Jake Wythers
Ms. Peifer
10 IB 5th Hour
11/26/2008
Antigone Defense Paper
Ladies and gentlemen of the court, today I am here to defend my client Antigone. She has been charged with treason on the grounds that by attempting to give her brother his deserved burial rites, she disobeyed a direct order from her uncle King Creon. She did disobey an order, but her actions were just. Every Greek deserves a burial so that he may have a peaceful afterlife. In addition, there is startling evidence that King Creon has an unhealthy obsession with power, and was not fit to make the law in the first place.
Greeks owe their allegiance first and foremost to the Gods above, and must honor their code. "But if thou wilt, be guilty of dishonouring laws which the gods have stablished in honour." (Fitzgerald 820) Antigone raises this point when asking her sister Ismene for aid. By refusing Polyneices his needed burial rites, Creon broke an important law of Olympus and condemned Polyneices' soul eternal unrest. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the true crime. Antigone should be praised, not persecuted, for her attempt to honor the Gods' laws against all odds.
King Creon believed that because Polyneices was an enemy of Thebes, he did not deserve a burial. However, who are we as mortals to deem who may be buried or not? The code of the Gods runs far above those of our own. And as Antigone said, "His own brother (Eteocles), traitor or not, and equal in blood" (824) Polyneices was still a member of the royal family. It was a harsh decision indeed to doom the soul of your own kin to wander the earth forever without rest. Antigone was again in the right by honoring her family.
Was King Creon even thinking logically when he forbade the burial of his own nephew? Is it really sane to show such disrespect, even to an adversary? "An enemy is an enemy, even dead"(824). In this statement, Creon shows that he is unable to let go of grudges and move on. He spited his nephew in death by decreeing that he was unworthy of burial rites. His anger was taken out on his neice Antigone when he sentenced her to death by stoning. Ladies and gentlemen of the court, Creon is not only wrong in sentencing Antigone, he may not be a fit ruler for the great state of Thebes.
Your honor, esteemed members of the court, as you can see my client Antigone is in no way deserving of her death sentence. Her actions to bury Polyneices were both honorable and just, worthy of praise, not punishment. The accuser King Creon is a spiteful man, and was wrong in his sentencing of Antigone. In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, Antigone deserves to go free.
Works Cited
Sophocles. "Antigone." The Internet Classics Archive. Trans. R.C. Jeblo. 04 Oct 2000. Classics.mit.edu. 26 Nov 2008.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Antigone LRJ
Jake Wythers
Ms. Peifer
10 IB Hour Five
11/26/2008
Antigone LRJ 2
1. "But his body must lie in the fields, a sweet treasure for the carrion birds to find as they search for food" (Sophocles 816) I think this is the most important image in the entire play. This is Antigone imagining the body of her beloved brother Polyneices, left out like meat scraps for the vultures to scrounge. The reason this image is so important is because it is what carries Antigone through the whole play and all her hardships. The image of her brother rotting away un buried was powerful enough to inspire Antigone to defy her uncle King Creon and risk death by stoning.
2. King Creon's fatal flaw is obviously his stubbornness. This is what kept him from seeing the truth, and this is what brought his whole family crashing down around his ears, left alone in his world. "No doubt. Speak; Whatever you say, you will not change my will" (837) Creon says this to the prophet Teiresias because he is too stubborn to view his predictions, because they aren't what Creon wants to hear.
3.King Creon goes through anagnorisis in the story when he realizes that everything has actually been his fault. "Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing. Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust." (842) Here he sees that all his family has killed themselves and he is left with nothing, all thanks to his pride and stubbornness.
4. This is also the plays moment of peripeteia. As in al the greatest Greek tragedies, it occurs at the same time as anagnorisis. Creon's fortune is reversed when he sees that everyone around him that he cared for is gone, and it was all his fault.
5. When I read the story, I understood the catharsis at this moment in the play as well. When Creon turned from the tyrant to the foolish old man with no family, it is much easier to feel pity for him. "I alone am guilty."(841) This is the exact point when i felt catharsis, because I saw that Creon had realized his mistake.
6. There are two vastly different characterizations of women in this story. On one hand you have the strong willed, defiant Antigone, who goes against her uncle's wishes and the law to do what she knows is right. "Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." (816) This shows that there must have been women that the ancient Greeks admired for their strength of character. On the other hand, Antigone's sister Ismene is a much more meek, unsure of herself, and unwilling to act on her beliefs. "I do them no dishonour; but to defy the State,-I have no strength for that." This summarizes Ismene's character in the play as a woman who is in a much more subservient role.
Works Cited
Sophocles. "Antigone." Literature Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes: World Literature. Trans. Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall 2001. 814-826.
