Antigone Honors Lesson 3 Assignment Sheet.

Discussion Board Assignment--Catharsis: According to Aristotle, the function of tragedy is to arouse pity and fear in the audience so that we may be purged, or cleansed, of these unsettling emotions.  Pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, and fear by the misfortune of a man/woman like ourselves facing such daunting choices and/or circumstances. Aristotle’s term for this emotional purging is the Greek word catharsis. Although no one is exactly sure what Aristotle meant by catharsis, it seems clear that he was referring to that strangely pleasurable sense of emotional release we experience after watching a great tragedy. For some reason, we usually feel exhilarated, not depressed, at the end.  Explain how a reader might experience a "strangely pleasureable sense of emotional release" at the end of Antigone. Do consider that tragedy like all art, is IMITATIVE (marked by imitation); in other words, art mimics life, and no one actually dies during a performance of Antigone. So, what is it about Antigone's fake death that produces such an effect, a catharsis, in the reader? Copy and paste response from the discussion board to the Antigone Honors Lesson 3 Assignment Sheet.

NEXT: Antigone: Lesson 3 Writing

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