Sophocles. "Antigone." The Internet Classics Archive. Trans. R.C. Jebb. 04October 2000. Classics.mit.edu. 24 November 2008 .
Ms. Peifer
10 IB Hour Five
11/26/2008
Antigone LRJ 2
1. "But his body must lie in the fields, a sweet treasure for the carrion birds to find as they search for food" (Sophocles 816) I think this is the most important image in the entire play. This is Antigone imagining the body of her beloved brother Polyneices, left out like meat scraps for the vultures to scrounge. The reason this image is so important is because it is what carries Antigone through the whole play and all her hardships. The image of her brother rotting away un buried was powerful enough to inspire Antigone to defy her uncle King Creon and risk death by stoning.
2. King Creon's fatal flaw is obviously his stubbornness. This is what kept him from seeing the truth, and this is what brought his whole family crashing down around his ears, left alone in his world. "No doubt. Speak; Whatever you say, you will not change my will" (837) Creon says this to the prophet Teiresias because he is too stubborn to view his predictions, because they aren't what Creon wants to hear.
3.King Creon goes through anagnorisis in the story when he realizes that everything has actually been his fault. "Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing. Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust." (842) Here he sees that all his family has killed themselves and he is left with nothing, all thanks to his pride and stubbornness.
4. This is also the plays moment of peripeteia. As in al the greatest Greek tragedies, it occurs at the same time as anagnorisis. Creon's fortune is reversed when he sees that everyone around him that he cared for is gone, and it was all his fault.
5. When I read the story, I understood the catharsis at this moment in the play as well. When Creon turned from the tyrant to the foolish old man with no family, it is much easier to feel pity for him. "I alone am guilty."(841) This is the exact point when i felt catharsis, because I saw that Creon had realized his mistake.
6. There are two vastly different characterizations of women in this story. On one hand you have the strong willed, defiant Antigone, who goes against her uncle's wishes and the law to do what she knows is right. "Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." (816) This shows that there must have been women that the ancient Greeks admired for their strength of character. On the other hand, Antigone's sister Ismene is a much more meek, unsure of herself, and unwilling to act on her beliefs. "I do them no dishonour; but to defy the State,-I have no strength for that." This summarizes Ismene's character in the play as a woman who is in a much more subservient role.
Works Cited
Sophocles. "Antigone." Literature Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes: World Literature. Trans. Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall 2001. 814-826.
Sophocles. "Antigone." The Internet Classics Archive. Trans. R.C. Jebb. 04October 2000. Classics.mit.edu. 24 November 2008 .
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Antigone Exposed?
Yesterday, in a shocking publicity stunt, teen heiress Antigone rebels against her uncle and buries hated relative Polyneices.
"He's just misunderstood!" screamed the emotional Antigone in a press conference after the incident. "No one ever got to know the real Polyneices behind the confused face!"
Antigone is of course known for blowing 700 drachmas of her father's money on wine and traipsing around the polis half naked last City Dionysia.
"I'm stunned that Antigone would behave this way," stated King Creon moments after Antigone ran screaming into her 800 square foot room. "Polyneices had a well known temper and his recent dispute with his brother shows it. His death was a boon to Thebes and he deserved no burial rites whatsoever. Antigone always has liked to get attention though. Don't worry about it, she'll be over her brother's death come next festival season."
Eteocles was unavailable to comment on the incident.
-The Daily Thebesian
"He's just misunderstood!" screamed the emotional Antigone in a press conference after the incident. "No one ever got to know the real Polyneices behind the confused face!"
Antigone is of course known for blowing 700 drachmas of her father's money on wine and traipsing around the polis half naked last City Dionysia.
"I'm stunned that Antigone would behave this way," stated King Creon moments after Antigone ran screaming into her 800 square foot room. "Polyneices had a well known temper and his recent dispute with his brother shows it. His death was a boon to Thebes and he deserved no burial rites whatsoever. Antigone always has liked to get attention though. Don't worry about it, she'll be over her brother's death come next festival season."
Eteocles was unavailable to comment on the incident.
-The Daily Thebesian
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Technology
This stuff is pretty cool.
I enjoyed making a blog in class today because there is so much customization you can do.
I am gonna mess with this stuff until it looks really cool and that's why this is fun.
ONE ONE!!!
I just made a blog
This is the first post ever and it has to be long otherwise it will be deleted like spam like alejandro which we learned in class yesterday. I think it has to be a paragraph so to fill that space, chase gunderson facts.
There is no 'ctrl' button on Chase Gunderson's keyboard. Chase Gunderson is always in control.
Chase Gunderson can kill two stones with one bird.
Chase Gunderson can sneeze with his eyes open.
There is no theory of evolution. Only a list of animals Chase Gunderson allows to exist.
Chase Gunderson is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.
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